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Trust me: You want a place like Bar Spontana in your neighbourhood. It’s one of those spots that feels like a secret, and a really juicy secret at that. Hidden in the backstreets of Brunswick, the venue’s features read like a bucket list of things you’d hope to have just around the corner: fantastic cocktails; a diverse and exciting wine list; warm and engaging service. The fact that the menu is made up of Northern Thai dishes is perhaps unexpected, but that’s part of the fun.

Bar Spontana (“spontana” means spontaneous in Esperanto, an artificial language created in the late 1800s by a Polish occultist who hoped it would become an international second language) is the work of Josh Hodges and Caleb Baker, who also own Mr West in Footscray. The duo have a knack for tapping into the heart of a neighbourhood, figuring out what the residents there might want, then over-delivering.

The room feels like a cool warehouse apartment, all brick walls, exposed industrial beams, colourful artwork and leafy plants. Wooden booths line the wall, with tables big enough to hold the dozens of plates of food you’re going to want to order. (There’s also a “feed me” menu for an incredibly reasonable $59.)

But first, a drink. The cocktail list here is overseen by Nathan Beasley, who has all kinds of accolades (including being named Australian Bartender of the Year in Bartender Magazine a decade ago).

I’m still dreaming about the Spontana martini ($24), which, with its subtle whiff of summer flowers and underpinning of nutty fino sherry, converted my sibling-in-law from martini sceptic to martini lover.

The beer list is made up of fun things, like a La Sirene apricot koelschip ale ($16), and the medium-length wine list is chock-full of exciting low-intervention bottles, most of which are well under $100.

The food menu is overseen by Pipat Yodmunee (ex-Rice Paper Scissors), who leans into his mother’s Isaan heritage. The menu is upfront about the boldness of the cooking: “There are many places you can find green curry in Melbourne,” it states, “this is not one of them.”

It then goes on to say that the food is inspired by regional cooking, ferments, preserves and family recipes, and many of the dishes are very spicy. But this isn’t a place where they’re setting out to prove something to those with delicate sensibilities – they’re pretty happy to lessen the spice level if you ask.

But if you’re one of those people who have eaten through Thailand and miss that funkiness and fire once you get home, this food will delight you.

There are skewers of grilled leek with burnt green chilli ($9), or incredibly tender ox tongue with crispy garlic ($9).

Fried chicken ($13/$21) comes with nam jim gai, but this isn’t your regular sweet chilli sauce – here it’s funky, multifaceted, and completely addictive. Steamed little neck clams ($26) come bathed in lemongrass, lime and Thai basil.

Northern-style raw beef ($21) is burn-your-face-off spicy, but somehow also subtle, pops of coriander and mint bolstering its meatiness and lending the dish a complexity that is truly wonderful.

If you’re here with a group, there are a few large plates worth ordering – whole charcoal chicken ($60 – it also comes as a half version for $35), or a whole fried fish ($37) with peanuts and a shower of fresh herbs, its flesh conveniently cut into hunks for easy access.

Bar Spontana is one of those places that’s sneakily ambitious – it looks like a fun neighbourhood bar, nothing crazy, nothing flash. But every element of the project is so carefully considered, and so well executed, it winds up punching well above its weight. What a delicious surprise.