Ho Jiak Completes Junda Khoo’s $7 Million Malaysian Food Destination

Junda Khoo is tired. And after opening three restaurants in as many weeks, who can blame him? On Friday June 13, the Sydney chef cut the proverbial ribbon on Ho Jiak: Junda’s Playground, the final piece in the chef’s $7 million Malaysian food destination, located in the revamped Tivoli Arcade (aka 235 Bourke Street).

It follows Ho Liao, a Malaysian beer hall that feels like a slightly upmarket Pappa Rich, and Da Bao, a ground-floor takeaway spot with “economy rice” and Chinese Malaysian comfort food.

Of the trio, Khoo says Ho Jiak is the most reflective of who he is as a chef today. “Starting out with no experience, no nothing, it’s a showcase of how much I’ve grown in the last 10 years,” says the former investment banker who opened his first restaurant in Sydney 11 years ago.

It’s not fusion or fine dining, but Khoo’s own “playful and cheeky” take on Malaysian food. A Malaysian curry puff is stuffed with blue cheese and served with a blue cheese dip. Assam laksa (a sweet and sour fish broth-based soup from Penang) is frozen, made into a granita and served on top of raw hiramasa kingfish and served with a vegetable and pineapple salsa that’s meant to reference the greens that typically top a steaming hot bowl of the laksa.

Khoo says he “could not even imagine” he’d be cooking this kind of food when he first started out. He sees the menu as a testament to how much he’s grown as a chef, and how Australia’s familiarity with Malaysian food has evolved since he first moved to Sydney 20 years ago, “when Malaysian restaurants were selling beef noodle soup and Mongolian lamb”.

New head chef Ralph So (ex- Supernormal), originally from Kuala Lumpur, runs the pass and helps Khoo, who grew up in Penang and Kuala Lumpur, with R&D. Khoo has also brought part of his Sydney team down to Melbourne to work in the ground-floor kitchen, which services all three venues.

But only a handful of dishes from Ho Jiak: Junda’s Playground in Sydney have made the leap: roast duck, Khoo’s newly Masterchef -famous laksa bombs (dumplings designed to distil the taste of a bowl of laksa in one bite), and his signature char kway teow. The latter is also the only constant across all three Melbourne venues, but at Junda’s Playground is topped with mud crab.

To drink, there’s wine, Southeast Asian beers and Ho Jiak’s signature Spicy Margarita, mixed using reposado tequila aged in whisky barrels specially made for Khoo. Dessert is a pandan lava cake with pandan custard that oozes out when you cut into it, and a three-in-one dish that draws influence from a crepe, crème brûlée and roti pisang (banana roti with condensed milk).

Khoo has yet to book his return ticket to Sydney, but he won’t have much time to catch his breath before Tam Jiak, his new Sydney restaurant, opens later this year.

Ho Jiak: Junda’s Playground
Level 1 Rainbow Alley, Melbourne
(03) 8637 0888

Hours:
Mon to Wed 5pm–10pm
Thu to Sun midday–3pm; 5pm–10pm

hojiak.com.au/melbourne
@hojiak.melbourne