S A M S H I M I

Friday, 14 February 2014

Sambuca :: Valentines Lunch

Sunday, 9 February 2014

Byzanthium :: Winterlicious 2014

Lamb Burger

Saturday, 8 February 2014

ONE Restaurant :: Winterlicious 2014

Latte ($7)

Hot Water

Octopus Salad

kidney beans, oven dried tomatoes, marinated peppers, olive, arugula, buttered croutons, sherry vinaigrette

I didn't order this dish, but upon sampling my other dinner guest's dish, I quite liked it. The octopus texture is unique and the salad is refreshing. However, my dinner guest who did order it, did not like the salad and claims that the octopus was actually a sausage (2 of the 3 of us disagreed though, one agreed) and that the salad was ordinary.

Pork Belly

asian glaze, pickled cucumber, red onion, carrot slaw, puffed rice, yuzu aioli, coriander, panko

Prior to going to ONE for dinner, I checked out other photos of the Winterlicious menu on Instagram. The portion looked quite small but I nonetheless wanted to try it. When it did arrive, I felt that the portion was quite small - but it was quite filling! The pork belly was delicious. It was soft, tender, and extremely delicious. The pork meat easily fell apart and the aioli and carrots added a sweet and refreshing compliment to the pork belly. I would definitely recommend and order this dish again.

Vegetarian Ricotta Gnocchi

marinara, buffalo mozzarella, basil, balsamic, breadcrumbs

The gnocchi was delicious! I tried a little bit of my dinner guest's but the sauce was deliciously flavourful and I quite enjoyed the crunch of the breadcrumbs!

Scallops

Butternut squash puree, blood orange, pain d’epice, brown butter and bacon foam

The scallops were buttery and tasty. I didn't really taste much of the bacon foam, though I suppose it is more of a novelty. The blood orange was a surprising component though refreshing. I quite enjoyed the pieces of pain d'epice - which are reminiscent of gingerbread and/or cinnamon. The butternut squash puree was delicious and had some of the same spices in the pain d'epice strewn throughout which made its flavour unique (but good). The downside is that the entree is quite small (as most scallop dishes I've ordered in the past come with 3 or 4 scallops opposed to two; I'm glad the appetizer I ordered was quite filling as my entree was not).

Lemon Cheesecake

Blueberry compote, brown butter crumble, almond nougatine

Nothing outstanding or spectacular - standard restaurant quality lemon cheesecake.

Set Dinner Menu: $45/person + taxes & gratuity

ONE Restaurant is part of the McEwan family which also includes my other favourite restaurants Bymark and North 44 (I didn't realize this until I was seated and was greeted by a familiar menu format). ONE is located in the heart of Yorkville and has a stunning interior. The ambience is quite intimate and the servers were attentive. Even the waiter who distributes bread remembered which of us preferred which kinds of bread and offered more upon seeing an empty bread plate (and made a great recommendation to try the pepper bread). ONE is a great restaurant to bring a date or celebrate a milestone with a significant other, but note their portions are quite small (which probably attributes to the low Urbanspoon rating - all the dishes I've tried were delicious, but small).

ONE Restaurant

116 Yorkville Ave

Toronto, ON

416.961.9600 ex 1

website

Friday, 7 February 2014

Lee :: Winterlicious 2014

Winterlicious Menu

Ginger Twist Tea

The tea didn't really have much ginger flavour to it and was quite diluted. Tasted like hot water with a minty aftertaste. I wouldn't recommend ordering this tea.

Singaporean-Style Slaw ($20)

option to add salmon sashimi (+$8) or tuna sashimi (+$10) *contains nuts and serves 2

Loved this slaw! The presentation is quite appealing. The slaw arrives as pictured (above) and the server then dissembles and mixes it for you. Since the restaurant was quite loud I was only able to catch the following ingredients: japanese plum dressing, green onions, taro roots, cucumbers, tomatoes, sesame seed, roasted peanuts, fried shallots, rice vermicelli (and more). It was very refreshing, crunchy, and extremely tasty. It is essentially pho reincarnated into a crunchy salad.

