back again.
kinda busy this week, so there was a delay, not that anybody reads this. HA!
last monday i got to eat at susur lee's cheaper alternative 'lee' and check out the stevie wonder concert. it was pretty kick ass, and i will seperate this post by giving my uppers and downers of each event.
lee's:
UPPERS -
great atmosphere paired with a lovely/attentive waiter with an english-like accent (added to the said atmosphere). the food was aight. the menu consisted of the popular 'tappas' approach with little appetiser like servings available for each person to pick at. we ordered a variety of vege and protein dishes, the best of both being the slaw salad for the vege team and the braised beef dish for the proteins. a stand out performance was also given to the croquettes that were served along with the garlic shrimp. the slaw, noted as the signature dish for the restaurant, was nothing short of amazing. its greatness could be associated with the fact that almost everything was deep fried, so i hesitate when i call this a 'salad'. it was very tasty and had a lot of crunch which is typically what i like to find in a slaw.the braised beef dish was extremely tender, and melted in my mouth. the sauce was lovely, mild, and didn't bring it down. the beef was paired with a potato mash that echoed the melt-in-your-mouthiness in the beef.
kinda busy this week, so there was a delay, not that anybody reads this. HA!
last monday i got to eat at susur lee's cheaper alternative 'lee' and check out the stevie wonder concert. it was pretty kick ass, and i will seperate this post by giving my uppers and downers of each event.
lee's:
UPPERS -
great atmosphere paired with a lovely/attentive waiter with an english-like accent (added to the said atmosphere). the food was aight. the menu consisted of the popular 'tappas' approach with little appetiser like servings available for each person to pick at. we ordered a variety of vege and protein dishes, the best of both being the slaw salad for the vege team and the braised beef dish for the proteins. a stand out performance was also given to the croquettes that were served along with the garlic shrimp. the slaw, noted as the signature dish for the restaurant, was nothing short of amazing. its greatness could be associated with the fact that almost everything was deep fried, so i hesitate when i call this a 'salad'. it was very tasty and had a lot of crunch which is typically what i like to find in a slaw.the braised beef dish was extremely tender, and melted in my mouth. the sauce was lovely, mild, and didn't bring it down. the beef was paired with a potato mash that echoed the melt-in-your-mouthiness in the beef.
lastly, the croquettes made a stand-out appearance alongside the garlic shrimp. they were nice and crunchy on the outside, and lovely and soft on the inner. but, again, they were deep fried. pretty much all the dishes we had were altogether deep fried or had a deep fried component. i love my fried foods but...come on now! is that all we need to make food good nowadays? artery clogging? i'm getting sick of all the frying happening in the culinary world, but that's probably because i have injested too much of it over the last while. i mean, you turn on iron chef america, and almost EVERYTHING is deep fried. ugggh, i digress.
the desserts were also pretty dope. i made my dad order the molten chocolate dish, while i got the usual vanilla creme brulee (i order this everywhere, and get upset when its not on a dessert menu). however, this brulee was paired with candied ginger nibs & sauce (like a compote), and it was a very interesting and refreshing pairing. i definitely enjoyed it. the molten chocolate cake was obviously a hit, because, come on, its hard to make molten cake taste bad. for me, anyways.
DOWNERS -
i'm going to begin my list of downers by taking a hit on the alcohol side - my starter cocktail. i ordered a mango infused mojito. it sounded great on the menu, especially after seeing that they used a persecco instead of the traditional soda/mineral water. however, it tasted waaaay too sweet and had too much sugary syrup added into it making it taste like something of the candy variety. i could hardly drink it. but being a drinker, i grinned and bared it, and made my way onto the wine train.
secondly, their signature shoe-string potatoes. barf. i must confess, i kept on eating them out of some masochistic rage. but honestly, there was this disgusting cinnamon-y or nutmeg-y seasoning on these that made them gross. like, really gross. and considering that everything else on each plate seemed to be deep-fried, they should know what deep fried food should taste like, and not put any gross seasoning in it to make it 'avant garde'.
also notably gross, but not as bad, was the sauces they paired with the satay. there was an abundance of proteins given for the satay, which i was grateful for, because i'm an option girl. i like them. however, they should've just stuck with the traditional peanut sauce, because that was the best one. they gave two other dipping options that were not nice on the palate. i can't even remember what they were, because i don't care. it was funny to see that when we finished that dish, we collectively after one taste, avoided the other sauces and finished the peanut one. ha.
another not so great dish (we ordered a lot) was the deep fried tofu (i know, everything is bloody deep fried, so if you feel fat, don't come here and be fooled by the small portions). it was ok, but its hard with water packed tofu because there's no taste. it just tasted like any run of the mill tempura tofu from your neighborhood sushi joint. i suggest they marinate them with a garlic or chili base to give it a kick, and then deep fry it. but who am i?
all in all, it was fair considering the price and inventiveness of each dish. it was more like the atmosphere centered on the entertainment of food at this place. plus, the decor was innovative and fun. except for the bathrooms, they were boring and white. whatevs.
and, on to the concert
well, it was a packed house at the air canada centre, and everyone there was coming to see a musical legend: STEVIE WONDER. my sister, brother and i decided to buy my mum and dad tickets to see him as an early christmas present. the option came available for my sister and i to join, so i immediately obliged, even considering the crazy amount i doled out for the ticket. anywho, the uppers and downers:
UPPERS -
omg, are you kidding me? everything. this guy to me is what music should be about, to its core. well, pop music at least. stevie's been around since my parents were teens, and he's still got it, let me tell you. a great thing about this gig is that, to my relief, stevie didn't play any of his new stuff. the latest song he played was from the eighties ('i just called to say i love you'). AMAZING. he began the concert by recalling his mother's death, and explained that this is why he decided to tour again. he had vowed to never tour, but his momma came to him (apparently as a ghost) and told him to get to it. i agree.
