DaiLo: Restaurant & Dim Sum Bar in Little Italy

After what seemed like an eternity awfully long time, chef Nick Liu, formerly of The Niagara Street Café, finally opened DaiLo last month. Located on 502 College Street beside Mexican taco spot La Carnita, the Asian Brasserie - which was to be called "GwaiLo" initially - encountered some tough times when it was supposed to open two years ago. With potential locations falling through, investors pulling out and business partner Christina Kuypers departing the venture, Liu's aspiration to open his own place seemed increasingly uncertain. Regardless, even without a kitchen, Liu still generated a ton of buzz for GwaiLo with his creative pop-ups and dinners (write-ups on those dinners can be found at the end of this post). He successfully captivated local foodies' palettes with his modern twists on traditional Asian cuisine. The dish that made a lasting impression on me two years ago was undoubtedly Liu's Whole Fried Trout and I'm thrilled that this stunning dish has finally found a permanent home on DaiLo's menu...but more on that later.

It has been quite a journey for Liu and thankfully, all that is now in the past. With co-owners Anton Potvin (who owned The Niagara Street Café), Jen Grant and David Dattel, Liu's much anticipated Asian fine dining restaurant is once and for all, a reality.

DaiLo (Twitter: @DaiLoTO, Facebook: DaiLo) is open for dinner from Tuesday to Sunday, 5:30 PM to 2:00 AM. DaiLo is the 80-seat, main floor restaurant while LoPan is the casual, 55-seat cocktail and dim-sum snack bar on the second floor (and it's certainly not your everyday dim sum like "har gow" and "siu mai"...think Big Mac Bao). My four friends and I had dinner at DaiLo a few Fridays ago so all the photos here are of DaiLo, not LoPan.

The room is distinctively Chinoiserie with a mixture of European and Chinese artistic styles and design.

Dim Sum Workshop with Chef Susur Lee at Luckee [VIDEO]

Not many people can say that they've made dim sum with chef Susur Lee before. Like actually making Siu Mai dumplings with chef Lee side-by-side, in his kitchen, and learning the trade (similar to a semi-private lesson if you will). Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, right? So imagine my excitement when I received an invitation to Lee's newest restaurant, Luckee, for a two-hour exclusive dim sum workshop with the Chef! Not only did we get to experience firsthand how to make a few of Chef's key dishes, we also indulged in some dim sum and a delicious Luckee cocktail! But more on that later.

Luckee Restaurant and Bar (Twitter: LuckeeTO, Facebook: Luckee) headed by chef Susur Lee (@susurlee) and situated at SoHo Metropolitan Hotel in Toronto, serves upscale, modernized Chinese cuisine with dim sum service around-the-clock. Luckee's "Nouvelle Chinoise" menu offers classic dishes and refined dim sum from the culinary traditions of Guangzhou, Hunan and Szechuan regions, updated and enhanced by chef Lee. 

Luckee’s interiors subtly blend accents of imperial red and wall-to-wall panels of dynastic architecture, with a nod to 20th century Chinoiserie.

2014 Chinese New Year's Eve Feast

I have written about my Chinese New Year's Eve dinner every year on this blog for the past three years. This very important annual "reunion dinner" is where we all get together to celebrate the New Year ("we all" is really just my parents, my brother, my sis-in-law and my niece because I don't have any relatives here). The food we eat at Chinese New Year ("CNY") has traditional meanings related to CNY which helps to bring good luck, longevity and harmony for the upcoming year. For instance, dumplings play an important role in New Year food because of their shape which resembles the ancient Chinese gold or silver ingots. Some of us even avoid meat on the first day of CNY because each new year carries the name of an animal. While my parents are 100% Chinese I'm glad that they are far from being traditional (we be eating meat!) or superstitious (we be washing our hair on New Year's Day!) because in my opinion, most of those taboos are just plain ridiculous. When I think about it I realize we don't do much for CNY besides getting together and eating and giving out red envelopes (especially important for me LOL). When it comes to food we are not obsessed about what we must have for CNY dinner. My Mom will always make several key traditional dishes but she has no problem making - and the rest of us have no problem eating - food that has nothing to do with CNY. Just as long as there's food on the table, we're game.

