Lai Wah Heen

Hands down, one of the best Cantonese restaurants in the city. I have dined at Lai Wah Heen countless times for both dim sum lunch and dinner. Yes it is expensive, so don’t come here with the intention that you’ll walk out paying what you would if you ate at a Chinatown restaurant. Despite changing owners and some of the chefs being poached by the likes of Susur Lee or leaving to start their own ventures, Lai Wah Heen has maintained a general high standard of quality.
A few dishes to highlight — crispy chicken with black truffle, e-​fu noodles, Peking duck, jumbo prawns, custard filled buns and BBQ pork puffs. The red bean soup is also great and probably my favourite across any Chinese restaurant where I’ve had this dessert.
I was worried that Lai Wah Heen would go away when the Metropolitan Hotel was sold and became a Double Tree Hotel, but I’m very glad that the restaurant survived and continues to put out great food.

Pros: Pekking duck was amazing (had a coupon for half price), clean restaurant, friendly and fast service.
Cons: Rest of dim sum menu was rather ordinary for the slightly above price point.
Verdict: Would recommend.

There are plenty of good Chinese restaurants out there, but being one of the, if not the most expensive Chinese place in the city, I’m expecting more.

Been here a few times, dim sum was really good and that was main purpose of most visits.
Last time I came, I was in the mood for peking duck and was pleasantly surprised with the service I received. The duck was crispy, and over all delicious. The 2^nd course was also fantastic, we had the common lettuce wrap etc etc. What blew my mind was the service with the Peking Duck. The server actually was making two wraps per person and serving it to us rather than me doing it myself.
Not sure if that was a standard service or because it was a little after lunch and slower. That being said, why 4 and not 5? Because the dim sum was a little off that day, especially the cute little lobster roll. Not much, but not as bang on as it was with previous visits.

Definitely one of the best Chinese restaurants in town. The servers were very polite and very attentive. One of them saw me frowning at a chipped sauce bowl and they immediately offered to change it right away.
I was craving for shark fin for a while and Lai Wah Heen delivered a great and reasonable price shark fin soup, which left me very satisfied. One of my friends ordered a sweet paste noodle bowl and it was absolutely delicious! Their dim sum was alright, not the best but their services and the restaurant’s ambiance made up for it.
Will definitely return for more fine Chinese dining!

Was craving Peking Duck and found a coupon for half off on their website if you spend $ 50 on food. We began with a bottle of Prosecco since we knew it would be good with the duck and probably also the dim sum. It’s hard to pair affordable wines with Chinese Food, so this was the obvious choice. We had the crispy foie gras, which was actually too sweet and the foie gras was lost inside the tempura batter. I would have said the orange sauce was far too sweet if not for the pungency of the orange. Little tempura broccoli florets were very good.
Dim sum platter was a nice mix of mushroom and shrimp spring roll. It was nice to have a spring roll that did’t come frozen from a box. Shatteringly crisp and tasty. I asked for some hot sauce (which was both spicy and flavourful) for my shu mai. Really delicious.
The duck was perfect and we were almost full by the time we were done with the crepes, which themselves were soft and well made. Service was attentive never leaving us waiting for another pour from the bottle or a plate of duck. I did find that they portioned the duck for the crystal fold in two heaping servings each on a lettuce wrap. I think they were closing and just wanted us to eat it all at once. Maybe this is the way it is always served, but a few more lettuce wraps with a smaller amount of the duck would have been nice.
Shrimp in sundried Chili sauce was excellent. We were very full but managed one each and the shrimp were plump and juicy beneath a crisp batter. We asked our server what main dish she recommended and this was her pick. I may have gone with something that wasn’t deep fried, but everything was very good.
I’d definitely comeback for dim sum or bring my parents here for a dinner if they were in town.

So… good! Delicate and tasty dim sum, good service. The price is not so high. Overall, it’s a worthwhile dim sum, Hong-​kong style restaurant. But don’t order salted yolk fried rice with shrimp and pine seed. It’s not that tasty, the rice is too soft, grains stick together as if the rice is steamed with too much water. You can order seafood fried rice with dried pineapple. That one is much better! I tried it before and every grain of rice is separate.
Almost every dish of dim sum is delicious. You can try all of them gradually to find which ones are your favorites.
Notice that a separate dim sum paper menu will only be given for lunch. Limited amount of dim sum is served for dinner. So go there for lunch seems better. And if you go as a group with quite a few people, reservation for big, round table is needed.
Ps: I’ll never go to Dynasty Chinese Cuisine again when I finally find 丽华轩. Not only because Dynasty is less tasty, but it has worse, unfair service towards Asian customers than western customers as well.

