t's hard to walk by the voyeuristic glass storefront that peers into Rosedale’s Seven East without being drawn in. Once inside the eatery, a bright space awash in warm pastel tones and green sandblasted glass tables add drama to the room.

And there's more good news: You don't have to re-mortgage your home for a dinner for two. No, you can feel like an esteemed member of the coterie – slipping into one of the padded banquettes that line the space for dinner – without breaking the bank.

Pulsing with the energies of pan-Asian flavours and a slick designed space, Seven East, owned by Chef Paul Tan and son John Tan, seems at once clean and modern. Using the expansive glass front façade favoured by designer Bennett Lo of Dialogue 38, the small interior of the street-level eatery has been opened up considerably. In what was previously Demarco-Perpich Flowers, the change is instantly apparent.

The first thing you’ll notice about the menu is that it’s unabashedly inexpensive – hardly a given in this pomp and pricey area. For such a small place - there are about 50 seats - the plates can be ambitious too, if you choose carefully. Selecting a specialty dish is not much more difficult than ordering a hamburger, but should customers need help with the menu, the curiously over-helpful crew is out to please.

As it turns out, the Vietnamese wonton soup with shrimp and mushroom dumplings - sharp and pungent as it is - turns out to be a great starter. The Grilled Five Spices Tofu ($6.00) arrives grilled as promised and sprinkled with home-blend spices and served with hoisin & Thai basil dipping sauce. The Malaysian Tiger shrimp Grilled Satay ($10.00) is a slightly overly sweet grilled brochette. Other options include the Thai Fish Cakes ($7.00), two uninspired cakes mixed with shallots and scallion; Shrimp Rolls ($8.00) Tiger shrimp rolls with shredded Carrots and Glass noodles; and the Five Spices Calamari ($8.00), served with lime basil vinaigrette.