Joe Yee

I have been meaning to check this place out for the longest time.  But it's hard to convince friends to join me to go and try vegetarian restaurants.  I'm not sure why most people cringe as soon as they hear the word 'vegetarian'.  I love it!  I'm not a full fledged vegetarian as most of you can tell by now, but I do prefer vegetables over meat.

Joe Yee is not just a normal vegetarian restaurant, they also do sushi!  This is NOT a vegetarian restaurant that serves fish as well.  This is what I guess would be called mock sushi.  I was super excited, because for the first time, I can eat all the sushi offered on the menu!  Taste wise, the 'fish' was slightly fishy and had decent texture.  From what I recall from eating toro in Tokyo, the texture of this mock sushi was slightly mushier than fresh fish. 

Sushi Tray

Spicy Salmon Brown Rice Maki

We also ordered BBQ platter which consisted of Chinese BBQ Pork (Char Siu) and Roast Pork (Siu Yuk).  I loved this dish.  So much better than other vegetarian restaurants I've been to.  Usually I find that the BBQ pork has a weird hoisin/ketchup flavor and the worst part is that it's super chewy.  I avoid that particular dish when it's ordered.  But this one was delicious!  It tasted like it was freshly deep fried and made to order.  The outside was crispy and the sauce was very good, like normal char siu sauce.  The roast pork, appearance was very similar to what real roast pork looks like.  It even had a layer of 'fat'.  This fat tasted like it was made with some sort of gelatin.  Again the outside was super crisp.  I think the 'pork' was made with beancurd and taro.

BBQ Platter

Joe Yee's is definitely worth a trip to again.  Prices are more expensive than other Chinese vegetarian restaurants.  But this place definitely seems to take care in both preparation and presentation of their food.

Joe Yee
688 Leslie St
Unit 17-18
Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4C4
(905) 884-6882