The Yorkville space formerly occupied by the Italian restaurant Boba is now home to an Asian restaurant called Zin. The two-story venue on Avenue Road is owned by Rockie Yu of La Chine in Richmond Hill. "It's funny how we found this location. Two of our regular customers at La Chine live around here and every week they would come to the restaurant in Richmond Hill and ask us when we were going to open downtown. One day they walked in and told us this building was up for lease," Yu said.
Yu spent six weeks renovating the space before opening the restaurant in mid-July. "We changed almost everything. The only things we kept are the chandeliers," he said. Black and gold decor fills the main floor, which has a small semiprivate dining area that holds eight at the rear of the room. An upstairs lounge is equipped with a flat-screen television, a fireplace, and a separate bar.
"I wanted something really comfortable," Yu said. "I didn't want a high-end feel." Although the restaurant has a capacity for 50 on the patio, 50 on the main level, and 30 in the upstairs lounge, Yu wanted the restaurant to feel more spacious. Zin seats 36 on both the patio and the main floor and 16 upstairs. (Larger groups can be accommodated for private functions.)
The menu, from chef Shun Lui, includes Hong Kong-style dishes like sweet and sour pork served with pineapple, lychee, and fresh Ontario berries; deep-fried spare ribs dusted with roasted garlic, wasabi shrimp, braised fresh scallops, and a selection of dim sum, soups, and rice plates. "What we do is not the ordinary run-of-the-mill Chinese food," Yu said.
