Follow the electric red neon sign. It shines like a beacon down this very Melbourne laneway landscape, beckoning the hungry who head up to the second floor of the warehouse chic conversion for a procession of mod Chinese hits to a ’70s funk soundtrack, thanks to young chef Victor Liong.

Such bites as the tea egg, a gooey yolk that’s enlivened with a splash of vibrant herb oil, or a sublime plate of raw kingfish, radish and cloud fungi, sit alongside more traditional classics — sweet and sour pork elevated by good meat — created and plated with today’s care.

A bowl of crispy chicken skin is a lot of naughty, spicy fun and shows a kitchen that doesn’t take itself too seriously, though a dish of smoked eel, with lots of green chilli heat that’s teamed with wobbly discs of tofu swimming in a moat of soy vinegar, is serious in intent and execution. And there’s everything to like about lamb tossed through chilli and onion to wrap in crisp lettuce cups.

While wines start at wallet-busting and head north from there, and service can get distracted, Lee Ho Fook is an enjoyable reimagining of what Chinese means in Melbourne.

Must eat dish: kingfish, radish, fungi