Leslie Wu

Freelance food and travel writer

Toronto

Writer, editor and explorer of all things culinary and the people and places behind them.Contributor at ForbesLife, Food Network Canada and others. Member, International Association of Business Communicators. Former vice president, marketing of Professional Writers Association of Canada - Toronto Chapter, region III co-director of The Association of Food Journalists.

Leslie Wu

Freelance food and travel writer

Toronto

Afternoon Tea at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria
There are few things more British-Canadian than a spot of afternoon tea at Victoria’s queen bee of hotels.
FN Canada, The Great Canadian Cookbook
Travel Food and Restaurants
10 Great Canadian Family Dinners
Take a peek at what Canadian chefs, artisans and food enthusiasts serve to family and friends.
FN Canada, "The Great Canadian Cookbook"
Food and Restaurants
Featured
A Saucy Tale
Whether it’s a signifier of a chef’s self expression or an homage to formal methods, sauces can be the highlight or the bane of a modern kitchen. “I think sauces are a big, big part of any kitchen. The common person doesn’t realize that the sauce position in a restaurant is probably the premier position; one of the most important in the kitchen,” says Jason Bangerter, executive chef of Cambridge, ON-based Langdon Hall.
Canadian Restaurant News
Food and Restaurants
A Portrait of Polish Cuisine
From pride in ingredients to a new- found and complex idea of national identity, the cuisine of Poland is evolving both within its borders and on the international stage.
Canadian Restaurant News, Ontario Restaurant News, Pacific/Prairie Restaurant News, Atlantic Restaurant News
Food and Restaurants Travel Profile
Translating Tradition: Evolving German Cuisine
How German chefs and winemakers are interpreting terroir.
Canadian Restaurant News, Ontario Restaurant News, Pacific/Prairie Restaurant News, Atlantic Restaurant News
Food and Restaurants Travel
A makeover for the MTCCC
When Richard Willett, vice-president of food and beverage at the Metro Convention Centre (MTCC), started researching the institution’s recently completed $6-million kitchen renovation, he got up to his elbows in suds. “I spent two days in the pit washing dishes. Staff who didn’t know who I was were telling me, ‘you’re not very fast at this’,” he laughed.
Ontario Restaurant News
News and events Food and Restaurants
A different take on local sourcing
When chef and owner Ludovic Eveno wants to select local produce for Agricola Street Brasserie’s menu, he doesn’t have to go any further than the back of his restaurant. A partnership with local farm distributor Jason Pelley—who also sources other area restaurants—allows him to rent a walk in fridge and part of the 3,000-square-foot back-of-house space, providing a base downtown and avoiding multiple trips to bring produce back from local farms.
Atlantic Restaurant News
Food and Restaurants
Park Life
A pavilion in the city’s Kildonan Park has a new lease on life with WOW! Hospitality Concepts’ latest restaurant Food Evolution, which opened in early June. “The restaurant is rooted in the centre of a diverse cultural neighbourhood. It’s amazing how you can walk through the restaurant and hear any number of different languages,” said chef Michael Dacquisto, who has worked with WOW!
Pacific/Prairie Restaurant News
Food and Restaurants
Vikram Vij opens My Shanti
Vikram Vij is giving diners a peek into the homes and kitchens that he’s travelled to in India with his new restaurant My Shanti, which opened on June 1 at The Shops at Morgan Crossing, near Croydon Drive and 24th Avenue. “The restaurant is an homage to the chefs of India,” Vij told PRN. “It’s not about the country, but the chefs and the regions; the dishes I’ve learned in people’s homes and the places I’ve been.”.
Pacific/Prairie Restaurant News
Food and Restaurants
Solstice gets seasonal
Four friends from Edmonton’s Packrat Louie restaurant—a chef, a general manager, a bar manager and a sous chef—have struck out on their own to open Solstice Seasonal Cuisine in November. Taking over the former Somerville Wine Room from owner Sheri Somerville and chef Neil Chamberlain, the four managing partners started discussing the project nine months ago, meeting every Sunday on their only shared day off.
Pacific/Prairie Restaurant News
Food and Restaurants
Featured
Balancing Act: The cuisines of Vietnam and Thailand
From the pungency of fish sauce to the tart notes of tamarind, the cuisines of Vietnam and Thailand may seem like comfortable and familiar faces to chefs. Increased levels of imports and globalization, however, have put these ingredients in the hands of Canadian chefs in a way that wasn’t available to previous generations.
Ontario Restaurant News
Food and Restaurants Features and Service Articles
Intelligent Design
Years ago, the Kobe Club restaurant in New York kept critics and diners on knife’s edge, literally, by suspending 2,000 sharpened samurai swords, blade down, from the ceiling. Although adding a frisson of excitement to your dining room is a good thing, you don’t need to go to such extremes. A simple refreshing of elements can be enough to bring new life to your restaurant and build excitement for diners.
Canadian Restaurant News
Food and Restaurants Features and Service Articles
Eric Wood leaves Hawthorne
Chef Eric Wood has left Hawthorne Food and Drink, the social enterprise concept he started in September, to open a new independent boutique hotel. The new 17-room space is just west of the core on Queen St., Wood confirmed with ORN today, and will be opening its doors by Victoria Day long weekend in May.
Ontario Restaurant News
Food and Restaurants
End of the Lane
Claudio Aprile is closing Toronto’s Colborne Lane after six years to focus his efforts on his Origin restaurants and the soon to be opened Trillium in Pearson Airport’s Terminal 3. The restaurant’s last service will be this Saturday. “It’s one thing to know when to open a restaurant—when you get that urge to take the risk and leave the confines of a very comfortable job as an employee—but it’s another thing to know when to end something,” Aprile told ORN today.
Ontario Restaurant News
Food and Restaurants
A taste of Persian history
The line of poetry painted on the front window of Takht-e Tavoos reads “Wherever I am, let me be": a fitting quote for a husband-wife team who just opened their third restaurant concept to expand into the breakfast/lunch dayparts. Alireza Fakhrashrafi and Danielle Schrage, who own Persian restaurants Pomegranate and Sheherzade in Toronto, opened 30-seat Takht-e Tavoos in late April on College St.
Ontario Restaurant News
Food and Restaurants
Oakville gets a Fin Izakaya
The downtown strip of Oakville heard cries of “irrashaimase” (“welcome” in Japanese) with the opening of Fin Izakaya’s second location. The 40-seat, 1500-square-foot location, which had its official opening on May 26, is based on the concept of a kakurega, or hidden place, owner Akiko Masuda told ORN.
Ontario Restaurant News
Food and Restaurants

About

Leslie Wu

Writing

Editing

Copy editing

Profiles

Long-form features

Trend pieces

Interviewing

With over 20 years of progressively senior editorial positions, I am a journalist experienced in reporting the consumer and business side of lifestyle industries.

I am also a seasoned and meticulous editor who has covered trends and the personalities that define them in fashion, jewellery and food around the world.

Whether talking about terroir with Poland’s first Michelin-starred chef or casting the spotlight on local designers and artisans, I always enjoy meeting the people behind the product and packaging compelling service stories that both educate and entertain a diverse readership in both digital and print platforms.

Areas of expertise: Food, restaurants, wines and spirits, travel, fashion and jewellery.

E-mail: lwueditor[at]gmail[dot]com