Michael Blackie
Born in Leicestershire, England, and raised in Montreal, Michael Blackie has been cooking for over 28 years on three continents. Over the past decade, he’s worked at some of the world’s finest hotels including the Oberoi (Bali), an exclusive five-star facility voted the world’s best boutique resort by Leading Hotels of the World (2002) and listed on Cond Nast’s “hot list”. Among his many career highlights, Chef Blackie held chef positions at the prestigious world-renowned Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong. In 2003 Michael returned to Canada and was responsible for the opening the Brookstreet hotel as the Executive chef. Within 4 months of opening Brookstreet was awarded the prestigious four-diamond rating from CAA. In 2009 Michael joined the National Arts Centre as the Executive chef and was responsible for the entire food and beverage operation. Currently Michael is the co-founder of NEXT a 11,000 SQFT unique facility located in the west end of Ottawa, featuring casual dining, events, catering and take-home.