Posted : September 10, 2018
Our blog is chock full of great ideas for fun things to see and do in York Durham and Headwaters. We are always adding new content and updating old posts, but sometimes you might stumble upon something from our vault. If this article has inspired you to hit the road, be sure to double-check that the featured stops in this post are still welcoming visitors.
Chopped Canada Champion, Pam Fanjoy was a clinical social worker before donning her chef’s apron. For 25 years, Pam built a practice working with adolescents and families while taking culinary courses at George Brown College. She blended her passions for social work and cooking by leading therapeutic cooking classes. An entrepreneurial spirit, Pam opened The Friendly Chef Adventures, a kitchen store, café and culinary studio in the Headwaters region. In 2016, The Friendly Chef Adventures became Pam’s eponymous restaurant – Fanjoy.
At Fanjoy, guests can sit down to enjoy a farm-to-table meal – including the authentic butter chicken dish that earned Chef Pam the Chopped Canada jackpot – or pick up a healthy meal to go. Inspired by international cuisine, these nourishing meals range from pasta to shepherd’s pie, souvlaki and more! All meals are cooked in house with nutritious local ingredients.
Pam draws inspiration from extensive travel and frequent visits to local farmers’ markets. She favours new flavours every week, building menus around healthy traditional ingredients, always adding a new spin on well-loved dishes. One of her favourite new ingredients is sea asparagus, which Pam soaks in water (to bring out the yummy flavours of sea salt) before sautéing and adding to pizza.
This autumn, Fanjoy guests can expect lots of comforting tomato-based pasta dishes and roasted harvest squash topped with a tantalizing sauce infused with honey and garlic.
As chef and owner, Pam’s work takes her inside and outside of the kitchen. She starts at 5:00 a.m. to tackle administrative tasks, business planning and social media. At 10:00 a.m., she moves to the kitchen where she plates meals and stocks the marketplace with fresh and healthy take-out meals for customers on the go.
When Pam’s not in the kitchen, she enjoys hiking and amateur photography. And she loves cooking with wildfire. There’s just no stopping this innovative and passionate leader in the YDH culinary scene!
