A quirky east-end cocktail bar just made a big menu change

It only just turned one in October, but Lake Inez’s cocktail bar sibling, Belle Isle, is already entering a new era. The Leslieville hotspot recently announced that it’s pivoting from a snack-bar set-up to something more “dinner-y.” Restaurants do this all the time to better cater to their clientele, but the Belle Isle team decided to switch things up because of a particular chef: Keith Siu, formerly of See You Soon, Frilu and Mimi Chinese.

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“We’ve known and admired Keith Siu for a while,” says Zac Schwartz, co-owner of Lake Inez and Belle Isle. “He’s held pop-ups at both of our restaurants, and he has such a unique perspective and vast talent.”

Lake Inez has become known for its quirky and inventive rotating menu, so Schwartz wanted a chef who could channel that same energy at Belle Isle. “What we love most about Keith is his silliness, his ambition, and his penchant for collaboration and whimsy,” says Schwartz. “Then the cosmos just kind of aligned and presented an opportunity to finally work together in a lasting way.”

Despite being steps away from Lake Inez, Belle Isle will offer a completely different menu, leaning on Siu’s Cantonese Canadian upbringing. “He also brought in his pal Ronan Shaftoe—who has worked at Yardbird in Hong Kong, Bar Brett in Glasgow and, most recently, Bonito’s here in Toronto—to help actualize the menu and shape the energetic field,” says Schwartz.

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Some of the new menu items include cheung fun, a tendon-and-shank terrine with confit onion, and soy sauce chicken. For dessert, guests can expect things like brûléed fried milk, an elevated take on a classic Cantonese treat.

Fans of Belle Isle’s hilariously named cocktails have no reason to worry—crowd-pleasers like the savoury This Cold Pizza Is Curing My Depression (vodka, tomato, house brine, Aleppo oil) will remain. But they’ll be joined by a few new concoctions like My AI Girlfriend Thinks I’m Pretty, a boozy blend of tequila blanco, cachaça, lemon balm, strawberry and coconut.

Dinner service will be offered Monday to Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to midnight. (And, yes, Fergie’s 2006 hit “Clumsy” will still play several times an evening.)