It's pronounced Len-ya

Leña

176 Yonge St.

Rating: BODYCON

Leña is like that mirage in a shopping desert. You’re minding your own business, building up your debt on your Hudson’s Bay credit card you always forget you have and you start to get shangry. Shangry is when you’re shopping and you become angry, usually due to hunger. So you start trying to navigate out of the Bay, end up in Saks and boom - there’s Leña. Earlier this year, this eclectic little restaurant graced the corner of Yonge and Richmond and we thought “hell no, we can’t afford Saks let alone food that Saks serves”. But, we were wrong.

What’s Leña known for?

Chef Anthony Walsh hits us with traditional South American cooking but adds a twist of Italian and Spanish curve to his dishes. Leña’s mantra is “live to eat” and we couldn't agree more. This Latin style cuisine serves light breakfast options, lunch, dinner and cocktails to accompany every hour of the day.

What did we get?

Ricotta Canneloni ($22)

Menu Description: nutmeg, green pepper tomato sauce, idiazabal cheese

This dish comes with three stuffed canneloni so either play nice and split the extra one or fight to the death for the full thing because this one was definitely worth it. Served in a skillet, this dish takes a sweeter approach to the traditional tomato sauce.

Pollo Doña Aurora ($27)

Menu Description: organic chicken, laurel, lemon & saffron braise, mushrooms, potato purée.

Well, you can never go wrong with the Chef’s favourite. Executive Chef Marteleira swears by this chicken dish, a Leña original recipe made with organic chicken really hits the spot.

Photo credit: https://www.instagram.com/lenarestaurante/

Notable contenders:

Charred Beef Tartare Why? Because raw meat and oyster mayonnaise goes really well together. Don’t know what

oyster mayonnaise is? Neither did we.

Photo credit: https://www.instagram.com/blogto/

Churros

Why? Fried dough, sugar coated dough dipped in melted chocolate, that’s why.

Not worth the splurge:

Jamon Ham

Why? The plate is smaller than your ex’s D and the price is larger.

Lala’s Patatas Bravas

Why? Just glorified potatoes.

In an ideal word…

We’d splurge for the beretta farms strip loin AKA steak! Seeing the couple next to us indulge in their medium rare beauty gave us some next table envy. We’d buy the whole cow, not just the milk.

Tab:

$49 before tax and tip

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