387. Luckee Restaurant

When I heard about the new restaurant at the Soho Met Hotel by Susur Lee, Luckee, I was really excited to try it. With my love for uniquely designed restaurants and my growing love for dim sum, I knew it would be a great experience. I met my sister there this past Saturday for dinner.

Luckee serves a small selection of dim sum dishes in addition to larger dishes of meat, seafood, fish, noodles, rice, steamed baos, and plenty of vegetarian options (you can download the menu here). Everything is made with a modern twist. The dishes are inspired from a fusion of tastes from Susur Lee's travels around Guangdong, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Susur Lee was born in Hong Kong, where he began his career at one of the oldest most prestigious hotels there - the Peninsula Hotel. He is now a Toronto-based celebrity chef, with three popular restaurants in the city and as a judge on the television show, Chopped.

Coming from a Chinese family, I grew up eating a lot of dim sum. Back when I used to live with my parents, I really disliked going out for Chinese food. Since we ate it literally every day, it was nothing special for me. But now, I have grown to love it. I've lived alone for the past 6 years and rarely (never) eat Chinese food by myself or with friends. So every week when I go to see my mom for lunch, I usually ask to go for dim sum.



While waiting for our food to arrive, I took a walk around the restaurant. Next time I come, I would love to sit at the dim sum bar here. The open kitchen allows you to eat while watching the chefs prepare the food.



I guess now that I've been going to dim sum with my mom so often, I am quite familiar with all the types of dishes. I knew exactly what I wanted here. Actually, I wanted to try everything on the menu. One of the best things about dim sum is that everything is small/meant to be shared, so you get a chance to try a lot of different things before getting full. We started off with this "Long Xia Gow" - lobster and asparagus dumplings. This was really delicious - one of my favourites!

Crispy Tofu Cake (with corn and mushrooms) and Crispy Taro & Turnip Cake. Loved these as well. I would re-order them both next time I go!

Steamed Spinach & Chinese Celery Dumplings. Didn't really like this one - it tasted pretty bland.

Chicken Cheung Fun - Rice Roll (with tofu, ginger, green onion & soya sauce). Cheung Funs are my favourite to order at dim sum. This one was really flavourful. I would definitely order it again. They also have a Shrimp Cheung Fun which I heard is delicious too.

The Cantonese Style Ginger Fried Rice with egg white, dried conpoy scallop, asparagus & bacon. I probably wouldn't order this again. It was good but nothing special - what you can expect at any other Chinese restaurant. It tasted a bit bland as well.

Dessert time! We ordered these three to share. Chocolate Custard Steamed Sponge Roll (with hot chocolate dipping sauce), Passion Fruit & Pineapple Coconut Mango Pudding (with coconut mousse) and Rice Donut (with egg custard & sesame). The Mango Pudding was my favourite! I would definitely get that again. I didn't really like the Rice Donut too much.




Recommendations/What We Loved
- Have a seat at the "dim sum bar"
- For dinner for two, I recommend 2 mains, 4 dim sum, and 3 desserts to share.
- Our Favourites: Long Xia Gow, Chicken Cheung Fun, Crispy Taro & Turnip Cake, Crispy Tofu Cake, Passion Fruit & Pineapple Coconut Mango Pudding
- We didn't get a chance to try these but I would also suggest (because I love them at other Chinese restaurants): Shrimp Cheung Fun, Luckee Duck, Wok Fried Green Beans and Black Sesame Tong Yuen Tart.
- The service was excellent. Our server was extremely friendly and knowledgeable in the menu. He was really patient with all the tables and eager to give suggestions on what to try.
- I really loved the decor. It's very modern and unique. It reminded me of some places I visited in NYC and Paris, the types that we don't get many of in Toronto.

What We Didn't Like
- Luckee is (expectedly) more expensive than your typical dim sum restaurant. I felt some of the dishes were overpriced (if comparing the taste, to what's served at other Chinese dim sum restaurants). I wouldn't say it's not worth it though, as I would definitely go back to Luckee.
- It would be helpful to include a few photos on the menu. I knew what every dish was as I've had it all before (at other restaurants and because I can speak Chinese), but it may be confusing for someone who has never had dim sum to know what "baos" or "rice rolls" are like. I also think the Rice Donuts should be re-named Sesame Balls. Personally I'm more comfortable ordering food when I already know what it looks like.
- All the dim sum came first and the large fried rice we ordered came last. It would be good if the rice came in the beginning with the dim sum so they can be eaten together. I see dim sum more as side dishes to the mains (rice and noodles).

Luckee is located at 328 Wellington Street West, a short walk from the CN Tower and SkyDome/Rogers Centre. To book a table, call 416-935-0400.

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