R&D (restaurant)
R&D is an Asian Fusion restaurant located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The restaurant is co-owned by Alvin Leung, known for his 3 Michelin-starred Hong Kong restaurant Bo Innovation, and Eric Chong, the inaugural winner of culinary reality competition show MasterChef Canada.
History
The restaurant opened in 2015 in Toronto's Chinatown neighbourhood, in collaboration between Leung and Chong, who met on MasterChef Canada. Chong was a competitor on the show's first season, while Leung was one of three judges on the show. After winning the competition, Chong received an offer from Leung to train with him in Hong Kong and eventually open a restaurant together.The business's name, R&D, stands for Rebel & Demon - a moniker created to reflect the personalities of both chefs. Chong is labeled the "Rebel" for pursuing a career in cooking despite his family's initial wishes for him to remain in engineering, while Leung is known as the "Demon Chef". R&D's meaning is two-fold, also reflecting both chefs' engineering backgrounds, where 'r&d' is an important aspect of the field.
Chong initially started as the sous-chef for the restaurant, while the title of executive chef was given to Nelson Tsai. Chong took over the reins as executive chef a year following the restaurant's opening.
Cuisine and notable dishes
The restaurant primarily serves Asian fusion dishes, anchored by Chinese cuisine and Canadian ingredients. It also draws upon French and Korean cooking techniques. A core part of the restaurant's menu is its 'Canadian take on traditional Chinese dim sum', serving items such as char siu bao in icing sugar-topped "Mexico buns" and fun guo filled with chicken and black truffle.Chef Eric Chong, and the restaurant's, signature dish is the wok lobster - a butter-poached lobster chow mein based on the same dish which Chong served in the final round of his MasterChef win.