Mr Lee's Foods
Three dishes, twenty seats and no bookings: that's the entire proposition at this Ringwood East institution, where the menu doesn't move beyond house-made soondae, steamed pork belly and a hot-stone dwaeji guk bap. Nothing goes to waste on the pig, the blood sausage is bound with glass noodles and served alongside liver and intestine, the belly arrives skin-on with doenjang for dipping, and the soup carries whatever cut is left over that day. There's no website and, by most accounts, not much English spoken at the counter, which is part of the draw for a regular crowd that treats it as a fixture rather than a discovery. It has never needed to advertise; word of mouth alone keeps the small dining room full most sittings. A newer city outpost has since opened on Little Lonsdale Street, but the original Old Lilydale Road address remains the one worth the drive from the CBD. Open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner, Sunday dinner only, closed Monday.