Dish in Focus: Mac n’ cheese at Lazy Suzy
Born from a late-night idea, Natalie Ngan’s playful take on a classic comfort food features a kick of mala heat, minced pork, and a four-cheese sauce
Lazy Suzy is one of SoHo’s most distinctive new openings: a Canto-American restaurant and drinking hole from chef-owner Natalie Ngan, tucked away in a basement space off Staunton Street. The kitchen takes familiar flavours and twists them into something playful and unexpected, like squid toast or carbonara rice cake.
Mapo tofu, for example, is turned into a cheeky, comfort-first mac and cheese, layering mala heat, minced pork and a four-cheese sauce over chifferi rigati pasta – a dish that feels both nostalgic and a little mischievous.
“It was probably a late-night idea pop,” explains Ngan. “I wanted a fun play on a classic [and] I think I got the idea while eating mapo tofu.”
Having grown into a restaurant signature, there’s no doubt that the creamy, spicy pasta has the cheese pull of your dreams, plus enough heat to keep things interesting.
Ngan settled on chifferi rigati pasta. “It’s one of my favourite pasta shapes. I think it holds a lot of the sauce and it’s got a nice texture to it,” she explains. As she says this, she’s cooking the pasta with a secret blend of mala spices and minced pork, which gives the mac its savoury backbone, while cream is combined with the sauce to keep it from feeling heavy.