The 220-seat capacity dining room opens out onto a hedonistic, wrap-around patio where concrete blends with cedar, and koi swim alongside diners, happily in their custom-built pond. It's in small things like this that Di Donato tips her hand, slowly revealing the nocturnal naughtiness behind this huge area that begs for a compelling ounce of summer heat.

Spice Route's lure, however, will be Executive Chef Winlai Wong’s ambitious roll call of homeland northern heat and southern sweet treats. There is an inexhaustible list of shared plates to play around with. The menu includes dishes like the dim sum platter (shrimp shui mai – Buddha vegetable dumplings). Thai crab cakes are plated with a fiercely spicy purple basil aioli. Spiced chicken & Peking duck lettuce wraps glisten with a brandied hoisin sauce. The distinctive wasabi-crusted shrimp are further fueled by a potent ginger & Malaysian mango dipping.

Wong’s nostalgia for this Indo-Chinese mix reflects not just her years behind the stoves at Monsoon Restaurant, but growing up in Toronto with cuisines of south and east Asia. Spice Route could be the spotlight that Kwong deserves, as her culinary skills shine with a standout talent for combining strong and subtle flavours. Media demands don’t mean that Wong has taken her eye off the stove. Wong's father, and mentor, Manfred Wong (Canton China) joins her in the kitchen, creating a menu specifically designed to enjoy the tradition of Asian culture.

As a bombastic, if derivative, restaurant and lounge, Spice Route ultimately showcases its owners' mega budget muscles in a design-heavy fashion that goes beyond mere architecure: Joeffer Caoc designed Spice Route's staff uniforms. DJ Julien Nolan (French Riviera) has been brought in as house DJ to dish out his signature electro disco and house mixes. A henna artist is stationed near the washrooms (six individual rooms that look out onto a private garden), ready for your henna-treatment pleasure.