Page 28 - foodservice Magazine July 2019

28
DINING
The dining rooms at Ho Jiak are modelled on Junda Khoo's family home in Penang, Malaysia, and life on the street outside.
When Junda Khoo and William Xie opened Ho Jiak Haymarket in 2017, they were scared. Every restaurateur feels it and will tell you nerves are normal, but this was different. They were opening a Malaysian restaurant with a million dollar fit-out, high-end service, stellar produce, and $25 plates of noodles.
Think about every Malaysian restaurant you know. What do they look like? How much does a laksa or a chicken rice cost? The history of Malaysian restaurants in Sydney has been dominated by cheap food court stalls and restaurants serving a checklist of essentially the same stuff.
Xie and Khoo know all about this because they run one. Before Haymarket, the young duo opened Ho Jiak Strathfield in 2014, a tiny food court stall with $13 laksas and char kway teows. It was their first restaurant.
The two met through Papa Roti, where Khoo was a franchiser and Xie his franchisee. They soon got into business together, initially to bring a duplicate of Melbourne restaurant Petaling Street to Sydney in partnership with the original owners. But after opening two branches (the second in Kingsford), Khoo grew frustrated.