Simon Wilkinson | Have you ever tried a prawn-filled doughnut? You should

Risk-taking almost always pays off at a new CBD bar and eatery serving up food and drinks you’re unlikely to find anywhere else. Find out more in our review.

Venue manager Lucy Ryan is an asset at Makan Wine Bar – happily recommending her favourite pairings. Picture: Matt Loxton

Are you an early adopter … a trendsetter … a risk-taker … someone who believes the chance to discover a special drink/place/experience before everyone else is worth the danger of disappointment? Or do you prefer to follow the crowd, read the reviews and stick with the tried and true?

Makan Wine Bar is one for the first category of people. This new upstairs venue in the CBD serves up some eats and drinks that you are unlikely to find anywhere else around town. Awesome prawn-filled doughnut with tom yum sauce, for instance. Or how about a fortified wine made from grapes grown at the foot of Mt Fuji that certainly rewards those willing to give it a go?

The interior of the Makan Wine Bar. Picture: Supplied

A modicum of an adventurous streak is also required to venture away from the established dining strips and trek a few blocks to the thus far undiscovered night-life of Flinders St.

Other than the fabulous Fino Vino up the road, this part of the city is abandoned after dark and even the ground floor of the historic bluestone building that is home to Makan is empty right now.

The contrast couldn’t be much starker for owners Ben Liew and Karl Tang, who met and continue to work at the immensely popular Paper Tiger in the midst of the East End’s frenzied activity. Makan is the pair’s first foray into ownership, a passion project that allows them to express their own personalities and be more daring.

Working with a limited budget, they have taken over the space previously known as the Second Floor Lounge and spent their money where it counts.

While the all-black decor and montage of international number plates remains mostly intact, there is new high and low seating, a cabinet for dry-ageing slabs of Wagyu beef and shelves for displaying the cellar collection.

Grilled rock ling with turmeric and cucumber at Makan Wine Bar, Flinders St, Adelaide. Picture: supplied

The wine is Tang’s responsibility and he has pulled together an enticing list of small-volume local and international labels. Natural and organic makers feature strongly. Manager Lucy Ryan is an asset here, happily recommending her favourites and proferring tastes, before coming up with a garganega from Victoria’s King Valley that sits perfectly with the food.

Chef Liew oversees the kitchen and he seems to have had a lot of fun experimenting with the culinary repertoire of Thailand, Japan, China, Taiwan and even Europe, often on the same plate. This risk-taking almost always pays off.

Pork and prawn gyoza at Makan Wine Bar. Picture: supplied

Take the snack that started life as the sweet doughnut stick sold by Chinese street vendors. This savory version is fried until crisp, filled with a prawn-toast-like seafood mousse, fried again and then cut into short cylinders that are arranged on a tom yum sauce cut with plenty of lime juice. Try stopping at one, or two, or three.

Chicken wings manage to pull together Japanese yakitori cooking and a Thai classic, the poultry painstakingly boned out and stuffed with a curried fish cake mixture, before brushing with a soy and calamansi (citrus) glaze and grilling. As with the doughnut, that’s a heap of labour and technical prowess going into a starter. The pork and prawn gyoza are more straightforward but nonetheless delicious, the ponzu dressing particularly good. Of the two bao options, the pork belly braised in master stock with cucumber and pickled greens works better than a tofu version which, with bun and soy, brings the bland together.

Chicken wings stuffed with fish cake at Makan Wine Bar. Picture: supplied

Moving up in size, the skin on crispy chicken is fired up with a sprinkle of the szechuan duo of pepper and chilli. Underneath is a simple salad of shredded cabbage and onion, all soaking in a bold nam jim dressing.

Rock ling caught in the Tasman Sea has some of the deep-ocean buttery texture associated with toothfish or black cod. Simple grilled fillets sit in a knockout curry sauce made with fresh turmeric and an Indonesian spice paste that isn’t too shy with the chilli. A good handful of mixed herbs and cucumber strips help cool it down.

Desserts, perhaps not surprisingly, aren’t a strong point, though a two-layer mille-feuille is made up of excellent pastry, coconut jam and a white chocolate cream patisserie.

Makan also has a balcony that, come the warmer months, will be perfect for sipping and snacking away a balmy evening.

Get in quick and beat the crowd. Flinders St won’t know what hit it.