Bar Mme Lee

Discreet location away from businesses or other restaurants. Quite a big place given the location, with kinda three sections. Great creative cocktail menu with interesting finger food. Original. A must try!

I wasn't sure what to expect from this place but it certainly seemed interesting. Named in Thrillist's 8 Montreal Restaurants That'll Rock 2014, it sounded like a funky bar that was serving up tasty eats.I've heard of the interior décor likened to a metro station, and that makes me laugh because it's such a good comparison! It kind of feels like a dark bunker, all moody, but with gleaming white tiles and a huge bar in the centre of the room. I'm assuming that it's far airier in the summer months, as they have their large windows open to the street. I didn't use the facilities myself, but apparently there isn't even a door on the gender neutral bathroom. There was a DJ spinning tunes even early-ish on the Friday evening when we visited (it's loud, but not the worst). I enjoyed the vibe. It felt like going out to a club without necessarily having to do so. We sat ourselves (at a sticky table) by one of the open windows and our friendly server was quick to take our drink order. There was a whole list of really fun-sounding summery cocktails and it was difficult to choose just one! I picked the Watermelon (Bombay gin, mint syrup, watermelon, citrus juices - $12.00) because it seemed like the most summery of them all. Beautifully pink in hue, this sweet beverage tasted like crushed watermelon. I liked the effort that was put into a pretty presentation as well. I didn't love the fruit fly that I found floating around in my drink, but I removed it and didn't bother mentioning it. It really was an ideal summer cocktail and I bet that each of the ones on their list are equally fresh and inventive. I found myself slightly perplexed at the food menu. Has the format changed since its opening? I had heard talk of beef tartar and had seen photos of lots of dishes that were not being offered on my visit. Maybe they do a seasonal sort of thing? The only items on the menu were sushi (which isn't actually a problem), there just seemed to be less on offer than what I had been expecting. Do they even make the food themselves?? We decided to order several different sushi items from the list. An easy choice was the Duo Geisha Lee (Chef's assortment - $28.00). Because the description of what comes in this dish is non-existent, I specifically asked our server if any of the other items on the menu are included in it (so that we wouldn't order double of anything). The server told us no, that this dish was completely different from everything else listed.What arrived was certainly beautiful. No explanation was given to us, but thankfully none was really needed. We would simply eat it all! I liked the assortment of various items a lot, and everything was very delicious and bursting with flavours and colours. There were two pieces of sashimi and two pieces of sushi, both fresh and nice. No soya sauce was provided, which I found odd, however I'm aware that it's not really used in Japan as much as we use it in North America. The fresh roll was wonderfully bright and I loved the avocado within and especially the tasty sesame dipping sauce that accompanied the roll. Of the two sushi rolls on the plate, we enjoyed the innovative one that was wrapped in rice paper and was stuffed with tuna, avocado and perfectly wonderful textures. It's never a bad day when a gorgeous dish like this gets put down in front of you! We also ordered the bizarre-sounding Soleil Levant Pizza (Fried rice cake, salmon and tuna tartare, jalapenos, cherry tomatoes, red onion, basil and teriyaki sauce - $16.00). As odd as this was, it was surprisingly incredible! I loved the way that they created something totally different and wacky by using familiar flavours. I loved the crispy fried rice base, which was pleasantly crunchy and toothsome. This was saucy and fresh, almost like a salad combined with a pizza. I would never have thought that raw salmon and tuna could work well with tomatoes, onion and basil, but this proved that it could work well! This dish felt like an adventure and I was happy to experience something that was totally out-of-the-box.Lastly, we ordered the Lee Roc (Tuna and salmon tartare, tempura flakes, spicy sauce, cucumber and avocado - $13.00). You can imagine my annoyance when this roll showed up and turned out to be one of the items included in our previous dish. After I had specifically asked our server about this very thing. Regardless, there really isn't such a thing as too many yummy sushi rolls... I just would have preferred the opportunity to select more variety instead of more of the same. This was good. I liked the crunch and the spice. Of the two rolls that we had, we liked the other one better though. Why couldn't they have given us two of that one? While I have several criticisms about this place, the food itself was very good. The prices seemed high. I'm sure that you could go elsewhere and find sushi just as good, which makes me wonder if putting up with this place's short-comings is worthwhile.

The Divas had a mandatory 5 à 7 work event to discuss the growth of the company and other blah blah blah news. We work together, as do Bellatrix, Zeus, some of the cousins, A, P’tit Frère, Whitey, Peaches, etc. Even Mr. Wonderful works there, but he is a real employee, amongst other assorted friends and foe. So after our work event, which thankfully had cocktails, we couldn’t simply stop drinking on a Thursday, so we headed to Mme Lee’s. Bars that serve a few bites seem to be the new trend in Montreal’s drinking and dining scene and while Mme Lee’s isn’t really a restaurant per se, but you can enjoy a few tapas with your cocktails, and that’s exactly what we did. Located somewhere between downtown Montreal and the Plateau (we have no idea where these boroughs begin and end) most of our friends from work ended up at Mme Lee’s for some gossip and cocktails. Sadly it wasn’t a Tuesday where they are known for their 1$ oysters but we started drinking and soon didn’t care.