Weekly Lunch Pick: the sumptuous tawük lunch plate at Tabülè

This Middle Eastern restaurant is a midtown favourite—the room is already packed when we arrive for lunch. Our order of tawük ($8.95), recommended by an attentive server, features grilled nuggets of naturally raised Mennonite chicken parked next to a mountain of fluffy rice studded with vermicelli and fried onions. Like an ode to the perfect summer barbecue, the breast meat is moist under its light, charred crust and acts as the perfect foil to a large side of fattoush ($1.50 extra)—a refreshing salad of rough-chopped cucumber and tomatoes, sliced red onion and torn, toasted pita chips doused with a tart sumac dressing. We wash everything down with a tall tumbler of orange blossom-spiked lemonade ($3.95) and think of the warm weather to come.

The cost: $19, not including tax and tip

The time: 37 minutes

Tabülè, 2009 Yonge St. (at Glebe Rd. E.), 416-483-3747, tabule.ca.