Susur Lee talks Drake, new restaurant Fring’s, Bobby Flay

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This article was published 24/04/2016 (3804 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – Toronto rapper Drake drops in for burgers and is involved in operations. Meanwhile, stars including Rihanna, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jaden Smith and Serena Williams have graced the slick dining room.

Yes, the new restaurant Fring’s has quickly become a Toronto hot spot since it opened last fall.

On Monday it’s set to welcome another celebrity, chef Bobby Flay.

Owner/star chef Susur Lee says Flay will be a guest chef during a six-course tasting menu event involving local and exotic ingredients.

They first met at least 20 years ago and competed against each other on the Food Network series “Iron Chef” in 2006 — a battle that resulted in a tie.

“He’s one of those great colleagues and friends for many years,” said Lee, who was born in Hong Kong and appears on “Chopped Canada” as well as “Asia MasterChef.”

“I said, ‘Hey, why don’t you come down and do dinner together?’ He said, ‘Yeah, why not, that’s cool.’ It was really casual and things happened really fast.”

Lee, who’s known for his fusion food, has six restaurants — five in Toronto and one in Singapore. For Fring’s, he created the menu but sons Levi and Kai Bent-Lee run operations.

Drake is friends with Lee’s sons and stops by Fring’s whenever he’s in town.

He’s also rumoured to be part-owner of Fring’s, but when asked whether that was true, Lee would only say he has an involvement.

“There’s a lot support around that, let’s put it that way,” he said in a phone interview.

The Fring’s menu includes a variety of dishes that are meant to be shared, from specialty toasts to small and large plates (Lee said Drake likes the Susur Burger).

Lee’s sons came up with the menu ideas.

“They just say, ‘Chef and dad, I want that on the menu, I want this on the menu, I like this kind of food,’ so I said, ‘OK, let me make it for you and you taste it,'” he said.

“My kids (were) born in the restaurant (business), since they were little babies. They travel a lot, they eat a lot, their passion is all restaurant business and also they are young — and of course the youth really changed a generation of way of eating and way of style of restaurants.

“Sometimes I’m still learning from those guys.”

As Lee sees it, the millennial generation wants to dine in a place that has “good music, a nice room” and wants “to be very flamboyant about drinks.”

“This generation has a lot of expression of who they are,” said Lee. “They spend a lot of time on their phones and computers (but) when they go out, they go all out — they dress up and have fun.

“All those things changes the game in the restaurant business, the dining scene.”

Fellow star chef Gordon Ramsay recently posted several Instagram photos of himself dining around Toronto, sparking rumours he’s scouting for a restaurant location in the city. Meanwhile, the founder of upscale Italian food emporium Eataly recently said the first Canadian store will open in Toronto next year.

Lee said he thinks Toronto’s dining scene is becoming more “sophisticated” as the world takes notice of its restaurants and sports teams.

“They’re all entertaining, so food has to be tied in with all that stuff.”