Lupin Dining & Pantry

Serving Up a Beautiful Dining Experience

BY LOLA AUGUSTINE BROWN
PHOTOS MICHELLE DOUCETTE

When Kim MacPherson and Mark Pehlke moved to Nova Scotia, they arrived with a dream of growing and producing food. While on a cross-country trip that started in the Yukon, they fell for our beautiful province and saw no need to head any further. Since 2015, they’ve been living that dream on the Eastern Shore, selling meals, charcuterie boxes, and homemade jams and preserves. And, for the last three years, they have served dinners at their intimate 20-seat restaurant Lupin.

Musquodoboit Harbour isn’t traditionally known for its fine dining establishments. Currently, Lupin serves both an a-la-carte and a tasting menu, but the plan is to evolve to only offering a tasting menu. “That way, the menu is more of a creative outlet and I’d be able to change things up more frequently depending on what’s in season and thriving in our garden,” MacPherson says.

Many guests already opt for the tasting menu when visiting Lupin, and as time goes on, MacPherson has noticed that more and more guests are choosing to dine that way. “We’ve been building up trust,” she explains, “working ourselves up to slowly step into the role that we really want to play.” Recent tasting menus include dishes such as seared Digby scallops served with smoked paprika polenta and jalapeno grilled corn with tomato salad and goat cheese crumble or hand-rolled gnocchi with garden pesto, summer squash, fresh mozzarella, and heirloom tomato.

MacPherson describes her cooking style as classic French and Italian cuisine with just a bit of a fusion. “I find inspiration from whatever ingredient is in front of me, and
I try to make each element layered with flavour without being too complex,” she says, “I want to respect the simplicity of the ingredients. I want you to know what you're eating. I want each dish to make sense.”

IT STARTED UP NORTH

MacPherson grew up on a farm in Southern Ontario, though her family farmed on a much larger scale, raising cattle and concentrating on monoculture. She went to culinary school in Niagara, starting a catering business at the tender age of 20, then headed west to work in restaurants in Vancouver. That’s where she met her husband, Pehlke. They moved into a trailer and headed north to the Yukon while dreaming up their future plans.

“We took a five-month farming internship there where we did everything under the sun on a 1000-acre farm where they had a dozen cattle, elk, chickens, greenhouses and a commercial butchering station,” MacPherson explains, “We worked at their market stand, and as camp cooks at their family hunting concession—we were flown into the mountains and rode everywhere on horseback. It was a pretty spectacular experience.”

During that time, the couple developed a view of how they wanted their own lives to look, how that could work financially—the family that owned the farm in the Yukon had their “hands in all buckets to make an income”—and the type of property that they needed to make that happen.

Their Musquodoboit Harbour property sits on 40 acres, and what they don’t grow or produce themselves, they bring in from other local farmers and producers where possible. “I’ve worked in a lot of farm-to-table restaurants. I've always been used to the suppliers and the farmers kind of showing up to the back door of the kitchen with the vegetables still dirty because they’ve just picked them,” MacPherson says, “That was my introduction to kitchens, so when we moved here I knew that was just the way it was going to be with our own business.”

What the couple has created at Lupin is beautiful. The dining experience is perfect, the indoor space and patio outside are thoughtfully presented and memorable, and the service is impeccable. MacPherson’s decades of experience in fine dining restaurants and upscale catering have come together to help her create an intimate space that true foodies will adore.

DREAMS AND DIFFICULTIES

While the couple’s existence in Musquodoboit Harbour sounds pretty idyllic, it does come with challenges and brings the couple some anxiety—especially in the early days. They are the sole fine dining experience in the area and had no idea whether the locals would be into their way of doing things when they first set up. “We are five kilometres down a windy country road. People show up, and they see my house, and the first time they come, it can be confusing—they’re wondering why they're going to someone's house for dinner,” she explains. Fortunately, they immediately had a ton of support from locals, and guests were delighted with the concept. “We thought we’d have to market to people from away and would struggle here locally, but we have had huge local support. People here were ready to try something new,” MacPherson says.

The couple wasn’t planning on opening a restaurant so soon. “We’d discussed this happening five or ten years down the road,” MacPherson confesses, “We intended to stick with just the premium meal service and pantry for much longer.” These elements of their business all rely heavily on produce from their acreage, so they were farm to table from the start, just from their farm to other people’s tables.

They moved into catering pretty fast, though MacPherson expected it to take longer to get her name out there as she was new to Nova Scotia and had yet to build a reputation. Then, the pandemic happened, and catering events came to a halt. “That just sped up our idea of having some sort of a small dining room attached to our home,” MacPherson says, "Plus, I was at home with a newborn baby and getting bored so started planning things out.” Talking with MacPherson, it is clear that she’s a person who doesn’t like to sit still too long and is constantly looking to improve what she is putting out into the world, balancing farming, motherhood, and entrepreneurship as she goes.

It has, naturally, been a considerable learning curve, and one adjustment the couple made this year that has helped improve service has been to pare things down with fewer diners and staff. “Downsizing our dining room by a few tables and going down to a third of our staff from last year (there are now four people working each evening) has enabled us to take more control over quality and consistency. Plus, we placed more emphasis on staff training leading up to opening, and that has really paid off,” MacPherson says. Besides the 20 seats in their dining room, they have a bar with a few extra chairs and a patio that they open up when the weather allows, and they have capacity. “We don’t take reservations for those extra seats, though. We really do try to keep things small because we’ve fine-tuned things to a point where we are really happy with our quality of service,” MacPherson says.

BUILDING A LIFE TO LOVE

Although it isn’t always easy, the couple loves how well things have come together. It’s hugely satisfying to MacPherson that so many guests are regulars. She also loves hearing that guests have travelled from PEI just to eat, or driven in from the Valley for a special anniversary dinner. Throughout the summer months, scoring a booking at Lupin is becoming increasingly difficult.

The couple wants to keep growing their private events—the gardens are a stunning location for weddings and other special occasions—and extend their seasons, becoming busier in the spring and fall. They’ve held several unique events this past summer, including sold-out Garden Parties where guests build flower bouquets with a local florist before enjoying cocktails and an al fresco dining experience.

One issue they face is that they have a lot of guests who have second properties in the area. “There are people that live here in the summer but then return to their homes in Germany, France, and other places,” MacPherson says, impacting their bookings significantly.

**Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Lavendar Amaretti**

Having a more consistent income year-round would undoubtedly help reduce financial stress. Pehlke—an electrician by trade—has built up a successful electrical company in the area, which helps keep things together financially. Once he’s home, he helps with the infrastructure part of the farm and the animals. “He’s always been there to help with whatever I get myself into,” MacPherson says, “When we opened the restaurant, he left his job to help me get through the first year and worked in the kitchen.”

Clearly, the concept of Lupin works, and the location has proven to give them exactly what they need. The feedback that they get from guests is hugely satisfying. MacPherson tries to leave the kitchen and serve a few dishes to connect with guests during every service, bringing her great joy. “I love hearing how people found us, where they’ve come from, and checking in with regulars,” she says, “Having people tell me that they love my food is the biggest compliment you can ever ask for. I just love that.”

Lupin Dining & Pantry