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I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to visit Yan, which opened in Wolli Creek eight years ago, but the location likely has something to do with it. If I find myself in Sydney’s south around lunch or dinner, or any time in between, more often than not I’ll gravitate to Hurstville and see what noodles mighty Forest Road has to offer. Since Yan is on the ground floor of a high-density, grey-on-white apartment block, surrounded by several other grey-on-white apartment blocks, I can’t imagine it attracts many people visiting Wolli Creek for a stroll.

It does attract a lot of locals, though, who know damn good value when they taste it. I finally made it to the modern (mostly) Chinese restaurant when mates who live nearby suggested a catch-up.

Smoked pork belly is $49 and features plenty of luscious meat to be shared between two, served in a garlic chive broth with salted-shrimp chilli oil on the side. Rice is mixed with sliced Chinese olives and pickled mustard leaves for $5 a bowl. The banquet is $75 per guest.

You feel as if you’re a guest here, too, and not just another Apple Wallet, largely due to the hospitality of owner Narada Kudinar. Detailed cocktail descriptions are provided. Kids at our table are handed complimentary steamed bao. Dark walnut chairs and honeyed light make the dining room feel much cosier than the building it inhabits. A soundtrack of funk, soul and rock 𝄒n𝄒 roll adds to the fun-time vibe.

Yan means “smoke” in Mandarin and chef Ewa Goralewski leans into the theme. “Smoked” is the first word for nine a la carte options, from smoked king prawns with feature-length flavour, served with a fresh lime and ginger sauce (peel, squeeze, dip), to sliced-beef short-rib layered over just-sauteed kale. It’s a natural-born-killer dish, humming with pepper and garlic, plus the earthy tones of mesquite wood after smoking in a combination oven.

The oven does a lot of heavy lifting, but the kitchen also knows how to balance flavour and texture; nothing tastes like a bushfire. Occasionally, there are moments of quiet elegance, too, such as the braised winter melon with smoked almond cream. Soup excepted, winter melon is seldom a headline act in Sydney. At Yan, the mild gourd takes on flavours of a soy-based sauce which brings out almost-tropical notes to play off a punchy chilli oil.

Goralewski has the confidence to serve fleshy, bronzed quail (also smoked) with nothing but mandarin salt for dipping or sprinkling, while roly-poly curls of fried squid mingle with curry leaf and a powerhouse, black-pepper sauce. Meanwhile, sides, including bok choy sauteed with ginger, and tofu skin with salted celery and sesame, bring harmony to the force of spice, funk and smoke.

Only the smoked chicken katsu is underwhelming, but that’s because it kind of just tastes like a perfectly fine katsu, and you can find that all over the city. Regardless, any kid at the table will be chuffed with the presence of a crunchy Japanese schnitzel.

(The real all-ages showstopper, however, is a tower of dairy-free coconut ice-cream spangled with toasted coconut flakes and served on a young coconut concealing refreshing coconut jelly.)

While popular with young couples, Yan is a place best visited with a gang, preferably a long table of pals without persnickety dietaries. That said, vegans are well looked after with a plant-based set menu starring smoked mushroom “noodle” soup. The quotes around “noodle” suggest there’s more complexity under the hood than the modest spruik suggests, much like the restaurant itself. A return trip to Wolli Creek is already being planned to find out.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.

This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine