“I’ve taken my old stuff at Taxi, Stokehouse and everything after and put new tyres on it,” Michael Lambie tells Broadsheet of the food at Juni.

His 140-seat Exhibition Street restaurant opens tonight and marks the first time the UK-raised chef – whose career includes Stokehouse and Circa the Prince in the ’90s; Lamaro’s and Taxi in the 2000s; The Smith in the early 2010s; and Lucy Liu, which he opened in 2014 – has led a kitchen in Melbourne for almost five years.

After three years in Queensland – where he opened the now-shuttered Rubi Red – the non-compete he signed when he sold Lucy Liu in 2020 expired, and he started looking for a site in the city he’d called home for three decades. “Melbourne is my town,” Lambie tells Broadsheet.

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Juni isn’t shy about being pan-Asian, and presents dishes from Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, China and other Asian countries. You can order kingfish sashimi with jalapeno dressing and yuzu, sticky pork with red chilli, and wok-fried soft-shell crab, then move on to slow-roasted Cape Grim beef short rib in Penang-style curry or dry-aged duck.

Lambie says his vision was for a restaurant where “tradition meets innovation”, and the menu he developed with head chef Hendri Budiman (ex-Coda) has Western and European influences. There are classics including Thai papaya salad and Japanese tuna tataki, and as well as fusion dishes such as house-made burrata with chilli oil and grilled Chinese doughnuts

Behind the bar, Imogen Weller (ex-Aru) mixes cocktails that riff on Southeast Asian desserts. There’s a Thai Milk Punch and Chendol Old Fashioned as well as a Sago Margarita with sake and coconut fat-washed tequila. The wine list is predominantly Australian and New Zealand drops, and most are under $20 a glass.

Inside there’s a gleaming stainless steel open kitchen with a pink-sealed stone counter along one side, and a Tom Blachford projection of a 90-minute sunset looping on the opposite wall. The high ceiling was stripped back to reveal raw concrete beams now stippled with acoustic spray; the backlit bar wall is framed with Chinese roof tiles; and purple tones lend a cosiness to semi-private dining nook, Plum, at the back.

Upstairs is a private 20-seater mezzanine called Pickle, that’s a kaleidoscope of retro patterned “grandma’s carpet” and dreamy Japanese-inspired kimono colours in green walls, and a shimmering jacquard forest scape curtain.

As for the name, Lambie had a shortlist of about 300 which he eventually whittled down to 20. “Then my mum, June, passed away earlier this year and I thought, that’s it.”

Juni
136 Exhibition Street, Melbourne
03 8663 3422

Hours
Mon to Sun lunch–late

junimelbourne.com.au