R&D — Restaurant in Toronto

I’ve been passing by this restaurant for many years and never actually got to visit until now for a Summerlicious dinner meal. Came on a Sunday evening, and the place was fairly crowded.

They have their cafe/ desserts at the front, then you pass by the kitchen and then come into the dining room last. The dining room has very tall ceilings and interesting decor with wall murals and these large light fixtures that look like drums.

I found the quality of food to be inconsistent throughout the courses. Service was okay. Our server was fairly attentive, but then another staff member will start to clear our table without saying a word and bring this almost gloomy feeling like they’re not happy to be there. So maybe consistency on the front of house as well could be improved.

We had the xiao long bao and Viet beef carpaccio for our appetizers. The dumplings were okay. They were piping hot when they came and there was still quite a lot of steam escaping from the bamboo basket when they came to our table. I found the texture and taste to be fine. The carpaccio had a lot of onion and garlic on top and was quite sour. Both appetizers were fine, but I wouldn’t order them again.

The fried chicken was the best dish I came across here. The chicken was cooked well, flavourful, and was pretty crunchy. The fried rice had a nice texture and I really liked that it was made with butter. It felt like a well balanced dish altogether.

The black pepper beef on the other hand was really quite surprising from the first bite. It was shockingly sweet. It was a strong flavour, and I felt like the pasta wasn’t enough to counterbalance it - like the dish needed something else to round out the taste. Maybe this could have been good as a smaller portion, but to have it be a big bowl of the same strong flavour with nothing but the rigatoni to help tone it down was overwhelming. On the plus side, the meat was tender.

We chose the panna cotta for dessert. You have the white panna cotta with blobs of bright red raspberries melting into it, which was maybe not the most elegant or appetizing presentation. Texture and taste were good.

Overall, my experience here left me a bit confused and part of that like I mentioned is a consistency thing with the food and the service. I also don’t necessarily get what they were going for with the interior design. As a customer, there’s not a strong cohesive feeling for me to take away from my visit here which was supported by the food, service, and ambience that provides a...

Food 4/5, service 3/5. Overall experience 3/5.

Came here for a friend's birthday tonight and tried out their baos (aka buns) as the pictures looked delicious. I ordered the CSB (Char Siu Bao - pork) and chicken satay. My friend ordered the 3rd selection which was the beef curry (not shown in the pictures) and surprisingly, all three were done differently.

The CSB was baked with a layer of sugar on the outside which made it crispy and had a nice texture especially with the moist filling inside. The filling was supposed to be Mexican but honestly, it tasted very Asian. I wished that the description on the menu stated how the bun was made as I preferred my CSB's to be steamed. Nonetheless, it was good to try it out but for $8, it was quite pricey for what it was.

My favourite was the chicken satay. It featured a steamed bun and it was exactly how I pictured it. The taste was also what I was expecting as the combination of the meat, pickles, sauce, and peanuts really came together well with every bite. The bun itself was soft and not overly chewy. 👌 2 buns for $7 was a good deal and is highly recommended. I wished they had a pork belly bun but I assume the restaurant switches their menu items up once in a while.

I only had a small bite of the beef curry and although I didn't feature it here in the pictures, imagine meat wrapped in a shape of a hockey puck with roti. It was packed with beef and flavour but not really what I expected a bun to be.

The overall experience at this restaurant was just ok. It wasn't full as I thought it might be for a Saturday night as there were only 2 tables (including ours). The most disappointing part of the experience was the service. I don't recall the gentleman's name who helped us but he was borderline rude and was very slow altogether. It got better towards the end but when it came to getting the bill, he was nowhere in sight and his counterpart had to get our bills for us and accept payment on his behalf - not what we were expecting. The good thing was that we weren't charge for the cake of $2 / person (I guess he forgot to add it into our bills) and the gratuity wasn't automatically included which we were expecting as we had a large group.

Overall, the food here was quite pricey too for what it was, the service was mediocre at best and I honestly wish that this experience was something I could talk with excitement but unfortunately, the previous ratings and reviews just didn't live up to the hype when we actually visited...

I visited R&D for my birthday dinner with my Mom and brother on October 29. I have been quite busy since then so I was unable to post sooner. We were seated a the chef’s rail. It was really cool to see the chefs at work and we really enjoyed chatting with them. We even learned about how the Peking Duck is made and got to see one of the staff cutting the cooked ducks. I highly recommend sitting at the chef’s rail. Our server was also very friendly and attentive.

On top of that, the food was spectacular! The star of the show was the Peking Duck which I would like to note must be reserved at least 24 hours in advance. I highly recommend that you try it if you visit R&D. The skin was incredibly crispy and the meat was so moist and tender. It was my first time having duck and it won’t be my last! Along with the duck we had the fried rice and the broccolini. Both dishes were the best version of those foods that I’ve ever had. The umami from the mushrooms in the fried rice was out of this world. The texture and the flavour of the rice was on point. It wasn’t too salty and had a nice crunchy topping. The charred broccoli gave us a nice break from the richness of the meal and the peanut dressing was delicious.

To prepare ourselves for the duck, one of the chefs suggested that we try the char siu bao. It had a melt-in-your mouth texture and was pleasantly sweet and savoury. It’s like if meat were candy. We also had the French onion spring roll. The crispy spring roll wrapper was a nice contrast to the melted cheese and tender beef in the middle. My mom, who usually doesn’t like beef and pork, devoured the bao and the spring roll.

To finish off our meal we shared a sticky toffee pudding. It was a bit dry and had too much cinnamon that overpowered the dish. My one comment about our meal is that it would have been better if we ordered a mix of light and fresh dishes and heavy dishes instead of all heavy dishes.

All things considered, the meal was amazing and it was a memorable night. We even waved goodbye and said thank you to Chef Eric Chong on our way out. I will definitely be coming back. Perhaps next time I’ll get a chance to speak with the chef! The one thing that visitors to R&D should keep in mind is that they should have a plan for where they want to park before they head...