the performance was amazing. i danced to all the fasties(living for the city, superstition, higher ground, signed sealed delivered, i'm yours!, etc) and almost cried at all the slowies (lately, ribbon in the sky, my cherie amour). actually, i did cry at 'my cherie amour' because that is my ALL TIME FAVORITE stevie tune. they had a nice sort of intermission with a blind percussionist that blew the roof off the house. he was awesome. then they showcased the 3 OTHER PERCUSSIONISTS in stevie's band! yeah, there were 3 of them. in total, stevie had an 11-peice band behind him with 2 backup singers. UH-MAY-ZYNG. everyone was dancing and having a great time the whole way through. i loved it. i clapped so hard during the show, my hands were swollen and hurty. and my dad was soooooo happy, holding my mum's hand almost throughout the whole set. i cannot tell you how great it was, and his voice was on point! he even got glenn lewis on stage to sing superstition but his warbling could not compare to stevie's impeccable voice. the set almost lasted about 3 hours, and the expensive tickets proved they were worth every penny. a truly mind-blowing and inspiring experience.
DOWNERS:
the wine. the only kind they had was like horse pee. but thank god, mummers and dads took us to get some santa marghereta after the concert at the royal york. LOVES THEM.
the desserts were also pretty dope. i made my dad order the molten chocolate dish, while i got the usual vanilla creme brulee (i order this everywhere, and get upset when its not on a dessert menu). however, this brulee was paired with candied ginger nibs & sauce (like a compote), and it was a very interesting and refreshing pairing. i definitely enjoyed it. the molten chocolate cake was obviously a hit, because, come on, its hard to make molten cake taste bad. for me, anyways.
DOWNERS -
i'm going to begin my list of downers by taking a hit on the alcohol side - my starter cocktail. i ordered a mango infused mojito. it sounded great on the menu, especially after seeing that they used a persecco instead of the traditional soda/mineral water. however, it tasted waaaay too sweet and had too much sugary syrup added into it making it taste like something of the candy variety. i could hardly drink it. but being a drinker, i grinned and bared it, and made my way onto the wine train.
secondly, their signature shoe-string potatoes. barf. i must confess, i kept on eating them out of some masochistic rage. but honestly, there was this disgusting cinnamon-y or nutmeg-y seasoning on these that made them gross. like, really gross. and considering that everything else on each plate seemed to be deep-fried, they should know what deep fried food should taste like, and not put any gross seasoning in it to make it 'avant garde'.
also notably gross, but not as bad, was the sauces they paired with the satay. there was an abundance of proteins given for the satay, which i was grateful for, because i'm an option girl. i like them. however, they should've just stuck with the traditional peanut sauce, because that was the best one. they gave two other dipping options that were not nice on the palate. i can't even remember what they were, because i don't care. it was funny to see that when we finished that dish, we collectively after one taste, avoided the other sauces and finished the peanut one. ha.
another not so great dish (we ordered a lot) was the deep fried tofu (i know, everything is bloody deep fried, so if you feel fat, don't come here and be fooled by the small portions). it was ok, but its hard with water packed tofu because there's no taste. it just tasted like any run of the mill tempura tofu from your neighborhood sushi joint. i suggest they marinate them with a garlic or chili base to give it a kick, and then deep fry it. but who am i?
all in all, it was fair considering the price and inventiveness of each dish. it was more like the atmosphere centered on the entertainment of food at this place. plus, the decor was innovative and fun. except for the bathrooms, they were boring and white. whatevs.
and, on to the concert
well, it was a packed house at the air canada centre, and everyone there was coming to see a musical legend: STEVIE WONDER. my sister, brother and i decided to buy my mum and dad tickets to see him as an early christmas present. the option came available for my sister and i to join, so i immediately obliged, even considering the crazy amount i doled out for the ticket. anywho, the uppers and downers:
UPPERS -
omg, are you kidding me? everything. this guy to me is what music should be about, to its core. well, pop music at least. stevie's been around since my parents were teens, and he's still got it, let me tell you. a great thing about this gig is that, to my relief, stevie didn't play any of his new stuff. the latest song he played was from the eighties ('i just called to say i love you'). AMAZING. he began the concert by recalling his mother's death, and explained that this is why he decided to tour again. he had vowed to never tour, but his momma came to him (apparently as a ghost) and told him to get to it. i agree.
the performance was amazing. i danced to all the fasties(living for the city, superstition, higher ground, signed sealed delivered, i'm yours!, etc) and almost cried at all the slowies (lately, ribbon in the sky, my cherie amour). actually, i did cry at 'my cherie amour' because that is my ALL TIME FAVORITE stevie tune. they had a nice sort of intermission with a blind percussionist that blew the roof off the house. he was awesome. then they showcased the 3 OTHER PERCUSSIONISTS in stevie's band! yeah, there were 3 of them. in total, stevie had an 11-peice band behind him with 2 backup singers. UH-MAY-ZYNG. everyone was dancing and having a great time the whole way through. i loved it. i clapped so hard during the show, my hands were swollen and hurty. and my dad was soooooo happy, holding my mum's hand almost throughout the whole set. i cannot tell you how great it was, and his voice was on point! he even got glenn lewis on stage to sing superstition but his warbling could not compare to stevie's impeccable voice. the set almost lasted about 3 hours, and the expensive tickets proved they were worth every penny. a truly mind-blowing and inspiring experience.
DOWNERS:
the wine. the only kind they had was like horse pee. but thank god, mummers and dads took us to get some santa marghereta after the concert at the royal york. LOVES THEM.
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