Try the bold and generous Asian flavors of the new Makan restaurant

Chef James Wozniuk can’t get enough of stinky beans. You’ll find this bitter, nutty bean in Southeast Asia, where it grows on trees and, thanks to its high concentration of amino acids, gives off a smell reminiscent of methane gas. And you can bet you’ll find it at Wozniuk’s new Rutledge Avenue restaurant, Makan, in Sambal Udang Petai, a shrimp dish that Wozniuk affectionately calls “funky and spicy.”

These big, bold flavors are representative of the Malaysian cuisine Wozniuk offers at Makan. The restaurant pays homage to the cuisine of Southeast Asia, a region Wozniuk has visited often. His love of the food inspired him to open the first Makan restaurant, in Washington, D.C., in 2020.

Family ties drove him to open Makan Charleston. “I grew up in Greenville,” Wozniuk said. “My sister went to MUSC, I have a lot of friends here and my brother and his wife are here. … They just had a baby, so I wanted to be closer to my family and my niece to watch her grow up. It was a pretty easy decision to make.”

And while Washington, D.C., and Charleston are very different cities, Wozniuk said he’s confident the Lowcountry is ready for his Malaysian cuisine. He pointed to local restaurants like Xiao Bao, Beautiful South and King BBQ as places that have paved the way for Asian cuisine in the Charleston area.

“There were a lot of people who had already developed this style of cooking before us,” he said. “That gave us a little more confidence, knowing that people were really interested.”