When Junda Khoo opened in Sydney’s Haymarket late last year, he was floored by the response. The Malaysian eatery began life with limited seats in a shopping centre in Strathfield and took time to attract diners. “We struggled to make rent for the first few months,” he admits.
After three years and pleas from now-loyal fans, Khoo took the plunge and expanded. “I couldn’t believe when everyone started talking about us!” he recalls. From Instagram to traditional media, Ho Jiak’s authentic approach to Malaysian hawker food and Nyonya classics have dominated feeds and elicited rave reviews.
Khoo puts the rapid uptake of ‘Ho Jiak Two’, as he affectionately calls it, down to growing awareness of Malaysian cuisine. “It’s not like Thai, Chinese or Vietnamese in Sydney,” he explains, “But it’s up and coming, and people are more educated and adventurous.”
Nyona, the subset of Malaysian cuisine combining Chinese and Malay flavours, is relatively well-known and most diners opt for full-blown heat. “Our dishes are generally spicier than most places [in Sydney],” says the co-owner, who spent years perfecting their chilli pastes and sambals. “We make at least 15 different types.”
If anyone needs a little educating, surprisingly, it’s often the enthusiasts. “If you eat laksa at five restaurants, you’re going to have five different styles of the dish. We tell diners Malaysia is such a big country and at the end of the day, there’s no right way to cook it.”
Take Ho Jiak’s char kway teow (stir-fried rice noodles), equally it’s most loved and oft-disputed dish. Khoo’s version includes prawns, clams, Chinese sausage, pork fat cubes and, critically, a mix of dark caramel, oyster and soy sauces, tinting the noodles a deep, dark brown. “A lot of people say char kway teow should be light brown, but this is how I grew up eating it.”
Khoo also asserts he’s a home cook, not a trained chef. He arrived in Australia 18 years ago to study a double degree in project management and finance, then worked for a number of big banks before trading it in for food.
Ho Jiak’s char kway teow is tinted a deep brown by caramel, oyster and soy sauces. Source: Ho Jiak
“Malaysian cuisine is a combination of influences. You could say my cooking is likewise slightly fusion, tapping all these tastes together. I let my tastebuds be the guide.”
Crowd favourite ‘Indomie goreng’ is Khoo’s take on mee goreng with packet Indomie noodles and claims Australia as inspiration, too. “I got so bored eating them at uni here, I was always trying new ways to make it more delicious,” says Khoo, who adds kecap manis, Shaoxing rice wine and other secret ingredients to the moreish packet seasoning. “Today, I’ve made it even better by adding lobster tail – it’s my sexed-up version.”
This high-meets-low transcends the menu, with nasi goreng paired with wagyu beef and loh bak (deep-fried bean curd-wrapped pork) made with pork cheek instead of pork shoulder. “We have such good produce in Australia, I wanted to make the most of it, but keep the price point low.”
If Ho Jiak Strathfield is an ode to the hawker food of Khoo’s youth in the northwest Malaysian state of Penang, Ho Jiak Haymarket is an homage to his grandmother, who features heavily in our conversation.
The fried Kapitan chicken is one of Ho Jiak's crowd favourites. Source: Ho Jiak
“Everything we came to be known for at Strathfield is available at Haymarket, but everything else is very much our family’s cooking.”
His favourite, sam wong dan, is prepared with three types of eggs (duck, chicken and century eggs), steamed just so into a silky custard. “My grandmother is a really good cook and I want her legacy to continue after she passes.”
Khoo has just returned from a trip home, where he made his beloved grandmother lunch. “She was still barking orders to me in the kitchen,” he laughs. Did she like it?
“She didn’t complain!”
Anyone with a great cook in their family knows this means: spot on.
Daily 11am - 11pm
92 Hay St, Haymarket NSW
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