Excellent food and a fun night out at local favourite XO

It's the glow of the neon XO sign that lulls us into the Narrabundah restaurant on a cold weeknight. What was once the Artisan restaurant is these days a more fun and casual eatery with an Asian street food menu.

The restaurant's fit out is simple and modern, with wood panelling down one side, a painted exposed brick wall down the other, and simple table settlings; a stark contrast to the dated exterior of the Narrabundah shops.

All night, hordes of locals are welcomed into the restaurant by name – this is clearly a restaurant that most people don't just go to once.

You could spend a very enjoyable evening here working your way through the sakes and whiskies. But the wine list catches our eye, with a thorough selection of local and international drops that you're less likely to see around. When a wine list is interesting, you may as well go for the most intriguing drop, which tonight is the 2015 Claus Preisinger Kalkstein Blaufrankisch from Austria. Co-owner Kent Nhan describes it to us as the, "perfect marriage between pinot noir and shiraz", and it's exactly that, heavy on the nose but soft and fruity on the mouth.

The menu is short, split up into starters, small plates, larger plates, sides and three desserts.

First out of the kitchen are the steamed dumplings ($16). They've changed their regular dumpling flavour for winter, with creamy pumpkin and ricotta filling sitting in a tom yum sauce. It's a hearty combination that manages to be rich yet delicate, thanks to a hint of citrus.

The XO FC chicken wings ($12) come out piping hot and crisp, served with a generous dollop of kewpie mayo – add a bit of house-made sriracha sauce for a bit of heat.

It's hard to visit here and not order the signature Asian bolognese ($21), udon noodles in a chicken ragout, with a 60-degree egg served on top. It's a rich dish, that hits the spot on a cold evening.

The white cut chicken ($30) is one of the simplest dishes, yet one of the most satisfying, with a well poached chicken breast sitting in a gentle broth, covered in a ginger and spring onion salsa and piled high with coriander.

The crispy lamb ribs ($28) are dark and sticky, covered in a plum sauce, with meat that pulls straight from the bone. There's no delicate way to eat these – and nor should there be. You're provided with a bowl of lemon water anyway, so you may as well not disrespect the bowl. Between the texture and flavour, this is an extraordinary dish.

Eating should be fun, and everything about XO is, from the service, by a team who is clearly passionate about food, to the particularly enjoyable, predominantly '90s playlist that isn't in-your-face, but could be the soundtrack to a ripper party.

There's no room for dessert tonight, particularly after those ribs, but when a restaurant continues to serve up exciting food that's this good, there's no doubt that there will be a next time.