After taking a very long break from posting on my blog, I am back! And in my first post this year is a review on a Malaysian restaurant: Ho Jiak Sydney. We have heard many good raves about this place but somehow we were never looked into it. And finally a couple weekend ago, we accidentally passed by this place and decided to give it a go.
The restaurant:
It’s location in Haymarket is just opposite of Paddy’s Market on the Hay St side towards the Sydney Entertainment Quarter end. Unfortunately, it does not stand out much that we did not even spot it right away. What gave it away was the pictures of menu on the side of its door and only then we looked up to see the name sign.
Ho Jiak literally means good eat or delicious in Hokkien dialect. Looking at the menu, you could tell this is modern twist on Malaysian Nonya cuisine and some hawker style food as well. They all look really good actually but unfortunately with just the two of us dining, we didn’t get to try many things. Never mind, we could always come back again later.
As we entered through the ground floor entrance, a lady asked whether we had reservation which we did not. She then told us to go to second floor, which you would need to exit then turn left to find the stairway to second floor seating. Upon entering the dining area, I like this retro seating area right away, it’s spacious, bright and gives out cozy atmosphere.
Secondly, have to applaud the service which was prompt and friendly. The waiter handed out the menu and cold water then come back again few minutes later to take our order. Also, appreciated the warning on the food being spicy by default and whether we wanted to have them no spicy instead. Lastly, our order also turned up fairly quickly after ordering – sign of an efficient kitchen.
And here are what we ordered:
I love rice noodle, be it fried or soup, therefore I knew immediately what to order as soon as I saw the menu. The duck egg variation tempted me, but we thought to try with the most basic version and see how is it. That’s how we ended up with the Normal versions on both dishes. The Char Koay Teow was good – it’s greasy (as what char koay teow should be) with wok flavor, got the spicy kick, generous with slices of fish cakes and chinese sausages. We both think this is the winner!
On the other hand, hubby loves fried rice and he always likes to try fried rice from different places. So, of course he would do the same and ordered the Nasi Goreng here. Honestly, the Nasi Goreng was not bad at all. Compared to the char koay teow, this dish tasted slightly lack of wok flavor. Also, we think it will taste much better if the spiciness was left as default than toned down. Fortunately, they provided sambal on side which definitely helps. If we are to order fried rice again, we’d probably opt for Jumbo which has fried chicken and satay as well 🙂
To summarize, the flavor are awesome and the menu is extensive. Moreover, there are many other dishes on the menu we want to try at Ho Jiak. And for that reason, we would absolutely come back again!
HO JIAK SYDNEY
92 Hay Street
Haymarket, NSW, 2000
T: (02) 8040 0252
E: hello@hojiak.com.au
Open: Mon to Sat 11am – 12midnight
Sun 11am – 10pm
