Lee Restaurant

Went for winterlicious. Food overall was good. Not sure I understand the hype. Nothing really stood out for us flavour wise and one dish came out cold. Overall a good experience and would recommend for anyone looking for a fun night.

Everything about this place is solid. We had the private room in the back, behind the kitchen. It was cool to have to walk through each time you wanted to go back. There is a private bathroom too. We had the tasting menu, and the food is fantastic here as with most of his places. The waiters we had were both fantastic, and did an amazing job. We also brought some of our own wine, they have a corkage fee.

I had such a great time at Lee! The atmosphere is very relaxed, yet can be fancy at the same time. There are even some Chinese decorations around the bar (lanterns, Chinese calculators) which I thought was beautifully done! Looks so cool. The service was amazing from hostess to server to food expo. Everyone was extremely friendly and constantly came to check up on us to make sure we were doing okay! We even got to see famous Chef Susur Lee lurking around hahaha. Overall experience was wonderful and I wouldn’t hesitate to come back here a second time.
Finally got to try Susur’s SIGNATURE Singaporean-​Style Slaw and it certainly lived up to my high expectations. There was so much variety and so many layers to it, and every part of it tasted just right! Very, very good and flavourful. I added Sashimi (6pcs) for $ 8 which I thought was worth it. It definitely added to the dish. The only downside was that it supposedly serves two, but was a bit too much for the two of us. I think it would be better suited for 3 people, or even 4 if you just want a little bit each! After all, it is just an appetizer/​something to start you off with.
I also thought the Cheese Burger Spring Roll was an interesting concept so I had to try it. It was a definitely another unique item and was delicious! Meaty, cheesy, yet still had that Asian spring roll taste to it. However, I likely would not buy it again — One of those one timers for me. Tip: eat it with the salad!
In addition, I also participated in the Winterlicious prix fixe menu for $ 45:
1) ROASTED JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE & SPICED HAZELNUTS (vegetarian) — Light Goat Cheese, Maple Balsamic Glaze — I don’t recommend this, as it was the only part of my meal that I didn’t enjoy. Tasted kind of funny to me, and not in a good way.
2) LEE’S SLOW BRAISED BEEF — Roasted Root Veg, Potato & Leek Purée — This was one of my favourite dishes during my visit! The beef was cooked so nicely and tasted so incredibly great. Real juicy, soft, and tender. Absolutely loved the potatoes/​veggies as well.
3) Trio of Desserts — SPRING ROLL CRÈME BRULEE + HOT APPLE STRUDEL + PANI PURI — Perfect Winterlicious restaurant choice because of the variety of dessert you get. It’s a little bit of 3 different things, which is great for trying something new. My favourite of the 3 was the spring roll crème brûlée! Melts in your mouth and simply compliments your meal. The others were good too.

Tried a couple of the classics: green curry chicken, singaporean style slaw.
Also had the mango pudding dessert (don’t remember what it was called).
The singaporean slaw was extremely good — great combination of flavors and textures and cool plating.
Green curry chicken also good — great flavors, but the chicken was a bit fatty for my taste.

Susur Lee’s flagship restaurant is dubbed Asian fusion, tappa style, but this description cannot do the food justice. It defies description. It simply is.
If you find my statements perplexing, I can only tell you to go try this restaurant. Now. Stop what you are doing and go eat at this restaurant.
The Singapore slaw, a vegan dish, is simply the best tasting thing I have ever experienced. I say this as a person who normally considers vegan cuisine beneath contempt and red meat the ultimate experience.
While the slaw is special, every other dish, from sliders to braised short ribs to potato chips is exquisitely good. Portions are generous, so each tappa can be shared by 2 – 3 people without difficulty.
However, when I eat there, I always order a slaw just for me. No one is allowed to lay a hand on my slaw.
In conclusion, Susur Lee is a sorcerer of some kind. I can only imagine the dark powers required to make a slaw taste that good. If this were the middle ages, he’d have to run for his life. Lucky for us, it’s 2016 and we get to experience his exquisite cuisine.

