Makan Wine Bar

For a moment, imagine you’re in Singapore. The weather is sticky, hot and humid. At the base of an office building, you find a wine bar called Wine RVLT. With dark wooden tables, an exposed beam ceiling and more bottles of wine than will comfortably fit on its shelves, the bar feels decidedly un-tropical. It’s this specific contradiction that inspired chefs Benjamin Liew and Karl Tang of Rundle Street's Paper Tiger to open Makan.

“Makan” means “to eat” in Malaysian, and the bar’s innovative food menu certainly isn’t playing second fiddle to its 60-bottle wine list. Indonesian, Malaysian, Japanese and Vietnamese influences are woven into the offering – opening highlights included the prawn doughnut (imagine a Chinese doughnut, stuffed with prawn meat), Szechuan grilled eggplant, and a scotch fillet dry aged in-house for 60 days.

Head to level one when you reach the building, and you’ll know you’re in the right place when you see a ship-style cargo door. The loft-style bar features a large balcony space, and the playlist leans into the ’80s and ’90s.