We never eat out for CNY because we much prefer my Mom's cooking. But this also means a whole lot of work for her; she starts prepping several days in advance and she'll be in the kitchen the whole day on CNY Eve. We are always thankful that she puts in so much time and effort in making all this delicious food for us - not just on CNY but all the time :)

Like last year, aside from making her usual New Year's Eve dinner, my Mom made three different kinds of New Year puddings. My favourite this year is her turnip pudding which had tons of turnips, dried shrimps, Chinese sausage and Chinese bacon. 

From L to R: Chinese New Year cake or Nian Gao "年糕", Turnip cake "蘿蔔糕", and Water chestnut cake ("馬蹄糕")

The cakes were sliced into thick pieces, coated with whisked egg, pan-fried then served with congee for lunch on New Year's Day.

This year my Mom also made these deep fried glutinous rice balls (“煎堆”) with lotus seed paste filling (“蓮蓉”). 

Made with glutinous rice flour and sweet potato, the dough is rolled into balls, wrapped with lotus seed paste, dredged in white sesame seeds then deep fried (these rice balls can also be filled with red bean paste).

I was hooked on these after just one bite.

Sam's Congee Delight ("黃三記")

I have the weirdest cravings sometimes, cravings that come from nowhere. 


Sunday morning, my boyfriend and I were thinking of doing some errands in the afternoon and thought it would nice to grab something to eat beforehand. And you know when it comes to "brunch in uptown" I'm always at a total loss; besides Bluestone Bistro, I do not know of any good brunch places in uptown (I have yet to try Fraticelli's and please, please do not tell me to go to Cora's). Besides, that morning I wasn't feeling French toasts, or eggs benedict, or pancakes / waffles - I wanted something Chinese.


Usually when my boyfriend asks me where I want to go for lunch, I draw a blank. This time around, I replied right away: "Let's go to 黃三記". Hmmm wait...no.... I actually said "Let's go to that congee place at Market Village".


Sam's Congee Delight is located inside Market Village, a Chinese mall in Markham (Kennedy & Steeles). It is a small "hole-in-the-wall" type of restaurant where you go in, eat, and then leave (I know technically, it shouldn't be considered a "hole-in-the-wall" as it's located inside a mall LOL but it is trying to give that effect). You won't find anybody lounging around, reading newspapers, sipping tea at this place - it is not dim sum.


There were a lot of people waiting when we went.

Sam's Congee Delight is known for their fried dough sticks ("油炸鬼").

It's great how you can see them up close making everything. Here he is preparing the dough sticks for frying.

My Chinese New Year's Eve Feast

Happy Chinese New Year! Wishing everyone a healthy and prosperous Year of the Rabbit =) 恭祝各位, 新年快樂! 心想事成！身體健康！That's not a direct translation at all, but much like going into a Chinese restaurant and seeing the specials written only in Chinese, only the people that can read Chinese will have the luxury of understanding what I wrote haha~


Wednesday night was Chinese New Year's Eve. Every year, my Mom would cook a very extravagant meal, a menu full of delectable Chinese dishes. We never go out to a restaurant for Chinese New Year because we enjoy wining and dining in the comfort of our own home. But of course this is only possible because my Mom is such a brilliant cook (see my post here dedicated to my Mom's crazy cooking skills). 


