Lamaro's Bodega

Four raw tastes of the sea (Rockpool); caramelised chilli pork hock (Ezard); truffled polenta and poached egg (Botanical) ... Sometimes, whether they like it or not, certain restaurants find their names attached to particular dishes, never to be removed from the menu by junior cooks under threat of a foul-breathed bollocking from the big, ugly head chef. It's what the press calls a "signature" and what the creator probably calls an "albatross".

I'd go to Lamaro's once a month if I could for the duck alone, and doubt I'd ever get sick of it. It's simply one of those great creations, the sum adding up to a lot more than the parts. Officially, it's "crisp-fried Szechuan duck with orange and sesame caramel". "The Duck" will do.

Lamaro's is a former South Melbourne pub given a fairly major architectural massage in recent years to attract the big-spending thirtysomething local residents and business people, and its executive chef and partner is Michael Lambie, who cooks at Taxi for a day (and night) job. Lambie has quite a handle on putting duck's rich, sweet flavours together with bright, crunchy and herbaceous Asian ingredients, and this is the apotheosis.
It's dry-cured with salt and spice, steamed, semi-boned and fried to order, arriving at the table as three pieces from the leg and thigh. The flesh is moist and tight, the skin slightly charry with a dark spice rub and toasted sesame, the fat rendered away (during the steaming). A sticky sweet/tart tamarind and sesame glaze coats the plate. It's crisp, sweet and nutty all at the same time, before you dress it with lime, and tuck into an Asian salad of ribboned green papaya, cherry tomato halves, Vietnamese mint, pickled ginger and other crunchy fresh vegetable stuff.

There are plenty more reasons that Lamaro's has been heaving with customers since opening little more than a year ago. The vivacious welcome and up-tempo presence of owner Pam Lamaro (not that she recognised me, I might add) or that of partner/manager Victoria Lambie; the feeling of energy that comes from a well-run restaurant and bar when the service staff are doing their job and the product is matching expectations; the smart wine list; the comfortable, fresh surrounds that feel contemporary but hardly threatening; and of course, more of Lambie's food, executed by head chef Todd Adams.

Such as a timber tasting board piled up with house-cured salmon with a leaf and fennel salad and mustard dressing, olives, grissini, pesto, duck rillettes, lavash and a few baby onions and cornichons.

Or the slab of cured and smoked pan-fried ocean trout that comes on a parsley and baby caper salad with lemon (of course) and horseradish cream (perfect).

Or maybe the Longrain-ish betel leaf presentations of spanner crab and smoked trout, each tossed with a vibrant Asian salad and set on a long, horizontal plate separated by a spicy avocado puree and a lime cheek; these essentially aggressive Thai flavours can go horribly wrong in some hands, but Lamaro's gets them right.

And speaking of duck, Peking duck gyoza with hot mint salad and black vinegar represents a very pleasing Canton meets Shanghai meets Tokyo ASEAN heads of agreement, crisp bases and pliable dumpling skins revealing more of the sweetness that makes this such an appealing bird. And all on a vibrant, crunchy pickled vegetable and herb mattress.

The dish is not going to challenge its Szechuan fried cousin for signature/albatross status at Lamaro's, but after a bottle of good white wine, or with a glass of New Zealand pinot noir, it'll come close.

And that's the sort of problem most restaurants would be happy to endure.