Lee Ho Fook chef Victor Liong has changed direction in 2024, launching two new spots on either end of Bourke Street. First came his Brazilian-Japanese sushi train collab with Con Christopoulos, Bossa Nova Sushi. And in early September he launches a “quick service” casual canteen, Silk Spoon, inspired by the dishes of the Silk Road.

“I wanted to explore cooking more broadly than just Southeast Asian and Chinese cuisine,” Liong tells Broadsheet. “So it’s the cuisines of east Asia and central Asia, northern India, all the way to the Middle East. If I want to be inspired by a Taiwanese or Japanese tea house I can be, or if I want to go to northern India or [add] central Asian flavours I can do that, too.”

The menu offers affordable dishes with the option to dine outdoors or take away, all priced from $12 to $18. Vegetable-heavy salads include charred corn with sweet onion, heirloom carrots with cumin, roasted pumpkin with sesame dressing, grower mushrooms with chilli crisp, brassicas with almonds, and tomato and basil with shallots and soft curds. A free-range chook salad with Chinese mushrooms, ginger and sesame rounds out the initial range, which will develop with the seasons.

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You’ll also find soups, such as prawn wonton with veggies and bone broth, and rice bowls boosted with crumbed pork or chicken cutlets, or grilled Tassie salmon with soy egg, edamame and zucchini pickle. A handful of signatures include a chicken curry pot pie, duck noodles in mushroom broth, and a cumin lamb flatbread riffing on Liong’s banging version made for the launch of nearby cafe Square One Rialto.

The evening offering caters to the after-work crowd, with steamed dumplings, spring rolls, prawn toast and spicy beef puffs served with Liong’s house-made chilli condiment. To drink? Mini Martinis, mini Manhattans and mandarin Aperol Spritz. “I’m excited to do something that’s a bit more accessible in the quick-service restaurant style, but still be able to serve booze, which not a lot of quick-service restaurants get right,” says Liong.

The concept moves into the space that was once Paco’s Tacos behind 500 Bourke Street in the legal district, with neighbours including Movida Aqui and Rosa’s Canteen. The design is by Min Chun Tseng (behind Toddy Shop and Cinque Terre) and elevates the 40-square-metre outdoor setting with lush garden plantings, cane furniture and striped awnings.

“Part of this brand is to be able to scale it and [open] more than one,” says Liong. “We imagine it will be a very corporate amenity, but still be fun, fresh, high-quality, at an accessible price point, and still be a gathering space after work. I want people to spot it from the 40th floor and say, ‘That’s where I’m going after work’.”

Silk Spoon opens Monday to Friday at 500 Bourke Street, Melbourne from September 9.

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