The name is borrowed from Warren Zevon — specifically the lyric in Werewolves of London — and the Chinese phrase translates as "good fortune for your mouth." Victor Liong's restaurant, hidden on Duckboard Place off the Flinders Lane dining corridor, earns both references. It is a place of luck: the luck of discovering it, the luck of getting a table, and the luck of sitting down to food that redefines what the Chinese-Australian kitchen has always been capable of.
Liong's cooking takes the legacy of generations of Chinese-Australian cooks — the people who built restaurants in every city on the continent, who cooked for a country that largely misunderstood what they were doing — and translates it through a contemporary fine-dining sensibility without losing its soul. The mapo tofu, silken and numbingly spiced in the way that only Sichuan peppercorn can produce, arrived on this menu some years ago and has remained because to remove it would be a cultural offence. The kingfish carpaccio with black bean vinaigrette, the crispy eggplant with pork floss and black vinegar caramel — these are dishes that exist in their own category.
The restaurant seats approximately 60 in a room that manages to feel intimate despite its size — the lighting is low, the music is present without dominating, and the tables are spaced with the understanding that the conversations at them deserve a degree of privacy. The set lunch menu, at approximately AU$80 per person for four courses, represents exceptional value in the CBD context and attracts a midday crowd of industry professionals, food enthusiasts, and the occasional international visitor who has done their research.
Lee Ho Fook has since expanded to Sydney, but Melbourne remains the original — and the address on Duckboard Place retains the character of discovery that an alley restaurant should maintain. Reservations are recommended, particularly for weekend dinners; OpenTable handles bookings and typically releases availability a few weeks in advance. The wine list emphasises natural and minimal-intervention producers alongside a small but carefully considered sake selection.
