lee ho fook

so wierd. has the world gone a little mad. whats is this joint?? i sort of get the cool chinese thing but lets be honest theres nothing here to want coming back for more. cheap fit out, weird wine list , questionable service and such a small menu that really you've gotta wonder whats going through their head. the night we went didn't really look like anyone was in charge. wierd !!!!!

lovely meal and quirky friendly staff. stand out was prawn toast & eggplant chips. lamb san shoi bao was a little tough. i want to bottle their xo sauce and take it home with me

outstanding food and great value. my partner and i wandered in tonight at 6.30 pm (a friday) and while it was busy, by chance we were able to secure seats at the bar.

we were really impressed with the service and the consistent quality and pricing of the food (the sichuan pickled vegetables, prawn toasts and wagyu and carrot san choi bau in particular were outstanding, and all well priced). also impressive, a varied and accessible wine list with a number of good drops reasonably priced by the glass.

with six courses including beers / chinese tea thrown in, our bill came to a very reasonable $80. i suspect these guys are onto a winning formula (finally someone has worked out that smith street could do with a decent chinese offering, rather than another mexican or burger joint) and i look forward to visiting again in the near future!

i was chomping at the bit to get to lee ho fook.  a chinese restaurant bankrolled by the blokes behind movida and pei modern and a head chef formerly of mr wong and marque- i was intrigued.  i've often wondered why chinese food has remained shackled to one of three camps in the melbourne dining scene: the dumpling houses, fine dining such as the likes of flower drum or the traditional chinese restaurant, the best of which are often found only in the burbs.  well, the times, they are a changing and it couldn't come soon enough. we visited lee ho fook on a friday evening around half nine.  the place was busy but there was no wait for a table and we were promptly seated by our charming waitress. a jug of kung fu rice lager was ordered whilst we scanned the menu.  it was fruity and so very easy to drink. the milk buns were a must try and we settled on an entrée and and two mains, our choices being the very ones our waitress later recommended.  the pillowy milk buns were incredibly moreish-

the menu, which is designed to be shared, is a new-style take on traditional chinese cuisine. we were informed that the chef likes to ‘play’ with the dishes on offer, and this sense of creativity emerges through a punchy menu packed with deliberate and thoughtful offerings. not a dirty dumpling or mango pudding to be seen here.

i loved that the tea egg reminded me of the tea eggs my auntie used to make and also my gran used to pop the odd boiled egg into her red braised belly pork dish and the salty, earth, tea flavours of this dish brought back those memories.

lee ho fook is brought to melbourne by peter bartholomew and david mackintosh of movida and pei modern fame and head chef victor liong, who has worked at sydney’s marquee and mr wong. liong is trained in classical european cooking and is using what he’s learned to put a new spin on old-style chinese food or, as he likes to put it “funky new-style chinese” that’s “produce base and technique driven”.

fantastic dinner with 2 friends. shared 3 entrees, 2 mains and 2 desserts. food was outstanding, loved the eggplant, trout and duck dishes, they were amazing. atmosphere was good too. will be back for sure

ho expensive!. whilst i really enjoyed the food, i felt the price of the banquet we ordered ($68) was far too expensive for what we had. i thought the 3 slices of steamed fish between 6 people was a joke. it was one bite each, then the chicken came. chicken was with bones and there was 3 pieces of it. how do we share this between 6 people? lucky we were coupled and hence each couple shared their own piece by taking a bite each.

service was excellent and attentive throughout the night, but the price we paid for what we had doesn't warrant a return visit. other non pretentious chinese restaurants have the same if not better fare for the price.

'something different'! westernised fusion. but is not creative enough to command the price point it is marketed at. no wow factor. portions small. just saying. don't go for the secret menu. if u really must try this place. go for the individual small portions.

excellent. great modern chinese restaurant. the dishes are technical without being pretentious or overshadowing the high quality of the ingredients or shying away from their heritage. flavours are very well balanced and the pricing is very reasonable.

standout dishes include:
- smoked tea egg with avruga and dill,
- prawn cracker and oriental citrus (perfectly cooked prawns with a crispy coating and a subtle citrus sauce),
- ocean trout and jellyfish salad
- the special when i visited was a lamb shoulder san choi bow (the lamb was fall off the bone tender and the condiments were perfectly balanced)
- the texture of the jasmine pudding with burnt caramel was amazing and paired well with the osmanthus jelly with white peach sorbet.

overall the restaurant is a welcome addition to smith street. i will definitely be back.

i was also impressed by a salad of heirloom tomatoes ($14) which teamed the tomatoes with two types of tofu, one so creamy it was almost like mozzarella and one deep fried until it was crispy. mains vary from delicate dishes like fragrant steamed barramundi ($28) spiked with ginger to san choi bau ($28) made with wagyu beef and serious chilli heat.

a brilliantly designed delicious modern chinese menu by head chef victor liong, such a talent! we had a feast of 16 small dishes, mostly small and shared between 5 people. the dishes that left me wanting more is definitely the lamb shoulder, jasmine tea pudding and the surprising chocolate & green tea dessert, it looks super sweet & rich but it actually tasted salty, in a very delicious way! great service too, we will definitely be back for more delightful food! you can see photos of our feast at www.instagram.com/glamolicious

i also had dinner here when the limited menu was on. this restaurant has a lot of potential. i'm not sure what direction the full menu will take...it seems to be verging on the latest trend of street food? it was hard to stay away from fatty cuts of meat/ fried dishes/sweet sauces. in saying that, the dishes we had were all quite tasty but they were just lacking something fresh to cut through the fat. i'm hoping to see some lighter/ fresher style dishes on the full menu to compliment what we sampled.

lee ho fook is an impres­sive addi­tion to the smith street land­scape and one which we hope flour­ishes. ser­vice is unhur­ried and relaxed in a man­ner befit­ting the easy going style of the venue: this is a place to linger over your meal, not some­where to scoff down your food and run. quirky touches — like the kitchen clap­ping twice for pick-up each time a dish is ready on the pass — inject a sense of fun which is also evi­dent in the food. din­ing shouldn’t be super seri­ous, lee ho fook seems to say. it should be relax­ing, inno­v­a­tive and above all, deli­cious. and on all fronts, lee ho fook delivers.