Visited this place on 23^rd December, my friend had ordered its takeouts several times whereas I had never tried it before. Overall good, food was pretty tasty made me no longer feel homesick :)
The Peking duck, Jeez we thought it was just an appetizer but the portion turned out to be too much for us. We ended up feeling like two balloons, then the server handed another plate of ducks LOL. Anyway the duck itself was awesome, we may have ordered too much food considering the Peking duck as an appetizer.
Dim sum were all good, definitely worth trying.

I took the greatest grandma in the world here for dimsum last week. She really enjoyed it. Of course– she usually enjoys every place I take her to, because she’s encouraging like that. That’s why she’s the greatest grandma in the world.
I’m not as benign so here’s what I think:
+ Great for quiet and serious dimsum conversations. LWH is way quieter than other dimsum places. Probably because there’s not as many Asians shouting at each other
+ Unique dishes i.e. Scallop/​caviar dumping ($ 5), lobster/​shrimp/​escalope dumpling ($ 5), foie gras/​pork pastry ($ 5)
+ It’s not a Value Pick for dimsum. Note the Singular DumpLING, no S, above. You can imagine how the price adds up when each person wants their own dumpling
+ Price/​Quality ratio was okay imo. You can definitely find better P/​Q ratios uptown i.e. Casa Imperial, Casa Victoria, Crown Prince

Came here for the Peking duck for dinner and it did not disappoint. I’d for sure give the duck 5 stars, plus they were offering a discount on it if we ordered an additional $ 50. The second course of duck wrapped in lettuce was good, too. The service was very good, no complaints there.
Unfortunately, the other dishes we ordered were mediocre. The dim sum platter is about 8 small pieces, did not seem fresh, and was not tasty. It cost $ 12 also. They are supposed to be known for dim sum – maybe their lunch service is better. The steamed tofu with assorted mushrooms sounded good but was also not very flavorful. The sea cucumber filled with shrimp mousse was not memorable and tasted a bit fishy.
The deep fried crab claw was solid. Overall, the prices really do not justify the quality of food but the duck was stellar.

This place has excellent quality and service. It’s a little pricier than most uptown Chinese restaurants but not by much. The service is top notch. We ordered the Peking duck and it was perfectly done. They even wrapped my duck for me… actually I prefer to do that myself but the service is what I paid for. The restaurant is elegant and very nicely decorated. I wouldn’t go all the time because it is downtown but I would definitely bring my guests there.

I dined at this elegant Chinese restaurant years ago when it was located in the Metropolitan Hotel. Back then, Lai Wah Heen received glowing reviews and it was a darling of all the critics. Lately, you hear very little about LWH, as social media extols the virtues of trendier and hipper establishments catering to that pervasive youthful vibe. However, Lai Wah Heen has not missed a step and is still one of the best Chinese restaurants I have ever dined in.
The décor maintains its zen like ambiance and service is still «old school» attentive. The Peking Duck was sublime, perhaps the best I have ever tasted, surpassing what is purported to be the best in NYC. The Dim Sum is prepared beautifully, portions large, and tasting great. The noodle dishes are incredible and we took some back to snack on later.
We ordered an enormous amount of food and I expected an exorbitant bill. Low and behold the check came to 120 Canadian dollars for three people who ate more dishes than we could count. Lai Wah Heen is unbelievably reasonable and is an experience not to be missed.

