Lucy Liu Founder Michael Lambie Makes His Melbourne Return With Juni

“I’ve taken my old stuff at Taxi , Stokehouse and everything after and put new tyres on it,” Michael Lambie tells Broadsheet of the food at Juni.

His 140-seat Exhibition Street restaurant opens tonight and marks the first time the UK-raised chef – whose career includes Stokehouse and Circa the Prince in the ’90s; Lamaro’s and Taxi in the 2000s; The Smith in the early 2010s; and Lucy Liu, which he opened in 2014 – has led a kitchen in Melbourne for almost five years.

After three years in Queensland – where he opened the now-shuttered Rubi Red – the non-compete he signed when he sold Lucy Liu in 2020 expired, and he started looking for a site in the city he’d called home for three decades. “Melbourne is my town,” Lambie tells Broadsheet.

Juni isn’t shy about being pan-Asian, and presents dishes from Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, China and other Asian countries. You can order kingfish sashimi with jalapeno dressing and yuzu and sticky pork with red chilli, then move on to slow-roasted Cape Grim beef short rib in Penang-style curry or dry-aged duck.

Lambie says his vision was for a restaurant where “tradition meets innovation”, and the menu he developed with head chef Hendri Budiman (ex- Coda) has Western and European influences. There are classics including Thai papaya salad and Japanese tuna tataki, and as well as fusion dishes such as house-made burrata with chilli oil and grilled Chinese doughnuts

Behind the bar, Imogen Weller (ex-Aru) mixes cocktails that riff on Southeast Asian desserts. There’s a Thai Milk Punch and Chendol Old Fashioned as well as a Sago Margarita with sake and coconut fat-washed tequila. The wine list is predominantly Australian and New Zealand drops, and most are under $20 a glass.

Inside there’s a gleaming stainless steel open kitchen with a pink-sealed stone counter along one side, and a Tom Blachford projection of a 90-minute sunset looping on the opposite wall. The high ceiling was stripped back to reveal raw concrete beams now stippled with acoustic spray; the backlit bar wall is framed with Chinese roof tiles; and purple tones lend a cosiness to semi-private dining nook, Plum, at the back.

Upstairs is a private 20-seater mezzanine called Pickle, that’s a kaleidoscope of retro patterned “grandma’s carpet” and dreamy Japanese-inspired kimono colours in green walls, and a shimmering jacquard forest scape curtain.

As for the name, Lambie had a shortlist of about 300 which he eventually whittled down to 20. “Then my mum, June, passed away earlier this year and I thought, that’s it.”

Juni
136 Exhibition Street, Melbourne
03 8663 3422

Hours
Mon to Sun lunch–late

junimelbourne.com.au