Ly's Place

Hello readers! Well, Todd is safely back from Cuba (without a sunburn, I might add - well done, Todd!!) so we were able to reunite the whole group this week during our dining adventure at Ly's Place - a small restaurant on Wellington Street between Princess and Queen streets. The night of our visit, we were competing for parking spots with those attending the Scotties Tournament of Hearts at the K-Rock Centre (congratulations to Team Ontario!!) ... Something that can be a frustrating aspect of no longer living downtown and having the ability to walk to our destinations... But hopefully hard-to-find-parking means busy businesses, which is always nice for the local economy.

Now, when I say Ly's Place is small, I really mean small. I'm not sure what the exact capacity of the restaurant is, but our group of seven certainly took up a good portion of the floor space. In spite of being really small, though, Ly's Place certainly doesn't make you feel claustrophobic. The tables available are well arranged - including a booth in the window with a bench seat, and a bench seat along one wall to optimize space for multiple tables. Colours on the wall are simple and light with beautiful hanging art accents. Most impressive, perhaps, are the pieces of origami art that have been made and are sitting on the cash counter. I'm not sure how to make origami. I'm certainly not sure how to make origami that ends up smaller than the size of the tip of my pinky finger - but someone at Ly's Place has done just that (insert "oooh's" here), and in my opinion, that is just plain impressive. Maybe the only thing that does make the restaurant seem a little smaller is the plant that grows in the window... but I like to believe that the plant is more of an homage to the restauranteurs' interest in fresh product.  All in all, Ly's Place ultimately just feels like a small place with a big heart (insert "ahh's" here).

Since we were such a large group, we made a reservation, and there was ultimately only one place to seat us. Sadly, this was in front of the door, which meant that we got a rush of cold air each time someone came or went and resulted in some of us leaving our coats on or draped over our laps; but in no time, we were being served and deep into our usual good conversation, so we didn't notice for too long.  Service at Ly's place is nothing short of great. The staff are very friendly, and visited the table enough to ensure you always had what you needed but not so much that you felt bothered.  The menu at Ly's Place is simple, but definitely provides you with enough options to find something that you'll enjoy.  It was refreshing, to be honest - to be able to sit down with a menu that isn't pages upon pages of dishes in a language that you don't understand, forcing you to read every description only to forget the first few that you read by the time you get to the end. We found ourselves asking "what kind of food is this?", but the reality is that I think they call themselves "Fine Asian Cuisine" for a reason - it seems to be a nice mix of Cambodian, Thai and Vietnamese. You can check out their menu here, but sadly they don't have a website of their own that I could find, so I don't even know much about the history of the restaurant.  All I know is what I experienced (and admittedly, what I have experienced in the past, since this is not my first visit to Ly's) - so let's get to those details now.


What we ordered:
Carrie: Vietnamese spring rolls; Sweet and Sour Chicken with pineapple, onions and peppers on rice.

Tonia: Vietnamese spring rolls; Vietnamese Chicken Curry with sweet potatoes, carrots and coconut milk on rice.

Todd: Coconut shrimp with Thai dipping sauce; Fresh pan seared fish with veggies, lemon grass, lime and coconut milk on rice.

Jordan: Vietnamese spring rolls (shared with Kendra); Singapore noodle - stir fried vermicelli with homemade Cha Siu, bean sprouts, sesame seeds, and a hint of curry.

Kendra: Pad Thai - stir fried rice noodles with chicken, tiger shrimp, peppers, bean sprouts, green onions and crushed peanuts.

Samer: Goi Cuon (shrimp fresh rolls); Kung Pao - stir fried chicken cubes with cashew nuts, water chestnuts and peppers on rice.


Benoit: Grilled Hoisin Beef Short Rib on rice.



The timing of everything created a pretty clear message in my mind: fresh ingredients. After we ordered, it took a little bit of time (not too long - we weren't upset by any means) for our starters, and the general feedback about the rolls and shrimp were positive. In so many Asian restaurants, I have found it hard to tell if the rolls are fresh or have been pre-made and mass-produced... and while they may come to you nice and hot, they don't taste super fresh. That just wasn't the case here. Todd's shrimp looked delicious, Samer's fresh rolls looked appropriately named, and the Vietnamese spring rolls were crispy and flavourful. Once we finished our first course, our mains sent the same message. The veggies and ingredients looked absolutely fresh and delicious. Plates were colourful and bright. 

So what kind of score did those bright plates deserve? Well, here's what we all had to say...

Carrie: 3.5 forks. For me, on this night, everything tasted yummy, but my main course was JUST warm (hot centre, but that didn't seem to last long), so it was slightly disappointing. The toppings were obviously fresh, which was really nice, and even better was the fact that the chicken was NOT battered. I have had an equivalent to this dish in a number of places, and the chicken is always battered. A great change. Other than that, I'm not 100% sure why I couldn't score my meal higher... I just had to stick with my gut.

Tonia: 5 forks. Tonia said, plainly and simply "I enjoyed it." She said that things were flavourful and fresh (there's that word again!!), and that she feels as though Ly's place puts a unique twist on common Asian dishes.

Todd: 5 forks. Todd's sentiment: "Delicious as usual". The coconut shrimp are homemade and have a delicious and perfectly balanced dipping sauce. Also, Todd stated that "fresh fish makes [him] feel healthy"... Todd is not a runner, but apparently eating this meal made him feel "ready to run"... pretty darn impressive!

Jordan: 4.25 forks. Jordan liked the noodles in his dish a lot, and he was most impressed by the fact that there were a bunch of different flavours that combined nicely - sweet, spicy, and some cumin. All of that said, Jordan didn't feel completely blown away, though, stating that "nothing caught his attention that much". 

Kendra: 4.5 forks. Kendra has given a lot of high scores, and while this score is also high, it didn't quite meet her "5-fork standard". She didn't get a wow factor during this visit, stating that the spring rolls were on par with other places (I definitely raised my eyebrow to that, since that was the best part of my meal), and that she has had Pad Thai at other restaurants that she has enjoyed more. Still, though - 4.5 aint too shabby.

Samer: 2 forks. Sadly, Samer was not overly impressed with his meal at Ly's Place... In fact, his meal was generally disappointing other than the flavour in the shrimp fresh rolls. The chicken was not very tasty, there was too much rice in his fresh shrimp rolls... Once again, the shrimp saved the day again - these 2 forks were awarded to the shrimp that was fried instead of boiled, which added flavour that was much needed.

Benoit: 2.5 forks. In Benoit's words, the ribs were "different" as they were about the same thickness as thick bacon and has many little bones to work around. For Benoit, this meal was just "okay" and the vegetables were not as flavourful as he had hoped. 

So - some ups, some downs... but an overall score of 3.8 forks. Really not too bad; but I will say that I expected a little better based on previous visits. I certainly would not hesitate to go back to Ly's Place - and I would be willing to try just about anything... including the really thin ribs and the sweet and sour chicken that was a little cold. 

Next week, we are off to a well-known (especially to the students in the city) Kingston restaurant - Copper Penny. Have you heard about their special fries? Oh - you will.