Fine Dining Begins ... at Lee

So far the year has started off well (New Year's Eve didn't count!) considering my life now revolves with going back to school and sitting in hours and hours of classes. No matter how busy I get, there's always time for good food and drinks!

LEE
603 King St. West
"Beautifully presented tapas."

For my boyfriend's birthday (Jan 11), I took him to Lee (www.susur.com) - great atmosphere, very lively. The decor had an asian eclectic feel to it - glass tables and candles, the long screens on the walls added texture along with a wall painting of animals. The room was lit with slightly ruby reddish lights to (it seems) give "life" to the room. Although the place isn't very big, the high wooden ceiling gives you the sense of a little more space. The glass wall allows you to look outside and watch people walk by (if you like that sort of thing...or watch your car). In the back, there is a nice looking bar for those who just want to grab one of their martinis or sample their quite decent wine list.
The menu presented us with a lot of choices, in the end we chose 5 tapas. It was difficult to choose a good wine but in the end we opted for red - a Chilean Sauvignon and Cave Springs Gamay. The tapas were very good and nicely presented (although I thought the braised beef was just ok...). Below: Braised Beef with sour cream and shallots.
My favourite dish was definitely the duck confit (below). It was wrapped in a crepe and topped with sweet walnut, goat cheese with pineapple on the side - the combination of flavours was fantastic! Even my boyfriend (who does not like nuts or goat cheese) enjoyed it.
Another surprise was the tofu, it was crispy on the outside and fluffy in the inside. I think it was paired with some sort of sticky sweet satay sauce and side vegetable garnishes. It was a very colourful and tasty dish! Again, tofu was not one of my bf's favourites but somehow Susur Lee managed to come up with one that he was willing to indulge in. That's quite a feat.
The roasted scallops (below) was also delicious! I think the top was garnished with little bacon bits "glazed bacon" coupled with pea puree on the side. The scallops themselves were fresh and succulent and was definitely a good choice.
The winner for best presentation was the garlic shrimp - and it was the only one I didn't get a picture of!! Not only did it look fantastic, it also tasted great too. Although the last 2 that we had were slightly overcooked.

We ended the meal with the Molten Chocolate cake - it was yuuuuum. The centre had melted chocolate with mini slices of banana. Fortunately, it wasn't too sweet and ended the meal perfectly. The night was all in all - great!