Why Lee Ho Fook is still one of the best restaurants in the city

When was the last time you went to Lee Ho Fook? When was the last time you even thought about it? Unfortunately, my guess is that your answer is likely "not recently". As a city we're obsessed with newness, a preoccupation that's driven by the media (guilty!) but also by the fact that food is so often seen as fashion – you either want to be in the latest styles or in the acceptably cool vintage. Who wants to wear what was cool 10 years ago?

The irony, when it comes to Lee Ho Fook, is that what is fashionable today was pioneered by this restaurant almost a decade ago. When Victor Liong opened his restaurant in Collingwood in 2013, and when he moved it two years later to the brick warehouse space on Duckboard Place in the CBD, the idea of a young Chinese Australian chef taking the food of his heritage and combining it with his own creativity, local ingredients, and the modern food culture of Australia – and inventing something new in the process – was revolutionary.

If you take a look at the nominees and winners of this year's Good Food Guide Awards, you'll see that we are now wealthy in restaurants that practice this brand of culinary alchemy. Has Liong been given the credit he deserves for his innovation? And is Lee Ho Fook given the recognition it merits? I fear not, which is a real pity. Because it is, undoubtedly, one of the best restaurants in the city.

It is also, now, a more mature version of itself. In the years I've been eating at Lee Ho Fook, I've seen Liong's cooking become more refined, leaning into his talent as a perfectionist.

If the restaurant went through a brief phase where it was known for bar snacks and late nights, it is now much closer to a true fine diner, in part thanks to a period in which the only option was a degustation, and in part because the food is decidedly elegant.

Liong still has a talent for big flavours, but even when you're experiencing his umami-bomb flair, the main impression is one of exactitude, of careful consideration for texture and balance and contrast.

Take the dish that some waiters will refer to as the "cheese course", a layer of Yunan soft milk curd that comes as part of the $135 tasting menu but can also be ordered a la carte ($18).

It's served with "bing flatbread", a round of crisp goodness that mimics a spring onion pancake without the onions. The curd is topped with vibrant green garlic chives, chopped and layered over the dish, mixed with ginger and tasting like the inside of the best, freshest dumpling you've ever had.

Liong's grasp on technique is evident at every turn. The four dances of the sea ($42), an appetiser selection of seafood, includes beautifully cut kingfish and trout sashimi; sweet Tasmanian scallops that have been marinated and chopped and put back in their shell with red vinegar and brown mushrooms; and razorback prawns served with a fluffy bearnaise-like emulsion of garlic, brown butter and soy that's intensely eggy and decadent.

Steamed toothfish ($46) pairs the extremely delicate, white-fleshed fish with silken tofu and a whisper of ginger. It's a textural marvel, almost too subtle on first bite, but when you add the provided soy sauce to the plate the dish comes alive.

Even though Liong started offering an a la carte menu again this past August, I still think the banquet menu is the way to go. It's the only way you'll get your hands on his take on Taiwanese three-cup chicken, which is presented in the style of Japanese teba gyoza – that is, a chicken wing that's been flayed and stuffed with ginger and black fungi before being cooked to a satisfying crisp.

Speaking of crisp, I'm not sure there's a better duck dish in town than the one here ($52), its interior gorgeously rosy, its skin lacquered to a high shine.

At weekends, Liong is now serving a yum cha brunch ($80 a head), made up of steamed and fried dim sum, noodles, and an elegant jasmine tea custard with burnt caramel sauce. At lunch, there's also the option for all-you-can-drink champagne ($120) – I cannot imagine a more baller way to celebrate a birthday than in this room with this food and unlimited French bubbles. (The rest of the wine list is 100 per cent Australian, and fantastic.)

Service is understated, not too formal, but utterly professional at every turn. Details are never overlooked.

So why isn't this place packed to the rafters every night? I blame our slavishness to fashion, our short attention span, and the fact that so many who have benefited from Liong's innovation are doing shiny new things.

I'm in awe of those things, and want them to get the limelight they deserve. But I also think that if you haven't been here in a while, you're missing out.

Vibe Vintage warehouse meets modern fine diner

Go-to dish Four dances of the sea

Drinks Classic cocktails, made expertly, fantastic wine list showcasing the best of Australian vinticulture

Cost Degustation $135 a head, or about $200 for two a la carte, plus drinks