Previous SlideNext Slide

You’ve got to hand it to Victor Liong. Plenty of chefs open venue after venue, expanding their risk, brand and capital. But few come at it from the standpoint of “what do people need right now?”

The Lee Ho Fook chef tends to do this with his secondary projects. He’s not always right – he opened, then quickly closed, Chinese breakfast joint Lawyers, Guns and Money in 2016.

This year, along with Constantine Christopoulos, he opened a high-quality sushi train, which is smart and also risky, and it remains to be seen whether it will hit long-term.

His newest project, SilkSpoon, seems engineered to answer the question “what do workers in the CBD need that they don’t already have?” And the answer he appears to have come up with is: something affordable, healthy and quick.

SilkSpoon is up a staircase on a mezzanine patio behind the giant office building at 500 Bourke Street, and its open-air dining room (there are heat lamps and partitions for colder weather) is surrounded by new and old buildings rising towards the sky – sitting here feels like perching in a nest on a branch of the city itself.

It’s exceedingly casual, with Parisian-style cafe tables and a green-tiled facade, behind which is an open kitchen and service area. Orders are processed quickly, portioned carefully and built for expediency.

You get the feeling that Liong has learnt a lot in his years of business, and he knows exactly where he went wrong in the past. Most dishes are variations on a theme, making them easy to prep and execute in a fast-casual environment.

SilkSpoon is almost purpose-built for replication – if all goes well here, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it turn up in malls around the country. Nothing is more than $18, making it far less financially daunting than most sit-down restaurants while retaining a sense of occasion – albeit extremely laid-back – that proper restaurants deliver.

Cocktails are simple – you can get an Aperol mandarin spritz ($16), a negroni ($20) or ask them to throw a shot of gin into your freshly squeezed apple juice ($18; $14 with no gin).

There’s a house sparkling, a house white and a house red – that’s the entire by-the-glass list. But Liong is a wine nerd, so these pours are a step above the regular plonk. The white ($14) is a delicious and food-friendly viognier, and there’s a short, smart by-the-bottle list that starts at $48 and tops out at $70.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been running around the city, found myself hungry and thought: I just want a big salad. Where to get one? Nothing much comes to mind. SilkSpoon has me covered, with half the menu dedicated to variations on the big salad (all $14).

A base of baby cos supports toppings such as sumac chicken with braised burghul, spiced eggplant and feta, or grilled halloumi with chickpeas and garlic yoghurt.

Some of these are more successful than others – the ancient grain salad in the spiced grilled chicken bowl seemed more like a puffed rice mixture than the heartier base I’d hoped for, but there are so many options that you’re sure to find something you like.

“It’s such a clever melding of comfort and quality, and is one of my favourite dishes of the year.”

Dumplings ($17) are nice and plump, come eight to a bowl stuffed with either pork and cabbage or wagyu beef, and can be eaten steamed or pan-fried.

Chewy fat noodles are served with lamb ribs, tomato and egg ($18) and can easily be ramped up in heat and umami with the chilli crisp provided on the table.

The signature dish appears to be the chicken curry pot pie ($18), and for good reason. This pie is a thing of beauty, its crown flaky and buttery, its filling silky and mild and full of big hunks of meat and vegetables. It’s such a clever melding of comfort and quality and is one of my favourite dishes of the year.

That’s what works so well about this venture – there is real quality, but presented in a way that’s easy to afford and easy to use. Sometimes we forget about utility as an important quality in restaurants, but it’s one of the most critical factors in whether a place succeeds or fails.

I hope people get on board with SilkSpoon because it would be nice to see high quality become a defining ingredient in our most user-friendly restaurants.