Lee opens its doors for lunch, offering Susur Lee’s vaunted Asian fusion cuisine at midday
(Images: Andrew Brudz)
The place: For the first time since 2004, diners can see the inside of Lee in daylight. The Asian-inspired dining room, with its hot pink Plexiglas tables and mesh screens adorned with imposing budgies, looks particularly inviting on this sunny winter afternoon, with sunshine flooding in the large front windows.
The crowd: A fun, chatty group of casual lunchers soaks in the rays at window seats, and the man himself, Susur Lee (along with his wife), sits at a nearby table, quietly observing, but notably not eating.
The deal: Many items from the dinner menu have been sized (and priced) down for lunch, including the Korean-style skirt steak ($22), Szechuan hot-and-sour soup ($11) and Mexican goat cheese tart ($11), as well as a few new additions, like a black Angus burger ($16) and a cod fish burger ($16). Unlike their nighttime counterparts, servers discourage sharing.
The dish: The lunch prix fixe ($28) offers two options for appetizers, mains and dessert. We start with Lee’s signature Singapore-style slaw. With 18 ingredients—including edible pansies, jicama, daikon sprouts, carrots, cucumber and crushed peanuts, to name a few—it’s a wonder to look at and to eat. Be prepared to ask, “Ooh! What was that?” with every sweet, tangy, crunchy bite. With one touch of a fork, the caramelized black cod in citrus butter sauce crumbles into tender bite-sized morsels. It’s served alongside two potato croquettes that taste like revved-up samosas with spicy tomato sauce. Our flawless lunch is marred only by a dough disaster that calls chef Lee into the kitchen to help, at the expense of our order of tong yuen sweet rice dumplings with chocolate ganache. We settle for a rather by-the-book molten chocolate cake instead.
The time: The three-course prix fixe stretches out to an hour and 30 minutes, but other patrons seem to pop in and out in under an hour.
The cost: $45, including tax, tip and a bottle of Kirin Ichiban ($7).
Lee, 603 King St. W., 416-504-7867, susur.com/lee/
I think the lunch reviewer made a mistake. I’ve had lunch at Lee before (years ago), so this is not the “first time” it’s serving lunch.
March 8, 2010 at 8:48 pm | by EricFood looks good but a bit odd looking
March 8, 2010 at 9:23 pm | by Christine ChinI just came back from lunch there. The tofu appetizer is easily the best tofu that I’ve had in my whole life. Sadly, there are no vegetarian mains, big mistake. I guess you could make a meal out of the tofu and the Singaporean slaw, but it’s not the same. If they can cook tofu that good I’m sure they would be able to pull up an amazing vegetarian entree, preferably not cheese-based so that it also works for vegans.
March 19, 2010 at 4:09 pm | by MariaEric: I’ve had lunch there before there as well. I think the reviewer was indicating that there hasn’t been lunch served since 2004, not that it’s never been served.
I was fairly certain I went after 2004 for lunch but I could be wrong…
April 19, 2010 at 10:58 pm | by Haro