Ho Jiak Town Hall - Junda's Playground — Restaurant in Sydney

The confluence of truffle season and the Sydney Film Festival provided me with good reason to revisit Ho Jiak Town Hall. Owner and chef Junda Khoo puts the aromatic fungi to good effect as an add-on ($58) to any dish, or you can opt to eat one of his three suggestions. I’m a ‘leave myself in the hands of the experts’ kind of gal, so the truffle sam wong dan ($48) it was. The steamed egg custard made from chicken, duck and century eggs provided an excellent foil for shaved truffle, allowing you appreciate the aroma and flavour of this premium ingredient.

We kicked our dinner’n’show night off with cocktails: an Eclipse ($22) based on coconut-infused tequila, and a less impressive Smokey Malaysian Tea ($22) where milky smoked chai managed to dominate any hint of the cinnamon whiskey and bourbon it was said to contain. Moving on to sake, our Tenugmai sake ($86/bottle) came distilled into a flask. While I don’t mind restaurants ordering 1.8L bottles and serving sake this way, sitting next to our water, the clear bottle made it very apparent we weren’t getting the 720ml we were paying for. Upon discussing this with floor staff, they said we had mistakenly got a 600ml pour, and we were supplied the balance in a half-filled 300ml bottle. Drama sorted, we enjoyed the sake’s palate cleansing properties against the rich bone marrow rending roti ($28).

Kam heong prawns ($40) made with dried shrimp, belachan and evaporated milk were dense, tasty crustaceans, and ate well over coconut rice ($6). A soupy bowl of coconut milk with long beans, eggplant and kaffir lime called ya chia chye ($27) provided a nice contrast to the spicy prawns. It’s always a pleasure to eat Junda’s full-flavoured contemporary Malaysian dishes.

Old review: Truffle season is in full swing at Ho Jiak Town Hall. This radish cake (Chai Tow Kway) was a wonderful way to make the most of their redolent aroma & flavour.

Chef Junda Khoo’s new restaurant is fancy! Junda’s restaurant opened the week before the pandemic hit Sydney around the corner from my office, right when we started working from home. While the hawker murals have made the journey from Haymarket, there’s also classic jazz and a very nice cocktail bar here to enjoy. Try the 1978 Jungle Bird ($20), a cocktail that was created in Kuala Lumpur, for a thematic tipple.

The Marron Char Kuey Teow ($48) is part of the upmarket Malay menu. It’s got the same spiciness as the Haymarket version, just with a little extra gleaming roe-dotted luxury crustacean. I also tried sticky Vegemite pork ribs and a gentle Ya Cniau Chye ($25) that poached eggplant and long beans in coconut milk flavoured with chilli oil and flash fried curry leaves....

Someone told us a joke about this place before we ventured out to this joint for lunch today...the joke was "this place has a hat"

Later confirmed via their Instagram that apparently, unless it's an edited image...this place has a hat. Who did they pay for that rating...also good to know how useless those hat ratings are.

As soon as we walked through the door I had a bad feeling about this place...it's the old location of The Cuban Place (an absolutely epic Rum bar).

Sitting down at our table I couldn't help but look around and reminisce about so many epic nights at The Cuban Place many years ago…someone had even written my number on the graffiti wall near the toilets; so I’d get random calls from folks at random hours of the night/early morning. All fun and games until that joint closes down and this abomination opened up in it’s place.

Drinks: Going through the list of beers on the menu, there wasn’t an overly impressive selection, but hey I don’t think the Malaysians are known for their beers. So I went with an Asahi…the waiter's response: ”sorry sir we’re all out of that” My next choice was the Balter XPA…after a few moments: deja vu…ok third time is a charm…how about the Draft Pale Ale…No, not that either? I didn’t bother to go any further through the very limited list of non-existent beers, I just went with the Tiger which we were offered at the start (there is a reason I was avoiding an over priced Singaporean lager.

Lunch: For lunch I decided to try the Kapitan Lamb Shank…with a description as follows: Riverina Slow Cooked Lam Shanks, Kapitan Curry, Desiccated Coconut, Makrut Lime Leaf…there was one important ingredient missing from this description: SALT!!! A METRIC F%*K-TON OF SALT!!!

OMFG this was like a plate full of salt with a sprinkling of Lamb Shanks…it’s been over an hour since having a few bites of this disgusting dish and I still have that salty flavour assaulting my palate…and that's even after trying to dilute it with the steamed rice and washing it down with the Tiger.

Needles to say I did not finish more than a few bites, as you can see from the pics (that’s how much I had of this…basically as soon as the rice was done, so was I).

Summary: 1 Star is too many for this place…it doesn’t do justice to just how terrible...

I came to have dinner with my friends on a normal Thursday night and wanted to feel the excellent taste of one hat restaurant. However, the result is not satisfactory. We spent over $400 for one bottle of wine, and cold food.

We ordered a lot of dishes, including pizza, wonton, and special KFC fried chicken. Beef bone marrow, abalone. Vegetables. Etc. However, except for a little temperature when the pizza is served, the rest of the dishes are basically half-warm, or cold.

The abalone comes about 5 minutes after we order. We were amazed at the speed of serving and how we could make a dish containing abalone and foie gras in such a short time and reach the level of deliciousness. As a result, the dishes are cold, and served with a knife and fork, but it could not be cut by the tool. The kitchen feedback that the quality of this dish is up to the standard. Our service staff helped us return this dish. Appreciate it.

The shortbread with beef bone marrow is piled together like eating leftovers. They stick together from the beginning, not crispy but all greasy.

I think the training of the service staff in the place is up to standard, and your requirements can basically be met. There is no professional sommelier, but the manager helped us at the request of the service staff.

I think the publicity and reputation here exceed the level of their current food. I hope they can improve. Otherwise, it is hard to imagine that cold dishes can attract customers and let them eat here all the time just by publicity.

I will no longer believe in the popularity of social media. Friends, if you have a chance, you should go to the restaurant you have experienced. If the economy is not good, opportunities should be left to good places instead of paying for the restaurant's advertising fees...