REVIEW
If Ho Jiak's neon-punctuated walls and joyously unfussy service don't transport you to a cobbled Penang laneway, a forkful of the char koay kak will. Crunchy-fried cubes of radish cake, smoky with wok hei and coated in dark soy, are topped with blue swimmer crab meat — a finishing touch that encapsulates chef Junda Khoo's gentle but gripping elevation of Malaysia's street-food spirit. The recent abridgement of the once-Odyssean menu has focused and clarified Ho Jiak's mission to celebrate and uplift Malaysian fare in service of a good time. And while purists are still serviced with the likes of gently aromatic Hainanese chicken rice or dark char kway teow dotted with crisp jewels of pork fat, it's moments like the thick marrow-filled beef bones coated with thick rendang curry – begging to be scooped out with buttery roti – that take things so thrillingly beyond the street.
ABOUT
Chef Junda Khoo
Price guide $
Bookings Recommended
Wheelchair access Yes
Open Lunch and dinner daily
Price guide $
Bookings Recommended
Wheelchair access Yes
Open Lunch and dinner daily
This review was written independently for the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide. The guide's reviewers visit unannounced and pay their way. To learn more about the process, head over here.
