The Joy of Slow-Paced Dining

The evening foot race in North American homes called dinner has almost ruined any incentive to cook well or for families to talk between mouthfuls or for the concept of enjoyment through living to eat rather than eating to live to come back into fashion.

Who knows what caused this. In the '50s and 60's the utter blah-ness of Kraft-based recipes (mayonnaise +cheese whiz + Kraft Dinner + Kraft mini-marshmallows) meant the capacity for speed eating was fundamental to survival.

Dining Out. Source: aesta1

Come the 80s and the 90s in the obsession of parents with ensuring children participated in every activity known to man from sports through arts and culture meant there was no time for food anyway and the inedible outcomes of fast food shops were standard fare and gulped down on the way to the arena.

Snack Galleries

Today, chairs are disappearing from tables and dining rooms have become snack galleries. Speed eating is an international phenomenon. 

Dining Today

Whatever we have gained through hyperactivity, we've lost in time to enjoy real food, to see good cooking as a pleasure, and to value conversation as an art and craft and not an opportunity to spew food chunks on your neighbour as you raced past.

Recent Dining Experience

Recently, I invited our grandson and his girlfriend to a celebration dinner. They just got engaged and I thought this merited a celebration. So, I asked them to choose a restaurant.

The day of the dinner, our grandson sent me a message of the restaurant's name and address. Lee Restaurant. I thought, "why are we going to a Chinese restaurant?" Not that I don't like Chinese food. I like it very much but our grandson's girlfriend is Muslim and pork often features in Chinese food.

However, I asked them to choose the restaurant so I went along. Lo and behold, I was in for a big surprise. The waiters ushered us to our table and explained what this restaurant is all about. It was all about sharing.

A Meal Meant to be Shared

I was impressed. Many times, we have to ask the servers if we could share and here they say it's that. You order the dishes and they're all meant to be shared. We were gruntled as that's how we want it to be.

We ordered drinks and I ordered the sangria. Drinks are not meant to be shared, only food. I just love the way they did the sangria, even better than what we had in Spain. Ok, different, not better.

Then the waiters came for the order and our grandson's girlfriend knew from some friends some of the best dishes. The waiter concurred so we enjoyed our drinks as we peeked at the delicious-looking food in the other tables. Oh no, we had oysters with our drinks. All the way from Nova Scotia, the seafood capital of Canada. It was heavenly.

Oysters from Nova Scotia

Our first dish arrived.

Server in Lee Restaurant

The server explained this Singapore fusion signature dish of the restaurant. As we tasted it, I can say it was magnificent if such a word can be used for food. Just take a closer look and if you don't salivate now, you don't count. You're not even to be welcomed in this restaurant.

Singapore Fusion Dish

The next dish. Spring Roll. You have to eat it wrapped in lettuce, the way the Vietnamese do it. 

Spring Roll

And the next. Achicken Dish with Pineapple.

Chicken with Pineapple

The dishes were so tasty. Lee Restaurant features the dishes of the famous chef Susur Lee. Want to know more about Toronto's famous chef, click that link. But better still, go to this King Street restaurant in Toronto and you will eat like a king.

We were so full by the time we finished those dishes so we had a pass on dessert. But the restaurant outdid itself again. Knowing we were celebrating an engagement, they came out with this ice cream for the two celebrants.

Engagement Dessert

Ah, I did not get a good picture of that, did I? But the restaurant shot up to its stars, at least, for me.

We tarried because we enjoyed ourselves. It was a nice evening. We paced our eating, enjoyed every dish as it was explained to us and overall, it was an experience of slow-paced dining.