Ho Jiak Town Hall - Junda's Playground

Great experience at Ho Jiak Town Hall. The food was bold and flavourful, especially the Moutai Roast Duck, Alaskan King Crab, and Smokey Beef Rib and all cooked beautifully. We also enjoyed the Loh Bak, Belachan Kangkung, and Cantonese Fried Rice. Some dishes can be adjusted to less salty, less oily or less spicy, which is a nice option: just let the staff know. Friendly service, great drinks (loved the non-alcoholic cocktails), and an overall memorable meal. Would definitely recommend!

My fave Malaysian place in Sydney. Everything tastes amazing, especially the Maotai roast duck and king crab. Even the veggies are so good. Drinks look great too!! love the Jambu Glow. Always bringing friends here!

An excellent Malaysian restaurant in the CBD that has a menu that goes beyond the traditional Malaysian restaurant. Service is very friendly and accommodating. Food was excellent. Ordered off the gluten free menu and had the salted duck egg seafood and fried radish cake. The lamb shank hadba depth of flavour. They have a bar as well with a good range of drinks. Were very full with the savoury dishes so could not order dessert.

If you've been in Sydney for a while, you definitely know this Malaysian restaurant — it's next-level delicious. What we love most is how they use top-quality ingredients to create tasty Malaysian fusion dishes while still focusing on creativity and presentation. It’s perfect for family gatherings and company team-building events. If you’re looking to feast and satisfy your taste buds on any given day, this is the place to go. You can’t go wrong even if you order blindly. My personal must-tries: the “Alaskan King Crab Leg” and the “Moutai Roast Duck”. They also have an amazing selection of mocktails, perfect for drivers or anyone with alcohol allergies.

We booked online for dinner here and were not disappointed. Service by Jessalyn (sorry if I spelt this wrong!) was excellent the entire night, really helpful with recommendations and when she found out we were celebrating an anniversary gave us complimentary sparkling wine. We ordered the chilli crab man tou, laksa dumplings, duck with foie gras (paired really well together) as well as char kuay teow. The food overall definitely tastes authentic and the flavour of the laksa really reminded me of home. Duck was incredibly tender and the meat basically melted in my mouth. The garlic chilli that came with it is amazing! Honestly everything we had that night was really good down to the drinks. Ho Jiak Haymarket was always one of my favourite restaurants and this one didn’t disappoint either.

Awesome place for authentic Malaysian food and their signature cocktails. Place was spacious and had nice Malaysian decor. Staff were very friendly and service was quick. Ordered their following: San choy bow Scallop Satay chicken Tamarind prawn Slow cooked braised beef San choy bow was tasty, the duck made it extra savoury. Scallop was perfectly cooked, love the crunchy onions. Satay chicken was tender and juicy. The satay was very tasty and peanuty. Tamarind prawn (my fav) was sucellent, smoky and love the burnt. The sauce was addicting and savoury. The braised beef was tender and great chew. The Vegemite sauce really complimented it well. Also try their signature cocktails, had the: Hibiscus avaition Kopi negroni Kuala Lumpur Sour They where not too sweet and went well with the dishes.

Great place for authentic Malaysian food. We had the Indomie goreng noodles, taco style san choy bow, coconut curry with eggplant and snake beans, salt & pepper tofu, nasi kuning turmeric rice and roti. They had tiger beer and house pale ale on tap. Ambience was inviting and friendly service. Will definitely be back.

Reserved via Sevenrooms, our family of 13 had a wonderful family dinner at Ho Jiak on a Sunday evening. Located across from QVB, we used the parking spot at 45 Market which is just a short walk. The restaurant itself has a cool vibe with brick walls and different areas of seating. We ordered a few cocktails, my Margarita was quite average probably should have gone with the Negroni. The staff is very attentive, but could have done a better job providing guidance with our dish selections considering our group size. The menu is extensive with a wide range of dish, the trick is picking their local cuisine. 1. Laksa Bomb - the shrimp dumpling is good, the broth lacks depth 2. Salted duck egg lobster - this is our favorite dish, well executed with noodles 3. Malaysian Chili Crab - the crab is not as 'meaty', the sauce leaves a lot to be desired. Perhaps use female crab and the crab butter and coral to prepare the stock? 4. Smokey Beef Rib - nice presentation, the meat is tender yet lacks the smokiness once the smoke clears (literally). Perhaps smoke it low and slow instead of pressure cooked? 5. Roast Pork Belly - lacks the crispy skin, it's a bit dry. Perhaps use garlic aioli and smoked / black salt flakes instead of tartar sauce? The sambal lacks acidity 6. Chinese Broccoli - nice presentation. The dried chopped leaves combined with the steamed stems give good texture. The oyster sauce is a bit bland. 7. Salt & Pepper Tofu - should skip this dish, nothing special 8. Belachan Kangkung - on point 9. Eggciting - our second favorite dish 10. Char Koay Teow - it's a miss, no wok-fired taste expected from this dish 11. Sarawak Black Pepper Lobster - it's quite good

