Snack Me
Ok, we all know that food reshapes us individually. But a report in the current issue of Nature tells how researchers poring over the human genome are hypothesizing that human evolution itself is being significantly influenced by Some scientists are arguing that even more than famine dusease climatethese geno- cultural forces are the dominant mode of human evolution. Imagine, the burger is shaping the world!
Cut to the kids. The plaint is that they are now serial snackers, turning down the solid food which is “so good for you.” Now we know. They have the snacker gene. And they got it from the bossy adults. Sure adults have gone along with three squares a day for convention’s sake, but more and more they reveal themselves as snackers – in a preference for a couple of appetizers over a second course, in the growing and cementing preference for the shared/small plate. The only thing holding back full snacker rebellion is the price of the meal. Many diners still want to see their dollarsworth in the amount of food on the plate – rather than in its quality and delight.
The proof of theory is in the eating. Where else but Lee? This will be the first time I’ve reviewed Lee which opened in 2004 and thus before my time. Lee is the pulsing heart of the ever expanding Susur Lee empire. It’s the lab for all the experiments that have migrated to Madeline’s next door, to Shang in New York, Zentan in Washington, to Chinois Susur’s new place in Singapore. Lee is haute snack.
Lee is a deep crimson gambling den of a café with enchanting shadowy parrots parading along the walls. Inside, it’s all about business, a canteen configuration designed for customers to the max. I’ve never managed to sit against the wall where the light’s better and always end up in the well of the restaurant. Another beef while I’m at it, the reservation limitations. I don’t like being told I can only eat at 6.30 or 8. 30 and each time I sulk, and almost say forget it. But I don’t.Fact is Lee has wonderful food – and even more significantly,it’s maintained the gold standard for six long years.
The menu is bare bones. Soup, Veg & Salad, Fish, Meat. The dishes are all designed to be shared and to be eaten in any order. We unpack the little porcelain tray which holds the napkin and cutlery, and before we know it, our first selection is infront of us. Service here is no slouch. We share four salty shrimps $21, crack the shells in our mouths after dipping them in a cooling cucumber sauce. Then a plate of four healthily pink lamb shops arrive, garnished with fried bananas, green curry lentils, chili mint, carrot cardamom and coconut chutney $24. Could have done with double the amount of the garnishes. The coup de grace is the duck confit roll, a sumptuous medley of flavours, spiced nuts, hydrated pineapple topped with a blob of goat cheese $19. I usually find preserved duck a stolid dish but these little nuggets of caramelized duck meat are irresisistible, bathed in a deep brown nug-fragrant sauce.
I realize I’ve now eaten more than I usually do – yet I’m not full. My guess is that small helpings, the snacks perk you up rather than satiating the senses. My hunch is that we’ve always been snackers struggling to shake off the bourgeois convention of the three squares a day which like the three act play was designed to wring order from chaos to suit the demands of the industrial world. First a sparkling appetizer, second, a testing exploration of themes, finally, denoument (a good pastry chef). Both were shrunk versions of epic originals (Careme’s huge banquets, Shakespeare’s evening-long plays) and designed to illustrate the accepted arc of life, passages rounded with a little sleep.
But now our lives are like fever charts, the jogging needle of unpredictability which asks for constant stimulation and nutrition. My head vibrates. Snack Me says my brain.
Will this do? A pretty lacy little bowl made from rice noodles which holds sautéed jerk chicken tossed in Scotch bonnet, the blowtorch chili, sauce with ginger and mango puree $17. We have two mouthfuls apiece. Perfect.
***Lee 603 King W. 416-504 7867 no wheelchair access. Dinner for two plus tax – four dishes $104. Lee is now open for lunch.
China’s Sanlian Life Weekly magazine is publishing online Gina Mallet’s “The birth of a superchef and the art of fusion”, about Susur Lee. http://www.lifeweek.com.cn/
. But a report in the current issue of Nature tells how researchers poring over the human genome are hypothesizing that human evolution itself is being significantly influenced by Some scientists are arguing that even more than famine dusease climatethese geno- cultural forces are the dominant mode of human evolution. Imagine, the burger is shaping the world!
Cut to the kids. The plaint is that they are now serial snackers, turning down the solid food which is “so good for you.” Now we know. They have the snacker gene. And they got it from the bossy adults. Sure adults have gone along with three squares a day for convention’s sake, but more and more they reveal themselves as snackers – in a preference for a couple of appetizers over a second course, in the growing and cementing preference for the shared/small plate. The only thing holding back full snacker rebellion is the price of the meal. Many diners still want to see their dollarsworth in the amount of food on the plate – rather than in its quality and delight.
The proof of theory is in the eating. Where else but Lee? This will be the first time I’ve reviewed Lee which opened in 2004 and thus before my time. Lee is the pulsing heart of the ever expanding Susur Lee empire. It’s the lab for all the experiments that have migrated to Madeline’s next door, to Shang in New York, Zentan in Washington, to Chinois Susur’s new place in Singapore. Lee is haute snack.
Lee is a deep crimson gambling den of a café with enchanting shadowy parrots parading along the walls. Inside, it’s all about business, a canteen configuration designed for customers to the max. I’ve never managed to sit against the wall where the light’s better and always end up in the well of the restaurant. Another beef while I’m at it, the reservation limitations. I don’t like being told I can only eat at 6.30 or 8. 30 and each time I sulk, and almost say forget it. But I don’t.Fact is Lee has wonderful food – and even more significantly,it’s maintained the gold standard for six long years.
The menu is bare bones. Soup, Veg & Salad, Fish, Meat. The dishes are all designed to be shared and to be eaten in any order. We unpack the little porcelain tray which holds the napkin and cutlery, and before we know it, our first selection is infront of us. Service here is no slouch. We share four salty shrimps $21, crack the shells in our mouths after dipping them in a cooling cucumber sauce. Then a plate of four healthily pink lamb shops arrive, garnished with fried bananas, green curry lentils, chili mint, carrot cardamom and coconut chutney $24. Could have done with double the amount of the garnishes. The coup de grace is the duck confit roll, a sumptuous medley of flavours, spiced nuts, hydrated pineapple topped with a blob of goat cheese $19. I usually find preserved duck a stolid dish but these little nuggets of caramelized duck meat are irresisistible, bathed in a deep brown nug-fragrant sauce.
I realize I’ve now eaten more than I usually do – yet I’m not full. My guess is that small helpings, the snacks perk you up rather than satiating the senses. My hunch is that we’ve always been snackers struggling to shake off the bourgeois convention of the three squares a day which like the three act play was designed to wring order from chaos to suit the demands of the industrial world. First a sparkling appetizer, second, a testing exploration of themes, finally, denoument (a good pastry chef). Both were shrunk versions of epic originals (Careme’s huge banquets, Shakespeare’s evening-long plays) and designed to illustrate the accepted arc of life, passages rounded with a little sleep.
But now our lives are like fever charts, the jogging needle of unpredictability which asks for constant stimulation and nutrition. My head vibrates. Snack Me says my brain.
Will this do? A pretty lacy little bowl made from rice noodles which holds sautéed jerk chicken tossed in Scotch bonnet, the blowtorch chili, sauce with ginger and mango puree $17. We have two mouthfuls apiece. Perfect.
***Lee 603 King W. 416-504 7867 no wheelchair access. Dinner for two plus tax – four dishes $104. Lee is now open for lunch.
