24 Oliver Lane
Melbourne Vic 3001

Once a month three of my besties and I venture out for dinner and a couple of drinks where its all about us, no whinging kids, no needy other halves, no nothing but a few girls having a great night out. Given we only get to do this once a month, we always book an awesome restaurant where we’re guaranteed to get a great feed. This month our restaurant of choice was Lucy Liu.

Set on cobblestoned Oliver Lane (warning ladies wearing heels, walk down this laneway at your own risk. I almost fell on my butt twice trying to navigate the cobblestones in stilettos), just a stone throws away (no pun intended) from some of the best restaurants in town, Lucy Liu absolutely holds her own against some stiff competition. Brought to us by the team behind Taxi, The Smith and Circa, she offers contemporary Asian cuisine designed to be shared with friends. Occupying a modern space with a subtle Asian influence, the restaurant itself is quite large, yet feels really intimate and was the perfect setting for our girls night. 

Embracing the very essence of this restaurant, we decided to order a few starters and mains to share between the four of us, but with so many great options, the dilemma was which of the dishes should we order? After some serious deliberation (over a cocktail or two) we decided to go with the Peking Duck Dumplings (with Lucy’s hoi sin sauce), Crispy Pork Buns (with spicy kimchi and kewpie mayo), Soft Shell Crab ‘Jianbing’ Pancake Roll (with spicy hoi sin), Korean Fried Chicken Ribs (with kewpie mayo), Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder (with green chilli dahl, and cucumber relish), Crisp Masterstock Free Range Chicken (bamboo salad, na prik, hot and sour dressing) and the Lucy Liu Spiced Green Apple Coleslaw on the side.

The food as a whole absolutely blew my socks off! Every dish was packed full of flavour and cooked to perfection. There was nothing that I didn’t like, but there were a few real stand outs that I’d definitely return for.  The first was the dumplings which were simply divine. The delicate casing was perfect and the peking duck filling was just superb. I’ve never before had duck in this form and was amazed at just how succulent it was. The crispy pork bun was just as good, each bite of the flavoursome crispy pork and soft bao was pure bliss.

The ribs were another favourite. I was a bit unsure as to how much meat they would actually have, but there was just the right amount so that with each bite I got to enjoy propionate amount of the crispy coating with the tender chicken.

The lamb shoulder was simply divine! It was so tender, it literally fell off the bone and was an absolute joy to eat.

We had a great night at Lucy Liu, which exceeded all of our expectations. The cocktails kept flowing, the food was amazing, the service was fantastic and we left there, four very happy women. We’ll definitely be back for round two.