First Look: At Tam Jiak, Junda Khoo Takes Surf’n’Turf to the Next Level

The fish markets are open, the fish markets are open! Have you heard? The fish markets are open!

The news has been inescapable. And we get it. It’s taken a long time (eight years) and a lot of money ($836 million). We’re understandably curious.

There are troughs of fish on ice, lobsters in tanks and a schmick grandstand-style live auction room. The market is a dining destination in its own right – beyond groceries and takeaway-style food – with bona fide restaurants like the Efendy team’s Hamsi and soon-to-open omakase joint Sushi Oe. The inimitable Junda Khoo is also in on the action.

After just opening three Melbourne venues – Da Bao, Ho Liao and Ho Jiak Melbourne – the Ho Jiak chef should be exhausted and ready for some well-deserved laurel-sitting. But Tam Jiak was a “no brainer”, he says. Although he had to push back against exclusively selling seafood.

“I wanted to challenge myself and see whether I could do a surf’n’turf for every single dish, so every single dish contains an element from land and an element from sea.”

Rid yourself of any preconceptions. This isn’t lobster and steak on a plate, and it’s not the often-gimmicky “reef and beef”. It’s far more refined – and packed with Malaysian flavours.

The beef ribs are served with an anchovy chimichurri. The fried rice is dotted with Chinese pork sausage and smoked eel. Khoo’s signature char kway teow gets a seafood-friendly makeover with Alaskan king crab. The policy even extends to vegetarian dishes like gai lan (“from the land”), served with lotus root (an aquatic plant); and to famously land-based potatoes, sliced into wedges then seasoned with furikake. 

The name Tam Jiak is taken from the Hokkien word for gluttony, which Khoo describes as meaning “greedy to eat”. So, you’re best to take an Augustus Gloop-sized stab at the snacks and entree list, where many soon-to-be-signatures live. 

Meet Khoo’s must-order tom yum bombs. “It’s a variation from the laksa bombs that I have at Town Hall,” says Khoo. “The tom yum bomb is pretty much everything that you can find in a bowl of tom yum noodles – but in a dumpling.” Chicken, squid, prawns and vermicelli are wrapped up tight, served swimming in a tom yum sauce with a galangal soy dressing. 

There’s also a scallop cheong fun. “We take [finely chopped] paper roll [wrappers], which we wok fry. Then we lightly sear our scallops and then after that, we top it off with a foie gras sauce, which is our land element.” 

A wok-fried scallop cheong fun is another outstanding entree, as is tong mo sausage (which combines grilled lamb and barramundi) and grilled octopus served with chicken skin and a pepper sambal. 

Mains – like the char kway teow, claypot rice, grilled squid stuffed with lamb biryani, and squid ink duck – are big enough to share. There’s also a live seafood section selling pippies and mud crab at market price. (When Broadsheet visits Tam Jiak in opening week, an order of mud crab prompts a team member to duck inside to the market, returning minutes later with a crab in hand, pincers still pinching.) 

The view from the 120-seat Tam Jiak looks out to the still waters of Blackwattle Bay – a constant inspiration to Khoo as he looks for ever-inventive ways to redefine and refine the surf’n’turf game. 

Tam Jiak
Sydney Fish Market, Shop E1A/1 Bridge Road, Glebe
(02) 9123 3833

Hours:
Mon to Thu 11am–10pm
Fri & Sat 11am–11pm
Sun 11am–10pm

tamjiak.com.au
@tamjiak.sydney