LEE's

[GordonCooks]

A late fri night arrival into Toronto prevented me from making any solid reservations on Fri so we decided to try Susur’s new Lee as a walk-in. The place is blend of industrial pipes with exposed brick mixed with modern seating and clear Lucite tables. The front glass is floor to ceiling and really gives the space an open feeling. Decorative sheer panels over the brick provide color and but the pink cushions on the communal bench seat have to go.

We ordered a couple of martinis, ordered, and watched the fashionistas primp and vogue there way through their meals. We ordered the following dishes and they came out in no certain order (some dishes were served to the neighboring table that was seated 15 mins after us) I didn’t mind because after the second martini – I’m very easy to please. The service was friendly overall and my water and martini never went empty. On to the food (keep in mind this may not be the order they were served but how I recall them) – the Asian slaw for 2 was quite tasty a mix of crunchy veggies mixed with fried rice noodles and peanuts. There was much more rice noodles than veggie but I like the flavor nonetheless. Mexican Tart – some fig, tomato, not very Mexican. Mushroom dumplings were oooey-gooey and very tasty – the sauce lending a perfect accent. Pommes Frittes – The shoestrings were cut too small to eating but just right for stacking – covered in aioli, this dish was a little too greasy for me. Orzo & Crab sauté – I didn’t want this but my girl wanted to try it – I really like the texture of the dish with the orzo, pine nuts, etc but little crab was seen or tasted. I’d still order it again. The Black Cod? 4 plates of this please, it was perfect. Satays of Chicken, Beef, Pork, and Shrimp were fine but the sauces of Tamarind, Mint, and something I can remember were excellent. The Duck Confit crepe was excellent but a little hard to manage being served in a bowl. Another dish I could have eaten 4 of. Finally the lamb – Room temp but served with more of that delicious mint sauce and chopped cucumber. Desserts were the delicious black rice pudding with Marsala sabayon, A layered mousse was decent, a chocolate “bacci” cake -a very rich, and intense dome of cake like chocolate and another one that wasn’t very memorable.

All in all, for a 9:30 walk-in, I had a good time. I may have felt the food was better had I not eaten at Susur so many times. There were definitely hints of greatness in the sauces but a few of the preparations fell short. I can recommend LEE for people who may not want to spend Susur $$ but would like to try his food. Personally speaking, I would spend a few more loonies for Susur.

[prasantrin]

May I ask about the cost of the food? Just wondering what the difference in price is between Lee's and Susur's.

[GordonCooks]

May I ask about the cost of the food?  Just wondering what the difference in price is between Lee's and Susur's.

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Most of the menu is 7-15 with nothing over 20.00. They recommend you order 5 plates to share but we had 8-9 with 4 desserts, coffee and 5-6 cocktails, the check was a little over 200.00 cdn (not that bad I thought)

My last meal Susur was more than twice that (but worth it! )

Edited December 7, 2004 by GordonCooks (log)

[prasantrin]

Most of the menu is 7-15 with nothing over 20.00. They recommend you order 5 plates to share but we had 8-9 with 4 desserts, coffee and 5-6 cocktails, the check was a little over 200.00 cdn (not that bad I thought)

My last meal Susur was more than twice that (but worth it! )

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Sounds pretty reasonable to me. The next time I'm in TO, I'll give it a try (or maybe Susur's, depending on my budget for the trip )

[philadining]

I had a very enjoyable meal at Lee a few days ago, and I think I generally agree with Gordon's assessment from almost 2 years ago. Interestingly, the menu doesn't seem to have changed much, if at all. Overall we enjoyed the food quite a lot, although the preparations next door are significantly more refined and exciting (and expensive...) It's a different context, much more casual and relaxed, which fit our mood better at the time than a multi-course marathon at Susur.

The place was hopping on a Thursday night. (Can some locals enlighten me - is Thursday traditionally a big night to go out? In Toronto, or all over Canada, or just in that neighborhood?) We nonetheless were able to score two seats at the bar even as walk-ins, although only after a bit of a wait. The dining room remained very full throughout the evening. The bar was not at all a bad place to sit, the swiveling stools make it a little easier to converse with your partner without significant neck strain, and at least if you're seated along the back of the bar, one has a good vantage point for observing the goings-on among the glitterati.

As noted, dishes were delivered in no particular order, with no particular pacing, which I find mildly irritating, but have gotten used-to, as it seems very much the style these days in many restaurants in many cities. Two of us ordered 5 plates, and that was plenty of food, although it was hard to narrow down, and if we hadn't had a late-ish lunch, we might have tossed another one or two into the mix.

Caramelized Black Cod with Cantonese Preserves

As seems to be the general consensus, we thought this was spectacular, by far our favorite of the evening. Perfectly cooked, luxuriously moist fish supported a sweet and slightly tangy sauce. We were tempted to order a few more of these....

Mushroom Dumpling, Red Pepper, Olives, Capers, Feta Cheese

The dumplings themselves were tender and delicious, the surrounding veggies and cheese was a bit of a gooey mess, albeit a tasty one. The capers and feta pushed this to the verge of too-salty, and I suspect I might have liked it a little better with less of all of the accompaniments, but it was still quite good.

Greek Feta Cheese Tart, Figs, Black Olive and Basil

This was nothing too unusual, but quite nicely done, with a good crunchy crust and excellent toppings.

Thai baked lentil, Paneer, Spinach, Coconut and Polenta

This had a great Thai curry flavor to it, and a pleasing textural contrast among the thick sauce, the tender lentils and the more chewy polenta and paneer. It was right about here that we started to notice that we'd unconsciously ordered a lot of dishes with cheese....

Duck Confit, Pineapple, Spiced Nuts, Goat Cheese

I'm still not entirely sure about this dish: on one level I enjoyed the flavors, on another it was a bit over-busy. An intense, salty shredded confit of duck leg was encased in a crepe, doused in creamy goat cheese, capped with a praline-like caramel of spiced nuts, flanked by roasted pineapple. These were all good flavors, but all together they were a bit dizzying. I liked this, but I think I could have done without one or two of the elements - any one or two of them.

Sadly we were too stuffed for dessert, it looked appealing. Sorry to let the eG crowd down...

We had a couple of glasses of Prosecco while waiting, and carried those over into the first part of dinner, then switched to a Cave Springs Riesling, both of which were quite enjoyable, and decent foils for the diverse foods we ordered. Service was friendly and efficient. The only complaint I might have is that the room is pretty loud, with fairly prominent background music and all hard flat surfaces to bounce the crowd noise around.

As Gordon noted, the food and overall experience at Lee doesn't quite reach the heights of dinner at Susur, but then, it's not supposed to. It was quicker, more casual, and probably less than half the price. But one can certainly experience some interesting cooking, and bit of the Susur Lee style without committing several hours and a few hundred bucks. I'd go back.

Edited November 28, 2006 by philadining (log)