food&drink
David Laurence
Susur Lee’s dumplings (right and below) are done just right, and his deluxe desserts will satisfy that sweet tooth.
Let’s get Luckee Susur Lee concocts some upscale Cantonese at the Soho Met By Steven Davey International Airport this summer, the second on the 66th floor of the World Trade Center in New York City later next year. So much for having peaked. And now Susur’s doing dim sum at the Soho Met. Lee’s relationship with the Metropolitan Hotel is a long one, its owner, Henry Wu, his not-so-secret and deep-pocketed partner. His beanery in Singapore is in one of the resort chain’s properties. So when Wu sold the Met on Chestnut Street behind City Hall and its celebrated Lai Wah Heen – once Toronto’s pre-eminent, if pricey, dim sum restaurant – last year, the time was ripe the Soho to claim the crown. Enter the dragon! Once an anodyne sea of taupe, the former 120-seat Sen5es has been reimagined by long-time design partners Brenda Bent and Karen Gable. Goodbye boring beige, hello chic chinoiserie. Some may recognize the
LUCKEE (328 Wellington West, at
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Peter, 416-935-0400, l uckeerestaurant.com, @LuckeeTO) Complete dim sum meals for $30 per person, including tax, tip and tea. Open for dim sum Saturday and Sunday 11 am to 3 pm; à la carte dinner Tuesday to Sunday 5:30 to 11 pm. Bar menu daily 3 pm to 1 am. Reservations accepted. Licensed. Access: barrier-free. Rating: NNNN
For someone supposedly past his sell-by date, Susur Lee is one very busy guy. Alongside his regular gig as a judge on TV’s Top Chef, the Hong Kongborn wunderkind’s Bent on Dundas West has just been named the 12th hottest resto in town by NOW. His flagship Lee and its adjacent Lounge on the King West nightclub strip are currently undergoing major renovations, and he’s about to launch two new operations, the first at Pearson
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April 24-30 2014 NOW
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antique watercolours hanging on the walls from their days at Sam the Chinese Food Man on Yonge back in the 70s. At dinner, Lee’s upscale Cantonese carte includes the likes of General Tao beef ($19) and wok-fried green beans ($12), but it’s his weekend dim sum brunch that has local foodies in a full-on feeding frenzy. Lee has never been one for convention. He’s been known to put foie gras on practically everything. But for the most part, dim sum at Luckee sticks close to tradition. It begins with a complimentar y Beijing-style cucumber salad in a sweet ’n’ fiery Sichuan vinaigrette and a pot of white
Chinese tea ($3.50 per person). Four dipping sauces also show up: housemade soy sauce with slivered Thai bird chilies, salty Sriracha-like hot sauce, store-bought Dijon mustard and a green scallion oil that needs a serious whack of raw garlic. His classic har gow stuffed with plump shrimp and creamy egg whites are the equal of those at Lee’s beloved Ding Tai Fung in Markham, while his minced chicken and shrimp sui mai (both $6 for four) get un-
expectedly spiked with orange peel. Standard-issue yu gow dumplings with flaky cod and deep-fried wu gok made with mung bean flour and stuffed with gently curried chicken may as well be the work of the Dim Sum King rather than an internationally renown chef; ditto for skinny spring rolls laced with spinach (all $5 for two). Lee hits his stride with open-faced dumplings brimming with buttery lobster and asparagus (long xia gow, $8 for two), and spicy Swatow-style chicken finished with pickled celery ($5 for two). Don’t miss his golden cubes of house-made tofu studded with fresh corn kernels ($5 for three), each bite a symphony of contrasting textures. We still can’t figure out how Lee’s impossibly delicate steamed spinach dumplings ($4 for three) manage to get to table without falling apart. And there’s nothing wrong with his fried vegetarian turnip cakes ($5 for four) that a little Chinese sausage couldn’t fix. Chef continued on page 38 œ
Critics’ Pick NNNNN Rare perfection NNNN Outstanding, almost flawless NNN Recommended, worthy of repeat visits NN Adequate N You’d do better with a TV dinner
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