My family is not traditional nor superstitious. As in, we do not decorate our house with Chinese New Year decorations or do any rituals, ever. We actually do not do much at all during Chinese New Year besides getting together and eating. We haven't bought Chinese New Year candy in ages so I was pretty surprised when I saw this in the kitchen the other day:

Mom bought it at T&T, probably to make it feel more like Chinese New Year in the house. I must say that is one sad looking candy box though; the sesame chips in there has absolutely nothing to do with Chinese New Year (they are sold as snacks at T&T all year around). The picture below is an example of how a traditional Chinese New Year candy box should look like:

But whatever. When we were living in Hong Kong I remember we can never finish the stuff in the box anyway, even weeks after the New Year; a lot of the stuff in there is way too sweet for our taste. It also doesn't help that my family don't snack much in general.


What we do eat every year is pudding. My mom sometimes makes them and sometimes buy them. This year, she made the Water Chestnut Pudding (馬蹄糕) and bought the New Year pudding (年糕) and Turnip Pudding (蘿蔔糕). Mom pan-fried these for us after we came back from shoveling snow =)

Lobster Feast at OMEI

Last Tuesday, I went to a lobster tweetup which was organized by Mackenzie (@M3foods). It finally came into fruition as it was originally planned for early November but was pushed back due to scheduling conflict. 


Why a lobster Tweetup you ask? Well simply because I was talking about my experience at The Lobster Trap a month or so ago on Twitter, how great it was and all, and it just so happens that at the same time, Mackenzie also posted up a picture on Twitter of two ginormous lobsters from OMEI Restaurant (totally stealing my lobster thunder by the way). And then from that, Chris (@thechrisim) suggested doing a lobster tweetup, and of course within minutes we all chimed in about how awesome that idea was. So Mac, with his connections, was able to hook us up with a 5-course lobster dinner at OMEI Restaurant, with the criteria that we get enough people for it. Let's just say it wasn't too hard finding 10 people for this lobster feast =)


I haven't been to OMEI for probably more than 10 years. I remember going as a kid with my family when we first immigrated here from Hong Kong.  Since I wasn't a foodie back then I have no recollection if the food there was good or not. But OMEI is considered to be a household name in terms of Cantonese cuisine in Toronto, and I'm sure most Chinese people in the area knows about it; it has a good reputation for its consistency and quality.

Tuesday night at Omei: we were the only table there at the time (around 7pm). Here we are waiting for the rest of the gang.

Lobsters in the tank.

Notice that these are not your typical size lobsters.

Fantaxia Restaurant - A Private Taste

Fantaxia is a Chinese restaurant located in a small strip plaza, "Skymark Plaza", in North York (3555 Don Mills Rd, Unit 5). The restaurant itself is pretty hidden so you may not notice it right away; it is between Subway and No Frills. 


Fantaxia is different than your typical Chinese restaurant because it is a "Private Kitchen" or "私房菜" ("Sze Fong Choy" in Chinese). Popularized in the late '90s in Hong Kong, the first private kitchens often had meals in the chef's own apartment consisted of one menu, a few tables, and one seating per evening. Diners had to book weeks ahead, sometimes even months. Nowadays,  private kitchens do not operate like that but rather have became more varied, more established, and operate as small restaurants. However, a few golden rules still remain for private kitchens: 


1) They do not prepare menus for customers to choose from;
2) They only offer one to two seatings per night; and 
3) They do not have any form of advertising - recommendations are largely word-of-mouth. 


Exclusivity is what makes private kitchens special. Private kitchens generally provides homemade dishes with a sense of being at home in a cozy, intimate, unpretentious, and friendly environment. 


Like I said, you gotta call ahead of time if you want the special menu. It was my Mom that called for the reservation. They will typically ask you how many people are coming, what your budget is, if there is anything that you like or not like (i.e. type of meat, allergies, more light dishes or spicy or fried foods etc.) and they will customize the menu for you. I'm not sure if Fantaxia take walk-ins.


That night we brought our own wine.  

Our menu consisted of 8 courses. All the menu items have really poetic names. For example, one of the dishes listed below translates to "Boat with Full Harvest". Good luck trying to figure out what that is =)

Soup with Fungi and Fish Belly - It was thick and hearty with lots of fungi & fish belly. Great start to the meal.