Food: 4.5÷5
Service: ⁴⁄₅
Cleanliness: ⁴⁄₅
Price: $$$
Crystal shrimp dumpling– I almost feel like it’s not dim sum if I don’t have some har gow on the table! The dumpling was really well made because the shrimp dumplings were very plump, like no space in between the glutinous covering and the insides. It didn’t taste any more special than your normal dim sum restaurant though, except that the shrimp used inside was very fresh and well cooked making the dumpling really juicy and flavourful.
Steamed dumpling of scallops, caviar, and bokchoy — Scallops and caviar in one dumpling! How could we not try? At $ 5.00 per piece, it was rather an expensive but totally-​worth-​the-​splurge choice! The caviar used wasn’t famous or very high quality of course, but having it on top of the dumpling definitely enhanced the overall textures and tastes of the dim sum. I especially liked the scallops, and overall the dumpling was well worth ordering again!
Steamed Chicken & Fish Maw in Rice wine Sauce — This was hubby’s choice and it was well done! Neither of us had never tried fish maw before let alone know what it was, but it was a successful order. Upon googling, I’ve read that fish maw is essentially dried swim bladders of large fish. You can click on the link above to read more about it. Fish maw definitely had interesting textures to it which I think some may enjoy and some might hate. Overall, the rice wine sauce was lovely and I liked the fish maw more so than the chicken.
Steamed Dumpling of Lobster & Shrimp in Garlic Butter — This dish was too cute to eat! I felt so evil cutting it in half to eat… but once cut, I had no trouble eating it. Another more expensive dim sum dish, but the lobster and shrimp insides were so delicate and juicy that it is well worth ordering. It definitely seems like it’s one of their most popular dishes, as I saw other tables ordering it as well. Besides, there must be a reason why it’s the first dish on the menu! I’d definitely recommend that you try it if you get the chance.
Crispy fried pastry of foie gras & minced pork — This was both hubby’s and my favourite dim sum dish. I had never expected the pastry commonly used for egg tarts and other sweet things to be used for such a savoury filling! It was so delicious and I really wanted to order some more, but successfully resisted. The taste of foie gras wasn’t too strong, but I think it was well balanced between the minced pork and the sauce used. Stronger foie gras might’ve thrown the savoury tart off balance I think. Of all the dim sum dishes we tried that morning, we definitely both loved this one the most and we recommend that you definitely try this one over the others!
Deep Fried Shrimp Rolls w. sweet & sour sauce — Last but not least, we ordered this dish that was very delicious. Looking a lot like spring rolls, the deep-​fried shrimp rolls was really well made! I especially loved the sweet & sour sauce, which was really magical when eaten together with the shrimp roll. I loved how it wasn’t overly fried making it not too greasy and it was perfect for the two of us to share. I also liked how there was shrimp inside instead of your regular pork (although I’m sure they have a meat version of it somewhere on their menu!). Our waiter recommended we try this when we said we wanted something deep-​fried. He was definitely right and we enjoyed it very much.
Overall, our brunch at Lai Wah Heen was very enjoyable and would definitely go back! I especially want to try their regular dinner as it looks really delicious! They have abalone, sea cucumber, and other exotic ingredients which aren’t so easy to come by in Toronto.
The restaurant is a great place to dine with your family or casually with friends, whatever the occasion, whenever. Service was really great, and our dim sum came out literally in a matter of minutes after ordering which I thought was amazing. Plus, the quality of the dim sum was not diminished by any means even though it took a short amount of time to prepare it.
Definitely going back!!!

I’ve been spoiled by great dim sum in the past but every plate here was superb. The staff was great but I was focused on trying to finish as much food as I could and not waste it. When the dessert came out my stomach was about to pop but I carried on.
Not much else to say about the great food but make sure to try twisting the top half of the Papaya Milk Custard tart, if you just bite into it you might make a mess.

The food is really nice! But it’s so expensive! Should try it if you are a huge fan of dim sum! Nice environment and service

