Leila : southern Mediterranean flavours in the heart of Mile End

If you’ve been following chef Amine Laabi on social media, you may have seen glimpses of his new restaurant, Leila, which quietly opened a few days ago for friends and family.

The South-Mediterranean influenced restaurant is located on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, near Saint-Viateur Street, where restaurants Maïs and Beau Temps once stood. Since the latter closed down, the space was inhabited by caterer Frank Maison Gourmande, which vacated the premises last June.

The Les Chefs! and social media star (he has over 850,000 followers on Instagram and nearly half a million on TikTok) isn’t alone in this new venture. He’s brought three longtime friends along: chef Gregory Watson, Philippe Carile, and Guiseppe Carta. The four co-owners met while working together at Café Gentile, where they worked for “at least four years.”

“We always said jokingly we’d open a restaurant together. Circumstances brought us back together,” says Amine Laabi. Why Leila, we ask? “We’re four guys, so we wanted a slightly feminine name,” Amine explains. Someone suggested “lilac,” after the flower, then Eric Clapton’s song Layla came up on the speakers, and it clicked. “Now, we’re just trying to figure out who Leila really is,” Gregory jokes.

The four friends worked tirelessly over the past few months to renovate the space and open before the Holidays, doing much of the work themselves with help from Casa Design. The décor is sobre yet very cozy, with shades of dark brown, green, and blue. Regulars of Maïs and Beau Temps won’t feel too disoriented: the bar remains in the same spot at the front of the 50-something-seat dining room, as does the open kitchen further in, although both have been completely revamped. The small hidden room in the back, once home to popup Parasol, has been transformed into a bar-lounge decked out with vintage rugs and armchairs, where patrons can enjoy a drink while waiting for their table or after their meal.

A Four-Handed Menu

After Les Chefs!, Amine had distanced himself from the kitchen to focus on other projects, including a cookbook, a content studio, and opening haloumi-focused counter Loumi a few blocks down the street. But he missed the hustle of the kitchen. You’ll find him in the trenches several nights a week at the restaurant, alternating with his co-chef, Gregory Watson.

The two chefs have crafted a comforting and unpretentious four-handed menu. “It’s a really relaxed concept. Simple recipes with three, four ingredients,” Amine explains. The chefs draw inspiration from the southern Mediterranean, including the south of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Morocco (where Amine is from), and even Greece. It’s a cuisine full of sunshine and rich in flavours, that reflect the culinary identity of the region.

The menu is relatively short: half a dozen appetizers, two salads, four pasta dishes (primi), and three main courses, along with a few snacks for aperitifs. The format encourages sharing – which is great because you’ll likely want to try everything!

We started off with the sardine toast – marinated Moroccan sardine fillets on a crunchy brioche toast and the homemade lamb merguez – “We buy whole lambs from Quebec and process them ourselves,” Amine proudly says – which were excellent. Both dishes are among the few that will remain on the menu, which will change regularly based on seasonal ingredients.

Next came the house-made fusili with lamb belly and chanterelles, another hit. Then the highlight: a big hunk of melt-in-your-mouth-tender beef cheek, braised with fennel and chickpeas, in a thick jus you’d want to finish with a spoon (we won’t judge if you do). “It was a dish I used to eat often as a child, but it was made with veal foot, which I wasn’t very fond of,” says the chef. In his version, he swaps the veal foot for joue de boeuf and sprinkles a little cumin for extra depth of flavour. If you don’t mind us saying, Amine, we think this one should stay on the menu too.

To quench our thirst, we can rely on Alizée Jutras, who curates the wine and cocktail list. There are some great bottles from Italy, France, and Spain, along with classic (Martini, Negroni, Old Fashioned, etc.) and a few signature cocktails. Once again, nothing too fancy – and that’s perfectly ok with us!

“My goal is for customers to eat well and have a good time,” Amine sums up. “No B.S., no nonsense, just good vibes.”

We can confirm, Leila has them in droves.

Cheers!

Written by Mikael Lebleu
Photography by Alison Slattery

Last update: December 16, 2024

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