Fried Oysters - This was soooooo tasty!  One of my favorite dish that night. Each oyster is rested on a piece of small slice of bread, which in turn are on a bed of crispy leaves. The sauce was incredible.

Emperor Fine Chinese Cuisine

Emperor (君臨天下) is a Chinese restaurant owned by the father of one of my boyfriend's friends. The restaurant is located in Richmond Hill on 9019 Bayview Ave. at a strip plaza. 


Due to obvious "connections", my boyfriend and his friends (and me of course) have been to Emperor several times for birthday celebrations and other special occasions. We usually get a private room or section for our mini parties. Everytime we eat at Emperor we come out so stuffed! Similar to wedding receptions, we would have the extravagant 10 course meals (or sometimes more). But unlike the crappy food quality that you sometimes get at other restaurants, Emperor consistently serves really delicious food. They are also very creative - I've had dishes there that I've never had anywhere else before (this goes for dim sum too).


Emperor is pretty big and spacious.

You won't find a Chinese restaurant without the following two essentials: Maneki Neko cats...

and bamboo plants.

Fantasy Eatery

Fantasy Eatery (銀星小廚) has been around for many many years. I remember going with my family to its original Scarborough location at Midland and Finch when I was still in elementary school. To this day I still remember how we had to wait so long for a table! Fantasy Eatery was a very popular place back then because of the lack of competition for good and cheap Cantonese style food.


I haven't been to Fantasy Eatery in recent years, but an opportunity came up this summer when a friend from Calgary was visiting. Due to the mediocre-at-best Cantonese style food in Calgary, he really wanted to go for some delicious Cantonese food in Toronto, and that's when Fantasy Eatery came to my mind (another option was Big Mouth Kee). Essentially, I was looking for places that:

1) Provided decent portions, preferably not too big so can try more dishes;

2) Appropriately priced dishes (i.e. a good bang for the buck); and most importantly,

3) Served dishes with good "wok hay" (鑊氣). 

For those who don't know what "wok hay" means, here's a picture that may help:

"Wok hay", literally translated as "breath of the wok", is essentially that elusive flavor that comes from cooking on a properly hot, seasoned wok. This is a wok so hot that flames erupt from it the moment the first morsel is introduced to the steel. 

My First Chinese Restaurant Post: Bayview Garden

Some of my friends tell me that I don't blog about Chinese food enough. They question whether I even eat Chinese food when I'm out. The thing is, I do! I eat Chinese food all the time when I'm out with my parents. Not as much with friends or on my own because for Cantonese food, it is all about ordering dishes to share. So eating out with one other person, or even two, won't give you much variety (same idea as dim sum). And as to why I don't blog about it? I don't know. Maybe I take advantage of it because I'm Chinese and Chinese food to me just doesn't seem all that interesting? Or maybe I haven't been to a restaurant yet in Toronto where their food impressed me so much that it gives me the motivation to look for other ones that are just as good? Or maybe there's a lack of good Chinese restaurants in Mississauga (where I live) so expectations become non-existent? Whatever the case may be, whether it's one, or all of the above, here is my first Chinese food post =)


Recently, a restaurant emerged in Mississauga called Bayview Garden. This restaurant is probably the most decent restaurant in Mississauga so far. I figured if I am going to blog about Chinese food, might as well start with a good one. Hopefully the quality of the food lasts though - a lot of Chinese restaurants start out pretty good in Mississauga, then quality tends to deterioriate after a year or so. 


A side note: this restaurant has no affiliation with any Bayview Gardens that may already be in existence or was once in existence in Markham / Scarborough / Richmond Hill. Chinese restaurant owners are not very creative when it comes to English names, so English restaurant names are sometimes replicated, that is why I only remember Chinese names (only possible if you're Chinese ^_^).


I've combined pictures of two occasions here. The first one was with the fam, where we ordered a set dinner.