Susur’s signature Singaporean style slaw was amazing. The best salad I’ve ever had. The cheese burger spring rolls were also delicious! The tacos were okay. Would recommend Lee any time. Would love to try Bent and Luckee soon.

This place would be closer to a 4 or 4.5 stars if not for my frustrating experience:
I had ordered a beef wellington off their specials menu. The filet was way over-​cooked; parts of the filet was extremely dry, but there were also bits of under-​cooked parts to it as well (you can see this in my picture). When I suggested to the server that the meat was poorly prepared, he assured me that this was how it should be and apologized for the inconvenience.
This first order had really dampered my mood for the rest of the meal, but it would be unfair for me to say that the other dishes were not good.
Singapore salad — one of their most popular items and for good reason. Very tasty and had a nice mix of textures
Lobster ravioli — kind of spicy, which is a bit weird for a dish I expected to be creamy and savory.
Peking and char sui (sic) duck — my favorite of the night. The duck breast was perfectly prepared and the make-​your-​own wrap style akin to peking duck prepared at Chinese restaurants was very fun
Black cod — it was served atop a turnip cake which really clashed with the flavors of the cod. They tasted very good eaten separately, though.

Food was awesome, service was great. Must try the peking duck and slaw! More details and photos on my blog!

Slaw was good as normal.
However it was a bit annoying because we were pressured to clear the table for another party AFTER we had to pay 17% included gratuity for parties of 6 or more. We were not warned about this prior. Service was good up to that point and this was a major turnoff when your server rushes you out so the restaurant can make more profit.
Winterlicious was great but this time the green curry chicken was too saucy. The dishes were interesting but not memorable.

Came here for a birthday party. We all had a good time, not a problem with service or the food. By unanimous agreement the most popular was the slaw, which had plenty of textures and flavours in one dish.
I think restaurants like this have difficulty knowing whether to position themselves as ‘high end’ or not, and consequently try to straddle the middle. With Lee, you get quite nice food at fairly expensive prices. It was a great dinner, and I’d go back, but not an «experience».

Great experience all around. Starting from the charming atmosphere, the veery friendly and professional waitress and finally heavenly dishes all around. I loved the sharing concept. It allows us to share many nice dishes in a veery comfortable pace. This is so far the best I experienced in Toronto.

Take this as a 4.5 rating.
Been wanting to come here for awhile now and finally had the chance this past weekend. I love the ambiance and décor. Classy and trendy — fancy enough to come here for a special occasion but you can also get by with some casual clothes without feeling out of place.
Service was stellar. Mark was fantastic and probably one of the best servers I’ve ever had. His French accent is so charming and I loved his enthusiasm. I like that each dish is explained and recommendations on how to eat it are given. It really made a difference to our dinner. Bravo!
We ordered the Singaporean Slaw, Carmelized Black Cod, Top Chef Green Chicken Curry and the signature French & Chinese Tong Yuen for dessert.
Singaporean Slaw was amazing. We had it at Bent a few months back and fell in love so we decided to try it here. Just as good as I remembered. It’s pretty much an introduction (or rather initiation) dish that everybody orders when they come to Lee and justifiably so.
The Carmelized Black Cod was perfectly cooked, served on top of a dimsum turnip cake. Who would’ve thought that the two would complement each other so well? Asian fusion at its finest! The texture and flavors were so much richer with the miso mustard.
The Tong Yuen was beautifully presented and will make you want to take out your phone for a photo. It was a head turner. It’s VERY sweet on the first bite due to the chocolate but the glutinous rice flour helps to neutralize it. I loved the idea of having a two-​step process to eating the dish. The Tong Yuen is to be taken first in a single bite, then you pour the peach and rosewater dressing into the pastry for a refreshing and cleansing finish to the meal.
The only disappointment of the night was the Top Chef Green Chicken Curry. You are to eat the chicken with the fried rice cake and dried pineapple. While I appreciated the creativity, I just couldn’t get behind it. The pineapple was a bit overpowering, there wasn’t enough curry so the chicken tasted rather plain and I felt the rice cakes didnt belong there. The dish overall just lacked depth. I guess I had higher expectations considering that this was an award winning dish that received the highest score ever on the show but it just didn’t deliver as I had hoped.
Our dinner was near perfection in all aspects and definitely hits the favorites list. It was so close to getting the full 5 stars if not for the curry chicken.

