Lagoon Dining restaurant review 2024

This unsuspecting Lygon Street eatery has been firing since 2019, but is home to quite possibly the city’s best fried chicken, among other things.

Lagoon Dining may not be front on mind in Melbourne’s dining landscape — but should be.

Lagoon Dining, I’m sorry we don’t hang out often.

I haven’t forgotten about you … well, sometimes I do when I’m at other restaurants. It’s part of the gig.

Know when you creep back into my orbit, or my desire to devour some of the city’s best fried chicken becomes painfully unbearable, I’m back.

Like the other week, I realised my husband hadn’t been to Lagoon (crazy, right?), so we had to book dinner. You’re the restaurant equivalent of an old school mate: we don’t catch up often, but the reunion is always one for the books.

There are many Melbourne restaurants like this.

Table-smackingly delicious at every turn, but get left by the wayside for the shinier, newer play thing.

Maybe that’s part of their charm. But what defines Lagoon, Carlton’s Lygon St sleeper, isn’t just high-level, consistent cooking by chef Keat Lee or the warm hospitality of Chris Lerch (though it plays a big part).

Is this Melbourne’s best fried chicken? Our critic thinks so.

And it’s not just the exceptional wine list, leaning light, white and food friendly, or the freedom to skimp or splash on a bottle or knock back a few cocktails or frothies.

Lagoon is the whole package — and I’m not the only fan.

In the latest delicious. 100 best restaurants guide, Lagoon Dining won the ‘People’s Choice’ category, voted by hundreds of everyday eaters.

Never been? I’ll paint a picture.

Three Ezard alumni Chris Lerch, Ned Trumble and Keat Lee opened the lively mod-Asian eatery in 2019.

They had the confidence to challenge both Carlton’s red sauce traditionalists and conventional Chinese cuisine in the same breath. Chef Lee (Ezard) sambal slinging pings us all over South East Asia, from Bangkok, Indonesia to Malaysia.

What’s most impressive is whatever I order, on any occasion, Lagoon delivers — it’s all hits, no misses.

Chinese doughnuts with stracciatella, chilli oil and sesame paste.

The beef rendang curry inspired short rib.

Maybe you’ll love the hot and sour shredded potato ($13), al dente cold spud noodles slicked in a hypnotic Sichuan pepper, black vinegar and chilli oil concoction. You’ve never eaten potatoes like this.

Or the airy crisp Chinese doughnuts ($16), which have seen many iterations, and on this visit scoop clouds of That’s Amore stracciatella showered in a chilli oil and sesame paste.

But Lagoon’s calling card is that fried chicken ($18).

A snack so superior there’d be blood on Lygon St if it were taken off the menu. Brined, double fried and tossed in Japanese spice (white pepper togarashi) that would double as “legalised crack”. Add juicy flesh, double crumb and that almighty earth-shattering crunch.

More classics such as the charcoal roasted char sui ($4), sticky Chinese pork belly dish, and the beef short rib ($67) survive the test of time; the latter riffing on Malaysia’s most famous beef rendang curry with a hunky portion justifying the almost $70 price tag (eek!).

Black bean and clam egg custard.

Disclaimer: we had so much meat, we took some home for the ultimate leftovers lunch.

New dish, a clam and black bean egg custard ($42) prides itself on texture, taste of the sea and the richness of that black bean sauce.

There really is so much to love.

A new tea menu, inspired by Chris’s travels to Tapei, is also something worth trying.

Even Lagoon’s ultimate lockdown “pivot”, a grocery line of pantry staples overflowing with hot sauces, oils and “spiced salt”, is top tier. Dusted on fried tofu, that spiced salt is so addictive it’ll convert even the firmest haters into fully fledged fans.

Lagoon Dining is a Lygon Street sleeper.

I often wonder how Lagoon lost itself in the noise in the whirl of openings (we can blame Covid), flying under the radar for years instead of reaching the same status as the Chin Chin, Supernormal, Lucy Liu‘s of the world.

I’d argue Lagoon has carved its own wedge as an unsuspecting, reliable and dependable beacon, performing at the top of its game, with some seriously solid fried chicken.