Food Review: Leslie Cafe (Tsai Tsan Tang)

I am a lover of hot milk tea and I am in search of the best hidden HK diner gems surrounding the Toronto GTA.

Since there's no real list or good list for Hong Kong Diner style restaurants in Toronto, I have decided to put matters into my own hands and do it myself. 

This is my first blog stop: Leslie Cafe 

Location: Leslie St. & Finch (North East corner plaza)

Specials Offer Daily:

Breakfast specials that end at 10:30am (or 11am, not a 100% on that) 

Afternoon Tea Specials between 2:30 - 5:30pm

I came here with 2 other people on a late Sunday morning. It was nearing 11:30am and we were very hungry. Other than that 2-sided menu (above), we noticed that in their "regular menu" that their prices were just as good. We definitely liked the extension on good priced specials.

If you order from their Special menu, you will also receive a complimentary drink. You may choose from the following:

Hot milk tea 

Hot water

Coffee

Hot Lemon Tea

This was each of our orders...

They look gigantic, don't they? Well, it's really that big. Of course, you can immediately tell that the "food" itself is only drizzled on top while a massive amount of rice is embedded underneath. 

1) Smooth Egg with beef on rice (back, left)

2) Spare ribs with black bean sauce with veggies on rice (front)

3) Curry chicken with veggies on rice (back, right)

.

.

.

.

.

My thoughts on the 3 dishes:

The best tasting dish turned out to be the smooth egg with beef. The sauce mixed with the rice was a very easy to please. 

Unfortunately, my order of "spare ribs" was very disappointing. There was little to no meat on any of the spare ribs. The spare ribs themselves seemed smaller. What saved the dish was the sauce. 

My least favorite dish was the Curry chicken with vegetables on rice (photo below). I did not taste any flavour. It tasted very bland and boring. There were no spices and nothing to help save this dish. It was a big disaster, I'm sorry to say.

The thing that saved whole meal was when I had my first sip of my Hot Milk Tea. The creaminess with the tea itself was made to be very tasty. It was not watery and the tea flavours were bursting out and dancing on my tongue. 

Overall, I give Leslie Cafe a 2.9/5

I was very pleased with the service (easy & quick)

For a HK diner in TO, I was pleased with the cleanliness and modernity of this place

I was very pleased with the big portions offered

Beware of what is good and not (If you happen to be like me and miss 2/3 of the dishes, then be smart for next time, if you ever go back)

I was very pleased with the hot milk tea

.

.

.

.

.

And in case you're curious to try, here's the menu for the value prices:

Thanks for reading. Keep looking out for my HK diner reviews. =0)