Great food, great service!
NOTE: Make reservations and try to come early. We were seated promptly at 5:30pm and didn’t finish eating/​settling the bill till 8:50pm rolled along. The service was great but due to the number of guests, lots of people with 8:30pm reservations were left waiting by the door.
Food here is sharing style and we ordered the following:
— Singapore slaw
— Tuna tartare
— Cheeseburger spring roll taco
— Chocolate peanut butter bar
— To drink: Manhattan
The Singapore slaw really is as good as people hype it up to be. However, to manage expectations it’s «okay». The portion is really generous, and it really isn’t necessary to add on salmon and tuna sashimi to the slaw which tasted great on its own.
The tuna tartare was good, and had a good range of flavours. It was paired with seared tuna sashimi on the side which was a nice touch. You can’t go wrong with tuna tartare and sashimi!
Cheeseburger spring roll taco was okay, a little too fusionized for me.
The chocolate peanut butter bar was AMAZING. It’s so heavy you really need to share it, and was nicely covered in peanut grinds. Very nice touch :)
I’d come back in a heart beat!

I’m not a huge fan of anything fusion. I’m very traditional when it comes to my meals. I have to give 5-​stars for presentation and the 5-​stars plus for the hype and word of mouth how Lee has continued since they first opened. I was there in the first year when they first opened when there wasn’t an opening for days without end. Thankfully it isn’t as crazy today, but I would still prefer traditional Chinese cuisine over this as his food and presentation is still very consistent.
One of my litmus test before dinning at restaurants is to see who constitutes the majority of the diners. Obviously if it’s, for example, Indian food, I much prefer to see lots of Indians. As for Lee, Chinese (and I’ll even expand it broader to Asians) were definitely scarce. Perhaps, Asians don’t really have the sophisticated taste buds of the urban chic who has reclaimed the downtown core.

Came here for the Man’s birthday dinner and WOW! This place is totally worthy of the hype! We went for the crowd favorites — the slaw, egg rolls, and green curry chicken. For dessert, we went a little lighter and got the sorbet. Everything was spectacularly delicious. Honestly, I assumed before coming that I’d be underwhelmed by the slaw because really? Slaw? I just didn’t get it. But NOPE. It’s perfection — so many flavours and textures and I only got chastised twice. Once for stealing all the sauce and another for using my finger to make sure I didn’t miss any — sorry dude, I couldn’t help myself. I only wish we could have ordered more, but we were totally stuffed.
Lastly, super special shout out to our server, Marc! He was absolutely charming and gave us great recommendations!
Can’t wait to come back and try more!

Summerlicious Dinner 2015.
Here’s the long and short of it: Quality throughout. Top-​notch food, knowledgeable and professional service, awesome ambiance. Asian duck confit was outstanding — very unique and palatable twist on the traditional dish. Definitely will return.
Appetizers (in order of preference):
TOMATO & JALAPENO GUACAMOLE (vegetarian): sumach, jicama, fennel, cucumber, heirloom carrot, smoked olive oil, watermelon radish, baked garlic parmesan lavash
THAI WILD COD FRITTERS WITH FRENCH TARTAR SAUCE: fresh summer salad, lemon mustard dressing
JERK SPICY PORK RIBS: scotch bonnet sauce, ginger & mango, Chinese steamed bun, shredded crunchy salad, chipotle mayo
Entrée:
ASIAN DUCK CONFIT WITH PRICKLY SPICES: foie gras paté, beijing duck garnish, cucumber, steamed bread
Trio of Desserts (in order of preference):
COCONUT CRÈME CARAMEL: black sesame & coconut
CHOCOLATE FEUILLETINE CRUNCH: dark chocolate & orange ganache
ROSEMARY, WILDFLOWER HONEY & LEMONGRASS GELEE: rosewater & peach gastrique, basil seed pods

