Juni restaurant review 2025

The chef behind city favourites Lucy Liu and Taxi Dining has smashed it out of the park with his latest project — home to one seafood snack bound to live rent free in your mind.

Juni operates at two frequencies.

I almost slip into a meditative state polishing off a beer with those crisp tapioca battered Moreton Bay bug tails (spoiler alert: they’re the best).

The soft dining room carpet underfoot feels homely, while the intergalactic red and violet backlit ceiling is outta this world soothing.

Yet there’s an ‘up and get em’ pace about this place. Snappy service. Fast Food. Bevs replenished in a wink.

There’s good reason to be excited about chef Michael Lambie’s new project.

Not only is it his first Melbourne restaurant since launching fan fave Lucy Liu a decade ago, but is the latest in a rollcall of standouts: Stokehouse, Circa at The Prince, Lamaro’s and Taxi Dining.

It’s clear Lambie still has a fire in the belly to do Melbourne a solid, with head chef Hendri Budiman (Tonka, Coda Lorne) making his own mark on the veteran chef’s trademark South-East Asian template.

The Moreton Bay bug wrapped betel leaf and flash fried will live rent free in your mind.

Tom Yum butter baked scallops.

Unlike Lucy Liu, there’s less regionally specific dishes, fewer blow your face off larbs and more broader, Aussie palate friendly pleasers to whack in your bao bun.

Expect a menu skirting around the big hitters of Vietnam, China, Thailand, Japanese and Malaysia. Wagyu, wontons and, heck, even burrata gets a go.

Maybe you’ll start with a neat bundle of beef tartare ($23), caressed by the soft whisper of betel leaves — or whacked on a cracker for the almighty crunch factor.

Or a fried curry leaf-adorned chubby scallops ($26 for three), that’s remarkably fresh and baked in a Tom Yum butter and lime sauce. Youch she’s hot, watch your fingers!

It’s all DIY fun when you order the Peking-style roast duck .

Burrata and chilli oil plays off texture and temperature.

Adventurous eaters can tackle the refreshing papaya salad ($18), which sees thick and raw veg noods jumbled in a lime and fish sauce flecked with peanuts and dried red chillis that’ll bust a sweat in time.

You won’t need to dash to the dunny to keep yourself neat, but it’ll rouse the fire alarm.

If that’s too advanced, dunking Chinese doughnuts into a cold bulge of house made burrata and crunchy chilli oil ($28) may be more your thing — though it’s not as wow-factor as other iterations I’ve tried around town.

Plus I expected more crunch from those doughnuts.

But if you’re after dazzle, then those bug tails ($27) are it: bundled into fragrant betel leaves, tapioca battered and flash-fried — it eats like pearl meat, at once juicy-fresh and hot and crisp.

You could easily build a meal around snacks at Juni, though our waiter won’t stop banging on about the dry-aged duck ($48).

Deep fried coconut ice cream with lemon curd.

A riff on peking style, the molasses lacquered half-duck, comes with platter-full of fresh and funky trimmings, including parchment paper thin pancakes to swaddle the goods (cucumbers, pickled daikon, spicy hoisin sauce)— priced rather attractively under $50, which is exceptional value for the quality.

Speaking of, most things are reasonably priced.

Most cocktails hover around the low to mid $20s, and Juni may be one of the few places to be charging $13 for wine by the glass (there’s more than one glass), with a decent amount of bottles priced under $100.

Juni operates on different frequencies.

End on a high with the fried coconut ice cream, its golden cornflakes armour hiding lusciously curds tropical curds, finished with a neat squiggled of lemon curd atop.

Melbourne is crammed with modern-Asian restaurants, so why is Juni worth your time? There’s something rather comforting about Lambie’s relaxed kitchen confidence, and the twinkling promise of young chef Budiman under his wing.

It’ll be exciting to see how this restaurant evolves, especially in the city’s new Exhibition St hot-pocket of dining.

Plus there’s some downright delicious and reasonably priced food.

Now that’s how you stand out.