For years Susur Lee has been at the top of Canada’s culinary scene. In the early 2000s, his restaurant Susur was named the best restaurant in Canada. The high-end restaurant catered to the city’s elite but the award-winning celebrity chef wanted something that better reflected his personality.
“I said to myself, I need a more casual place so people don’t need to break the bank and can still taste my food,” he recalls. “So I opened Lee right next to my building in 2005. It was extremely successful. It was like upscale casual dining.” When the economy took a turn, Susur switched game plans – he closed Susur and expanded Lee.
Susur now runs multiple restaurants in Toronto and overseas, but Lee is still the flagship of his restaurant empire. “It has my name, my family name. This is very close to me,” he says. “I have been in that space since 2000, so it’s a long journey. It has a very close relationship to me.”
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The service here is great. I'm obsessed with the Singaporean-style slaw to the point where I've drove across the city just to get it as take out. The portion is great to save for a quick bite the next day. The tables are a bit close together in the room off the main room but the attentiveness of the servers makes up for it!
This place had some good reviews so decided to check it out for myself and I really enjoyed! I will return again when I'm in the area
I had heard many great things about Lee over the years, so when a friend suggested it for a birthday celebration I was game. We had a great server who had some great recommendations for food. I loved the variety, and the dessert was probably one of the best I've had. We did notice that almost every table was getting the same one, clearly a hit. Our group was heading to the theatre after for a show; the server was extremely mindful of this, and actually reminded us of our timing. Overall, thought is was great and have recommended it to several people since.
I have been to my share of restaurants, including quite a few fine dining venues. I regret to say that I was highly disappointed with my experience at Lee. Friends have given rave reviews to the old Susur from back in the day, so i was excited to see what Lee would be like. Upon arriving, the atmosphere was nice, although it seemed a little over done with the Asian-fusion vibe. Our waiter was ever so subtly pushing recommendations at us, and when we didn't bite, we never saw him again all evening until the credit card was out. Our subsequent servers were pleasant enough, but we were already off on the wrong foot with that sour first impression. Lastly, I'm all for fusion cuisine, but the elements that meet on a plate have to make sense. There were some dishes that just had me perplexed from start to finish. Overall, it's a nice place to go for a drink and an interesting experience, but not somewhere I would revisit a second time.
The slaw was by far the most beautiful and pleasant salad/slaw I've ever eaten. The presentation was fantastic and the fact that your server mixes it right at the table and serves it made the experience even more special. We had ordered about 6 different small dishes to share and each dish had very interesting flavour combinations. Duck confit roll was a bit on a salty side for my taste but the seabass was cooked perfectly. I would visit again if were in the area.
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