Delightful-LEE Delayed

Every night since my last post, I’ve been swearing to myself that I’d sit down (or lie down since I can now blog from bed) and write post after post about these things that either just happened or that popped into my head that were really interesting. I’ve done none of what I swore. I suck.

However, here comes my attempt to beat that suckage and overload you with way too much literal information that your eyes will bleed from reading so much at once, and yet finding that you can’t rip your eyes from the screen because my writing is just so profound!


Yummy, Yummy, Yummy—I’ve got LEE in my Belly!

Brodder was stuck up at school last weekend and so our Mother’s day celebration was delayed for lack of completeness. He was going to head home this weekend, with an arrival into the city scheduled for 6:30pm. Mom wanted me to make reservations for the four of us at Lee, so I called and found that 6:30pm was the ending time of their first seating and that the next earliest reservation I could secure was in their second seating, starting at 9:15pm. Rather than throwing my arms up in despair and just changing restaurants (because this was where mom wanted to go), I made the reservation.

By the time 8:00pm rolled around, my tummy was grumbling and growling. No longer pleased with the wait to eat at this mysterious Chinese restaurant, I started to rummage the kitchen for scraps of food. Dad caught me and ordered me to stop—“The wait will be worth it! Lee’s is really good!”—he told me. I was so hungry and grumpy, I didn’t believe him, but at least that gave me an idea to distract me; I decided to see what was on the menu.

I jumped on the computer and typed in “Lee Restautant.” I might as well have been looking up “Lee” in a Chinese phonebook. I got a bunch of random reviews, but no pictures or menu to reference to. Finally, after digging a little more, I caught a tag line: “Lee Restaurant, by Susur Lee.” There was no link, but I quickly edited my search to match, and there it finally was.

*angelic chorus*

My family that night was going to be treated to dinner at Susur Lee’s second restaurant in Toronto, Lee. I was suddenly thrilled. I’d only heard of the legendary-ness that was Susur Lee, but now I was going to actually put the stories I’d heard to the test. As though it was food, my eyes devoured every word of the website, from the menus to the reviews.

Overview
World renowned Chef Suser Lee presents another side of his culinary brilliance though a progression of dishes that take you on a gastronomic journey that is different from that of its neighbouring restaurant Suser. When you enter 603 King Street West, be prepared for an enhanced, eclectic eating experience.

I was SOOOOO excited. And Tapas style meant ordering everything and sharing!

Finally 8:45pm rolled around and the family herded into the car, and by 9:12pm, the four of us were being led to our tiny table at Lee.


Mom and Dad had been there once before for their anniversary, but Brodder and I had never been. He and I each opened our small menus, and after a moment’s perusal, closed them.

“Let’s order it all.”

The temptation was so strong, I almost handed the menu to our server and told her, “Yes, please.” Almost.

From the 20-25 items on the menus, we narrowed it down to 8. I can still name them without any aids:

• Mayo matchstick potatoes
• Poached pear salad
• Thai Slaw
• Salmon ceviche
• Bacon wrapped scallops
• Cold sliced beef salad
• Roast pork loin
• and Duck confit

Seriously. I did that all from memory—they were that memorably amazing. We had a few drinks while we waited and eagerly chatted about our dinner to come. My stomach was still growling (as probably were the rest of my family’s), but I was far too steeped with anticipation to notice any longer.

And then the food came.

*another angelic chorus*

Dish after dish, each of us were open-mouthed upon its arrival, and then silent for minutes as the first bites touched our tongues. “Mmmm”s, “Oooooooh”s and “Ahhhhhh”s became the new words of choice for our dinner vocabulary. A comment was made that we resembled the judges of the Iron Chef in both our reactions and our speechlessness in trying to describe the amazing sensory bombardment we were undergoing by the mere presence of this food. The look, the smell, the tastes—oh. so. good.





“Is it weird that I don’t want to swallow this food because then it will be in my stomach and I won’t be able to taste it anymore?”




The infusion of flavours didn’t stop just at dinner. We went on and I practically FORCED my parents to order desserts (Brodder had no problems with that) because we just HAD to try them.

• Chocolate coriander pave
• Molten chocolate banana cake
• Lemon tart
• Rice pudding with black sesame

How could you pass up the chance to find out what chocolate and coriander taste like together? And what the heck was “pave” anyway?

Once more, like the dinner dishes, we were left speechless. Dad threatened and then almost did pick up the plates to lick them clean. It seemed like a crime if any morsels were left behind.

The whole experience was absolutely amazing. Especially for the price.

“I’ve been spoiled. I don’t think I can eat anything else—ever.”
“So what are we going to do for Father’s day?”
“Eat next-door.”

Lee is right smack next-door (and adjoined by passageway in the kitchen) to Susur Lee’s first Toronto restaurant, Susur. It’s only a matter of time...

Fun Quote of the Night:
    “It’s like an orgasm for your mouth!”
    “Mom, you are my mother and are not allowed to use that word in ANY context, even food. You’ll have to pick another word.”