Susur Lee
Celebrity fusion chef Susur Lee has come a long way since his apprenticeship mixing milk tea in cha chaan tengs. Named one of the “Top 10 Chefs of the Millennium” in 2000, Lee is the force behind Toronto restaurants Luckee, Lee, and Bent. He has made appearances on Iron Chef America and was a finalist in Top Chef Masters. Now a judge on the first season of Masterchef Asia, the chef sits down with Evelyn Lok to talk fusion cooking, relationships and chicken feet.
I grew up in Hong Kong, in a family of six. I’m the youngest. My family didn’t cook well and we weren’t well off, so I loved to eat street food.
Back then, street food wasn’t like the junk food we have now. It was gourmet homemade food. There was less fried stuff. More like stewed chicken feet or beef brisket, stuffed peppers, things that you have to go to restaurants nowadays to find.
I never thought of becoming a chef. But if there was a table of toys in front of me, and you put a plate of food in front of me, I’d eat the food first.
As a kid I didn’t like studying. I got held back in school many times. I liked to experience things: touch things, smell things, see things. I had to go experience it before I felt I could understand it.
I was born in the Year of the Dog. Maybe it’s something to do with that. My ears and nose are very sensitive.
My favorite childhood memory was going to the movies at the Apollo Theatre [in Sham Shui Po]. I was tiny and it was crowded, so my brother would sneak me in without paying.