He’s moved on from the Smith St digs where he plied his new-wave Chinese to excellent effect for the past year, but though Victor Liong’s Lee Ho Fook now calls the CBD home, it’s still rocking the same good time vibes even if the surrounds are now slightly smarter.

Follow the electric red neon sign that shines like a beacon beckoning the hungry down this very Melbourne laneway landscape (street art, band posters, even stencil art of Victor himself) and head up to the second floor of the warehouse chic conversion for a procession of hits that have mostly made the move from Collingwood.

Such bites as the tea egg, a gooey yolked savoury number that’s enlivened with a splash of vibrant herb oil, or a bowl of silken tofu and scallops tossed through soy butter, punch well above their price point.

Modern dishes – a sublime plate of raw kingfish, radish and cloud fungi – sit alongside more traditional classics – a genre-redefining sweet and sour pork – but which are created and plated with today’s care. The signature xinjiang-style lamb shoulder is a feature dish for good reason – chilli-spiked fatty rich meat that’s eaten with sumac-spiced fried Ughgur bread is outrageously good.

Desserts take the form of a spoonful of this (jasmine tea burnt caramel) or a spoonful of that (white peach granita) while wines – though they tend to the (very) expensive – are curated with care.

Service is generally sharp, delivered by a team who were still in nappies when the defiantly 80s playlist last ruled the charts. You’ll be dining with Spandau Ballet and a-ha et al, and if that gives some inkling into the mindset of this owner-operator chef who is doing his best to put the fun and funk into dining Chinese today, so well it should. Lee Ho Fook’s settling into its new neighbourhood just fine.

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