This place came highly recommended by my friend who visited Sydney right before us. We were looking for some good Asian food and Sydney has so much to offer, how can you decide where to go when you are only here for a few days? Well fortunately, Ho Jiak was a super lucky pick. We were pleasantly surprised about this place and had a great experience dining here. - F O O D - - Laksa Bomb ($16 USD) - came with 4 pieces, kind of pricey for what it is, but packed with flavor if you want to try. The filling was very juicy and the laksa was super flavorful - Mixed Satay ($26 USD) - came with 6 sticks, 3 chicken, 3 wagyu. Probably the most tender chicken satay I have ever had in my life. Usually I don't order chicken anything at restaurants because it tends to be super dry. I was so surprised by how juicy the chicken was. The sauce it was served with was so delicious that I ended up pouring the remaining on my rice. - Malaysian Chili Crab (market price, ~$200+ USD) - MUST GET! Typically when you are ordering seafood at a restaurant, it can be easily over $150-200. But, you have to try the crab. It was very flavorful and probably the best thing we ordered. Prepare to get super messy eating it! Definitely not a first date type of food, but trust me you won't regret it. The manager even brought out the crab to show us beforehand. - Char Hor Fun ($23 USD) - Not sure if this is a chowder or a congee dish, but this was very heartwarming and yummy. Good solid flavor and it had a great variety of seafood and chicken. I especially enjoyed the egg gravy over rice. - S E R V I C E - Servers were very attentive and didn't feel overbearing. They offered to change our plates many different times. The manager came to check on us as well and everyone was super friendly. - A M B I A N C E - It gets loud in here. So loud that we had trouble hearing our server. It probably was due to the large 3-table birthday party adjacent to our table. But the music was nice. Seems like a great place to celebrate special occasions. - P R I C E - Definitely up there. I would say this is definitely a splurge-it spot, especially if you end up ordering the crab and other seafood items. But, it's worth trying once at least and going all out. Maybe for special occasions only with large parties? Then you can order many different items to try. Overall, I would love to come here again the next time I'm in Sydney. And would recommend this place to anyone looking to get their minds blown by some delicious Malaysian food.

After having dined at Ho Jiak Haymarket on our first day in Sydney and becoming instant fans, we decided to try out Ho Jiak Town Hall before we departed for our next destination on our Australia trip. We were ecstatic that our hotel concierge was able to secure a spot for us last minute. Ho Jiak Town Hall, as mentioned on Ho Jiak's site, is the chef's playground, where he tries out new dishes. The interior also felt quite different than the Haymarket location; the vibe here is a bit more hipster / loungey type of feel. We tried a few dishes: pipis (clams), prawn mee, and crab & corn soup. Everything was good and tasty. We both still preferred the OG dishes from the Ho Jiak Haymarket location. If you find yourself in the area craving some Malaysian fare and can't make it to Haymarket, or want to try something different, Ho Jiak Town Hall is a good choice!

Arrived without a reservation, they were able to get us seated quickly. We ordered 4 different dishes. Fried rice, veggies, chicken, and fried fish. Requested for a side of white rice for my dad and we never got it. Inquired about our side of rice at least 3x and and they said they would check on it. No one ever came back with a bowl or anything. Food was salty, which. have gone well with a bowl of plain white rice.

Flew 14 hours from LA after refreshing ourselves looking for food and decided to try Hojiak. Had low expectations so my honest opinion as a Malaysian born, food is actually pretty good. CKT although not like Penang style, actually very good with "wok hey". Rendang also good with a creative spin adding a roti as cover. Well done.

Extremely friendly and efficient service with attentive but never over bearing staff. Wonderful food. Perhaps a bit pricey, and ambiance is a bit too loud, but overall it's definitely worth the visit!

We had a chore in the CBD which meant it was a perfect occasion to try out Ho Jiak Town Hall during their soft launch. It's funny to see the former Cuban restaurant transformed into a modern Malaysian hangout. It's a big space, and beautifully designed. Good lighting and lots of witty design. Ho Jiak is one of my favourite restaurants. I love the way Junda and his team take humble and homestyle Asian food, and elevate it in some way, usually with luxurious ingredients but sometimes just with a perfect cooking technique. But I also am a huge fan of Junda's personal approach. He states on his menus right upfront: he is cooking to honour his grandmother and his food is about love and affection and heart. I mean, it's damn tasty too, but you just don't get the feeling that he's going to turn into one of the many celebrity chefs in Australia who are underpaying their staff! We considered only ordering one noodle dish between the two of us (plus an appetizer) but the waitress didn't hesitate in saying that we should order two dishes. We reckon she noted that clearly Asians have extra stomachs for eating, and I do. Though splitting the Sang Har Mee, marron in egg sauce on crispy noodles, would have been just fine. But first the starter: Loh Bak. Five-spiced pork roll in bean curd skin and deep fried. I've had a similar dish. For yum cha, they have a minced meat and vegetables version, wrapped in bean curd skin and steamed in a savoury gravy. It's a favourite. So, this was a shockingly good surprise, to have the mixture replaced with pure porky delight (layers of juicy fat), and have the deep-fried crispness. It's crazy how good it was. $18. I decided to try the curry chicken Nasi Lemak (also $18), as I usually stick to the same dishes (my favourites: steamed eggs, and anything coated with salted duck egg). This classic Malaysian rice dish was perfect in its combination of textures, and delicious tender chicken curry. I'm glad we tried it. The main course, the aforementioned marron, to tell the truth, we liked but didn't love. Though I loved the presentation. For $48, it's a treat, and the marron had a great texture but not much flavour. And then this style of noodles, so soupy and wet (even though the noodles are crispy) is so different than what I'm used to from Cantonese styles (much less wet). But really, all this tells me is that I'll probably go back to my favourite dishes next time. I'm not sure why I'd come here rather than the location in Chinatown, unless I had to be in the CBD for some reason, but the more Ho Jiaks the merrier, really. Give this new location a try, I recommend, particularly at this crazy period of time with COVID-19, where restaurants are really having a hard go of surviving.