Cheese Burger Spring Roll

smoked chili mayo, pickled vegetable & lettuce wrap

Of all the dishes we had, aside from the slaw, the pickled vegetable and lettuce wrap was my favourite part of the meal! It was extremely tasty and well marinated. Absolutely delicious. The spring roll portion was also good, but nothing spectacular.

Caramelized Black Cod ($29)

Cantonese preserves, miso mustard, dim sum turnip cake

For me, black cod in restaurants is always delicious. The Caramelized Black Cod was no exception. It was delicious but not outstanding (in comparison to the other black cod dishes I've had in the past). The dim sum turnip cake was an interesting combination to add with the cod. I never would have placed the two together. The turnip cake was also good, but personally, I would prefer to have each individually - one a dim sum and one a dinner. The portion of the black cod was also on the smaller side.

Bangkok Curry Beef

vermicelli rice noodle cake

The curry was quite tasty - very fragrant and flavourful. The curry had strong notes of coconut milk, which I quite enjoyed. The beef was tender. A good dish generally, but if I wanted curry, I would prefer to go to Khao San Road or Sabai Sabai. Those two locations offer much better curry for a lower price.

Jerk Spicy Pork Ribs

Scotch bonnet sauce, ginger & mango

I was expecting this dish to be extremely spicy, but surprisingly it wasn't at all! The meat was wonderfully marinated and covered in deliciously sweet sauce. The steamed bun was a great compliment with the dish to either soak up the sauces or to eat with the meat.

Dessert Trio

coriander infused chocolate mousse, lemon curd, local peach & apricot sorbet, and crispy rice & french wafer

I was disappointed by dessert! All the entrees were delicious, but the dessert trio did not hold up the standard that the entrees' set. I didn't really care for the coriander infused chocolate mousse (though it was interesting conversation topic that coriander was an ingredient) and the lemon curd tasted like mango pudding. I did really love the peach and apricot sorbet and the crispy rice. I wish that those two together were served as a dessert option in a larger portion.

Banana Fritter

in caramel peanut sauce

The caramel peanut sauce was a little to heavy for me - though it was more like nutella with peanuts in it. The banana fritter (a defried banana) was yummy.

Set Menu for $45 + taxes & gratuity.
Tea, slaw, and cod was not included in Winterlicious menu and was ordered a la carte.

Restaurant Sign

There isn't a visible "Lee" sign, so if driving to the restaurant for the first time at night, the door is indicated by a neon red "RESTAURANT" sign.

Overall my experience at Lee was good. Perhaps due to the Winterlicious rush, the service was extremely slow. I booked reservations online for 8:15pm via OpenTable. I arrived at 8:00pm and was seated 8:45pm. Food wasn't served until 9:30pm and the tea took 30 minutes to arrive. Dinner ended at 10:45pm. It was difficult to get a waiters attention throughout dinner service. Additionally, the hostesses seemed quite distraught carrying jackets around the restaurant, downstairs, and into the kitchen (???). I understand with the space constraints at Lee that the coat check service was necessary, but having witnessed the unorganized storage of the jackets, I'm glad I held on to mine. The atmosphere is also quite busy and loud, so if you are to bring a date here, you might have to talk loudly to get your message across. If I were to return, I would most definitely try Lee during its regular season opposed to Winterlicious. Overall, the dishes were quite flavourful and super tasty. If this is Chef Sursur Lee's food style - I anticipate my first visit to his other restaurant, Bent.

PS: On a completely unrelated note - the atmosphere and the wait staff was somewhat reminiscent to my televised guilty pleasure - Vanderpump Rules. It's a trendy place to go and eat and the staff were pretty attractive? Hahaha - just something random.

Lee

601 King Street West

Toronto, Ontario M5V 1M5

416.504.7867

website