From Economics to culinary arts, this energetic lady comes from afar

Rated as one of the best Turkish restaurants in the metropolitan region by publications like The Gazette, Voir, Le Guide Debeur, Su restaurant (“su” means “water” in Turkish) has been operating on Wellington Street for the last four years.

Arriving in Montreal in 1998, Fisun Ercan was a university graduate in Economics and Finance but did not speak French. Leaving Turkey to find a host country, her trip was supposed to be exploratory and she found herself in Toronto, a city recommended to her by an agency. Ms. Ercan in fact had the choice of going to Australia where it is warm, Europe or Canada but she finally chose Canada.

By chance, the young woman visited Montreal and fell in love with the city. Fisun Ercan learned French and refined her computer skills. She eventually found a job as a programmer with Norac. “I didn’t like office work, what I wanted was to feed people”, the young woman said who had fond memories of her father’s passion for eating well. Her family entertained a lot and Fisun’s father adored cooking. At 32, this young immigrant mother went to train for two years in culinary arts in LaSalle College.

“I started to cook at home in L'Île-des-Soeurs with a catering service, sometimes volunteering so that people would know me”, she admitted. Her words of wisdom were “giving before receiving.” The restaurant business is a tough one for a woman. “One must persevere”, this passionate chef said. From a catering restaurant to a full-service restaurant with a seating capacity of 60 people as well as offering take-out food, Fisun Ercan sure knew how to take advantage of every opportunity to make her restaurant profitable.