Welcome to Uncle Lee | The Press

Welcome to Uncle Lee, the new and highly anticipated restaurant from chef Andersen Lee, located on Laurier Avenue West, a location that has housed La Petite ardoise, Wilfrid sur Laurier and Veuve Chalet over the years.

Chef Lee welcomes us into this large room with a Chinatown feel, with its red lanterns on the ceiling, its dragons on the door handles, its black benches, its Chinese crockery and its chopsticks at the table. “It’s a dream come true, that of opening a Chinese restaurant, I am very lucky to be able to do it with the help of my mentors and partners Mélanie Blanchette, François Nadon and Émile Colette, co-owners of the Bouillon Bilk restaurants, Le Cadet and Place Carmin,” confides the young chef.

Andersen Lee, 25, was ready to open his restaurant. A graduate of the School of Catering and Tourism Professions, he worked in a few restaurants, including Bouillon Bilk, then in 2019, he won the prestigious 50 Best BBVA scholarship, an initiative of The World’s Best international list Restaurants that reward the most talented cooks. He has completed internships in three major restaurants around the world: Odette in Singapore, Core by Clare Smyth in London and Quintonil in Mexico. “I learned discipline, I saw how passionate people are about what they do and they work so many hours. These internships made me realize that I wanted to return home, to Montreal, to open a restaurant with a beautiful atmosphere and Chinese dishes at an affordable price,” he says.

The dishes are varied; there are some classics of Chinese cuisine like shrimp and pork wonton soup, garlic fried rice, spicy noodles, crispy seafood chow mein, duck platter, stir-fried vegetables, eggplant sauce sweet and sour and peanuts, but Chinese fondue is also on the menu. “I was born in Montreal to a Taiwanese mother and a father from Hong Kong. The menu is made up of Chinese dishes that we like to eat like spicy noodles, shrimp and fried squid. The duck was inspired by that of Beijing, but we make a version of pan-fried duck breast with five-spice sauce and it comes with the little pancakes. Scallops with XO sauce are not a Chinese dish, but there is a sauce that recalls Chinese flavors. There will also be daily specials and the menu will change according to the seasons,” says Andersen Lee.

A great place is given to cocktails with the creations of Connor Scott and there is a range of wines by the glass and bottles, a selection by sommelier Alexandra Doyon.

And why the name Uncle Lee? “It refers to a family friend, Uncle Lee!” When I was little, my parents told me that we were going to visit my uncle, but he was not an uncle, but a family friend. So you’re at home here, I’m a friend of the family, hence the name Uncle Lee! “.

Uncle Lee is open Wednesday to Sunday from 4 p.m. and until 1 a.m. Thursday to Saturday.

222, avenue Laurier West, Montreal