Expectations weren’t high. Lucy Luu is one of a raft of noodle and dumpling houses owned by a smart and ambitious Chinese Australian who packs ’em in every week at her cheap and cheerful Miss Chow’s venues around town. They’re like food trucks with seats and air conditioning. Simple. Hit and miss. Cheap.

Lucy Luu brought us back to the energised Scarborough Beach Road retail strip in Mount Hawthorn after recent reviews there of Sonny’s Bar and La Madonna Nera.

First impressions are everything – you get 20 seconds to meet and greet, otherwise it’s all over – and the greeting and seating was punctilious, fast and businesslike.

The décor is a funky, boujie, Bladerunner street scene with neon strip lights, TV projections on the wall and light boxes which pulsate through colours and fade outs. It is a well-choreographed space and despite its youthful, painfully hip demeanour it is, judging by its customers, a much-favoured haunt for locals of all ages and circumstances.

Some days, Lucy Luu is just the place you might need: easy going, inexpensive, fast, packed tables and a booze list just good enough to get you out on a school night.

Sriracha tiger prawn paste was mounted on toasted brioche fingers, topped with a few colourful squeezes of a perky saffron mayo and sprinkled with togarashi, the chilli powder-based Japanese condiment which should bring heat to the party. This one didn’t.

Surprise number one. As we said at the top of the page our expectations weren’t high. The prawn toast was banging with exuberant flavour. It was crunchy and the saffron mayo gave the toasts just the right amount of slippery mouthfeel. Lovely.

Pan fried pork dumplings were robed in a flaky pastry rather than standard dumpling wrappers. Good filling and nice flavour. Not too sure about the pastry, but it was a legit dumpling. Just personal preference.

Scallop spring roll was okay but more chiko roll than punchy Asian spring roll. Pastry was very good. The vegetable filling was mushy. It was garnished with pickles and Tom Yum sauce, both vibrantly flavoured.

Amelia Park lamb ribs were impeccably cooked, soft and melt-in-the-mouth with lots of luscious lamb fat. It was coated with a cumin laden crust so powerful it all but obliterated the taste of lamb. The ribs should take out an AVO against their own crust. It was a massive flavour bomb though. Usually a good thing, but on this occasion too much for the protein.

Wagyu tartare hit the spot. The chopped beef was an 11 on the unctuous scale and was made Asian with perfectly calibrated chilli heat. Wasabi aioli and casava crackers brought this little stunner home.

All in all the food captures those mod-Asian flavours we can’t get enough of these days. From Long Chim in the city to dumpling houses across town and from dim sum joints and amazing Chinese restaurants like Chilli Panda (with the best mapo tofu in town), many modern Asian restaurants are going for small dishes with weapons grade flavour.

Black vinegar, chilli, garlic, bonito, fermented black bean paste, soy sauce, sesame oil, yuzu, tobiko, spring onions and so on are the standard bearer ingredients of “new” Asian food which has bounded out of traditional constraints to capture Japanese, Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese flavours, often all in one dish.

These morish mash-ups are the secret to Lucy Luu’s success. And the reason we keep coming back to places like it. It’s also the reason Lucy Luu is jammed during service and turns its tables at least twice a night

Expectations exceeded.