Ho Jiak - Chinatown

by - September 22, 2018

Craving for authentic Malaysian food? Look no further than Ho Jiak, the latest entrant to the hustle and bustle Sydney Chinatown. Finally a place in Sydney where we'd keep coming back for a quick fix for Asian flavours. The dishes are vibrant in colour and taste and can be down right homey or luxurious, and be sure to check out their seasonal specials too for a creative twist.

Char Koay Teow (Normal) $16
Char Koay Teow is a personal favourite of ours and a must get when we visit Malaysian restaurants. It's all about the chef's control of the flame and the wok aroma, something that every chef needs to master for Asian stir frying. This one was spicy, sweet and savoury and all the ingredients just came together so well. We liked the addition of fried pork fat, which gave the dish just that extra bit of crunch. I can have this all day long!

Nasi Goreng (Pattaya) $18 
We got the nasi goreng Pattaya style, which means wrapped inside a thin sheet of omelette. As you slice through the egg cover, the aroma of the fried rice hits you straight in the nose. Compared to Chinese fried rice this one has more of a dark soy flavour, and comes with fish cake, prawns and egg. 

Nasi Lemak (Wagyu Rendang) $25 
Mr Piggy's favourite dish is the nasi lemak with beef rendang. The beef was fork tender and buttery sweet and nutty, with a hint of chilli. We also liked that it wasn't overly fatty. To be sure, the true test of this dish is the coconut rice, and Ho Jiak did not disappoint. The coconut fragrance had fully penetrated the rice and was not overpowered even when mixed with the rendang sauce.

Roast Chicken w Egg Noodles $16
This was kind of like the crispy skin version of Hainan Chicken. We liked the tender chicken, which paired well with the ginger sauce and chilli sauce. We weren't as much fans of the noodles, which were a bit clumped together. However we saw that the table next to us ordered a similar dish with the same noodles, and they looked good. Perhaps our noodles were left for too long in the kitchen. 

Sam Wong Dan $15
Steamed egg is nothing unusual to us, but this version caught our eyes, with 3 kinds of eggs - chicken, duck and century. The egg was steamed to a perfect texture and we liked the extra dimension brought by the century egg. For first timers trying century egg, this is a relatively safe dish. The creaminess from the steamed egg renders the distinctive flavours of the century egg more subtle than on its own. The only distraction was some egg shell bits.
Ice Teh Tarik (L) $5; Teh C Peng (R) $5
We rounded off our savoury and spicy meal with a couple of classic Malaysian milk teas, the ultimate creamy and sugary beverage. The teh tarik has a similar taste and consistency to Hong Kong milk tea, while the teh c peng was more fun. You get to mix the layers together, which consisted of tea, condensed milk and coffee.
After our two visits, our only complaint is the restaurant's cheap tactic of making customers wait for no reason other than to create the illusion of a queue when there are clearly plenty of tables available both upstairs and downstairs. The wait itself was about 10 minutes on each occasion, just not quite too long to make you leave.

 Food: 8/10
Service: 5/10
Atmosphere: 6/10

Highlight:
  • Extensive menu and overall good flavours
  • Rice and noodle dishes let you pick a choice of meat (or several), even lobster!
Lowlight:
  • Unnecessary wait
Ho Jiak 好吃 Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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