Had reservations but my date was late so when we got to the venue chef’s son told us we’d have to wait and that he’d try his best. Actually, he said something else but it was so soft I didn’t actually hear him and just said yes to whatever he suggested. Got a seat on the inside very quickly (originally reserved the patio) right by the bathroom staircase but didn’t mind.
The place is pretty small and seats are packed tight. Had a guy who was seated on the table behind me literally push my chair (accidentally) forward when he got up as there was no room but yet it was tolerable.
Had been meaning to try this place after hearing some good things. Of course the Singapore slaw was mandatory and Delish! Cod was also very impressive. However, my date got the crab and it was apparently awful! The dish was soggy, possibly refried or not fried at a high enough temp. There was a wrap around the crab between the batter and the meat which was a strange texture and complete surprise. We did not eat much of that at all.
My date and i both got the sangria and it was SO good! There were so many ingredients but they all worked really well. Highly recommend this!!!
Staff was very good at explaining each dish, allowing opportunity for pictures and friendly. Had to wait a bit on the water being topped off though on a few occasions.
Since it was my birthday we got the «Ferraro Rocher» on steroids (as my server described it) dessert which arrived with some «Indian» sweets on the side, sauce and chocolate on a few spoons. It was awful. So awful that my date and I nearly spat it out and couldn’t stop laughing at the faces we were both simultaneously pulling. I’m a chocolate lover and not picky but a bit disappointed. Not sure what was Indian about the dessert either — equally awful combo. Gave it (technically they asked cause they were so drunk!) to the rowdy group of frat boys who were sat next to us and they loved it.
Overall, it wasn’t a horrible experience even though some of the food was well below average, I would likely return for the sangria and cod, slaw and perhaps try something else on the menu.

Went to Lee for their summerlicious menu however ended up getting a bunch of things off the summerlicious a la carte menu.
One thing that I’ve heard over and over again is that you cannot complete your visit at Lee without trying their Singaporean-​style Slaw, and when I tried it, I was not disappointed. The carefully selected double digit number of ingredients for the slaw blended amazingly, it was light but filling at the same time. It was sweet and had a ton of texture and crunch that I personally love.
Overall, you can’t really go wrong with any of the choices, my friends and I all got various dishes and they were all on point which shows the Sur Lee skill and consistency. (No wonder Drake eats here)

Amazing food from beginning to end. You HAVE to get the Slaw! I could have eaten the whole plate by myself — the textures and flavors just get better as the slaw sits. We chose the following plates to share, and our server portioned enough for the table:
— Green Curry Chicken: not as green as we thought it would be, not the favorite. best thing on it was the pineapple
— Caramelized Cod: favorite dish. Cod was cooked to perfection and flavors abundant but not too overpowering, could still taste the fish
— Thai Satay: again not as amazing, could have had a better dish elsewhere
— Wild King Garlic Shrimp: slightly spicy, juicy and flavorful very good
Dessert, we had the ice cream, shaved ice, and signature Tong Yuen. The Tong Yuen was bursting with rich flavors. The rose water in puffs with the Tong Yuen wasn’t that great, and anticlimactic after the pastry balls, but definitely would get again — the display was extremely appetizing as well.
The mojito and raspberry martini are delicious as well. The food is great, the scene is very loud so be prepared to talk loudly to each other!

Been meaning to try this restaurant for a long time. Great ambiance, although tables are a little too close together. They also have a patio on King for outdoor seating in the summer. Susur Lee’s menu does not disappoint. Plates should be shared. 3 plates are more than enough for 2 people. Must try: the slaw. It really is a work of art and has 18 different root vegetables en julienne. The black cod melts in your mouth, I definitely recommend it. The slow braised beef is also good, but somewhat heavy. Can’t wait to go back.