Victor Liong’s modern Chinese restaurant is a Melbourne dining treasure. Not only does Lee Ho Fook pack more flavour wallop per square centimetre than most, it does it with intelligence and wit. Who wouldn’t delight in classic prawn toast blinged with sea urchin and a side of salted yolk butter? Or Peking duck, dry-aged and shiny with a sweet-salty maltose glaze, served as a bite-sized snack topped with caviar? Or thrillingly clean-flavoured pickled black fungus glistening with black vinegar and scattered with fresh coriander? The drinks list is similarly interesting; all-Aussie wines (aside from some excellent grower Champagne) and Chinese, Japanese and Indian teas, accompanied by well-versed floor staff to steer your course. Add a two-level space on a classic graffitied laneway, plus a focus on brilliant local seafood (a kingfish head and collar lively with chilli and black beans) and you get a more brilliant example of modern Australian dining right now.
