In our fast-paced, screen-dominated days we all need a moment to take time out and when a grey day demands a hug of comfort, head straight to Lee Ho Fook for chef Victor Liong’s crab fried rice.

For this sublime steaming bowl of XO-seasoned rice flecked with sweet swimmer crab and scallops is at once gloriously gloopy, warming and deeply delicious, bringing a joy that rights all wrongs.

Within this converted warehouse dining room Liong has been honing his “new style Chinese” for the past few years (five years since first opening the doors in Collingwood), and such plates as the signature crisp eggplant are better than ever, now favouring the savoury over the sweet.

Punchy flavours and vinegar sharpness abound – excellent Shandong-style chicken does aromatic succulence and seasoned crunch in equal measure – though generosity is sometimes at the expense of refinement. A whole murray cod piled high with juicy Goolwa pippies is impressive, but was drowned in its spicy sauce.

While the wine list is expensive (and $12 for a Furphy schooner is eye-poppingly cheeky), service can tend to the uninterested and the Nova-100 styles of the playlist at curious odds with a crowd that’s surprisingly middle aged, Lee Ho Fook remains a consistently popular CBD destination for Chinese with laneway swagger.