Lucy Lui is a hip Asian restaurant  on Russell Street (entry via 23 Oliver lane) in Melbourne and it was absolutely packed at 6pm on a Wednesday. We had no choice but to share a high bar table, which was fine. A variety of folk filled this place – young pretty things, hipsters, tattoo-laden blokes, couples double-dating and tables of city suits.

Photo credit: That’s Melbourne

We were on a mission: eat and run mission and not be late to the Kylie Minogue concert. Two rice beers, please for my gluten-free sister and me. I like rice beer, it’s really clean tasting.

There were enough paleo-ish friendly choices to fill me up, however I’m sure many of the sauces in the dishes would contain sugar.

Szechuan duck with tamarind and sesame dressing ($35)

We told the waitress we were on a time limit and our dishes came out quickly, which was perfect. The other thing that was perfect was the duck in a sticky tamarind sauce with sesame dressing. The szechuan pepper gave the dish some heat, and the sweet duck with that gorgeous sauce and fresh watercress – yum – seriously succulent and gorgeous.

The sticky pork belly with palm sugar caramel, young coconut salad and chilli was also soft and beautifully flavoured.

Pork belly with palm sugar caramel ($20)

The Asian greens were lovely and just as you’d expect. Cooked with a bit of bite left and coated in oyster sauce.

And now for the epic fail.

Fish cakes – the worst I’ve ever had ($16)

The fish cakes were the worst most horrible fish cakes I’ve ever had. Firstly, they looked like pieces of poo on the plate – okay, this is a modern Asian, they don’t have to be in the traditional shape, I thought. Then I bit into it. The exterior was tough and all I could taste was oil. And not good oil either. The inside was dry and had a strong dose of chilli in it. After three bites, my mouth was so hot that I started to sweat. The dipping sauce contained sambal, more chilli, so no relief there. Not pleasant to eat and I let the waitress know why. An absolute fail.

Thank you for the duck – it was worth visiting Lucy Lui for that dish alone.

Verdict: 7/10
(only because the fish cakes were so bad).

FACT FILE

Lucy Lui
23 Oliver Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000
03 9639 5777
info@lucylius.com.au