First and foremost, this is the only restaurant in all of Toronto that serves Taiwanese food I can actually stomach.
Befitting it’s name in Chinese, Lai Wah Heen (LWH) is indeed a «luxurious meeting place». Upon sitting down at the table I immediately feel at ease. I can definitely draw parallels between the décor and the food: it’s elegant, simple but rich in aesthetics and design. The black granite is complemented with a display of beautiful Chinese calligraphy and paintings with white backdrops. I spent quite a long time admiring the artisanship of the paintings (gave me a few ideas of how to furnish my condo).
I firmly believe that the litmus test for quality for any Chinese restaurant is its Green Tea. Few restaurants in Toronto have been able to hit the bar for quality green tea, with LWH being one of them. Having grown up in a culture where Green Tea is not just for consumption, but a form of art expression, my bar for quality tea is quite high. The green tea is infused in the right temperature, and steeped for the optimal amount of time. The bitterness of the tea is carefully tempered, making sure it wasn’t oxidized too much during the drying process.
LWH serves over 8 types of tea. I would highly recommend the Monkey Picked Oolong Tea Lychee Scented Red Tea, Jasmin Scented Silver Needles and of course, the Dragon Well Longjin Green Tea.
LWH’s new chef Sam Tse does not disappoint at all.
It never ceases to amaze me how Dim Sum chefs are able to transform what used to be commonplace fast food into a sophisticated cuisine that is worthy to contest that of the Japanese.
I thoroughly enjoyed the food.
This is the one restaurant in Toronto where I will highly recommend the Peking Duck. It is divided in two courses, with the first being a whole duckling fried and served with finely shredded scallion and cucumber on steamed rice crepes. For the second course we chose the Crystal Fold, which is consisted of wok-​fried minced duckling, assorted vegetables and fried noodles wrapped in fresh lettuce leaves. Impeccable.
In addition to Peking Duck, I would also recommend the Taiwanese Triple Cup Chicken. This is a staple of Taiwanese food and gives you a quick introduction to the cuisine if you aren’t familiar with it. It is served in a hot clay pot flavoured with soy race, rice wine and vinegar.
I also highly recommend the Moo Shu, Foie gras & diced duckling fried rice, Stamed soft bun filled with custard lava, Wok-​fried diced Atlantic codfish & minced truffle with egg white.
For dessert I would recommend the Supreme grade Imperial Swallow’s Nest and Chilled Sweet Soup with tapioca, lychee & mango.
I have nothing to say about the service but that it was irreproachable.
The bill came to around $ 100 per person, but I was definitely a bit liberal with our orders. Just got a little too excited that’s all. I know there are prix fixes for around $ 60 for lunch, but have yet to try them. Someone please write a review for them.
This is definitely a restaurant you want to try if you want to be conversant with the Toronto food scene.

Located on the second floor of the Double Tree Hilton, I knew from the moment we walked in we were in for a treat. My friend and I were visiting Downtown Toronto to attend a science conference and we… dressed like scientists. I was a bit embarrassed but the staff didn’t miss a beat and greeted us like we were VIPs and immediately offered to take my Starbucks coffee and poured it in a tall elegant glass for me to enjoy. This level of service stayed throughout our meal, with our plates always clean and our cups always filled with hot tea.
I’m definitely not used to paying too much for dim sum and so I had a bout of sticker shock when perusing the menu (I also forgot to mentally convert CAD to USD so that certainly didn’t help). I was also a bit skeptical that fancy fusion dim sum would be any better than their traditional counterparts, but Lai Wah Heen proved me wrong.
The two things you should absolutely order are the sticky rice in lotus leaf and the Berkshire pork fried dumplings. The sticky rice was and is thus far the best I have ever had. Perfect filling to rice ratio with not a single grain over or under cooked and bursting with bits of marvelous pork, sweet Chinese sausage, and a perfectly salted egg yolk. The fried dumplings came in the form a cute little mice with garlic chip ears. They were beautifully light and crispy on the outside without sacrificing any of its glutinous mochi skin chew. The filling tasted different than what I’m used to but the Berkshire pork came in superb bite-​sized chunks.
Granted, not everything was a home run (I don’t recommend the siu mai or the rice noodle rolls) but judging from the other pictures Unilocalers have posted, there is plenty to try on the menu that I have a feeling will be good as the sticky rice and deep fried dumplings I loved. All and all, I would recommend this place as a must-​try for anyone visiting DT Toronto.

Don’t waste your time. The food doesn’t make sense and taste less then satisfactory. We ordered the set dim sum menu for 2. It seems they are trying to be innovative and modern by incorporating truffles to their dim sum. One dish in particular made me mad. Bean curd wrapped around tofu skin and celery like a little sushi bite. Then topped with a piece of truffle. I ate this thinking rubbish topped with a piece of truffle. I understand that truffle, like bacon, can make a lot of things wonderful. I still think it takes a chefs effort to make the dish harmonious.
Mediocre food made to look decent with a piece of truffle thrown on top.

I love everything about this place!!!
would definitely come back for more :)
such a nice restaurant with great good and great staff the only downside is the price

Great dim sum but pricey
It’s one of my favorite dim sum places in Toronto for Chinese brunch. Too bad it’s so far.
Shrimp dumpling and any classics are always good