MALAY MAGIC

Ho Jiak chef JUNDA KHOO shares recipes inspired by his amah grandmother) and Kuala Lumpur’s street vendors in his new book.

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The truth is my passion is eating, always has been. From a young age I loved to eat. I ate everything: bitter melon, stinky salted fish, pork intestines, spicy food, veggies other kids wouldn’t touch, everything,” says chef Junda Khoo of Sydney’s growing Ho Jiak empire. “Cooking is my second passion. I learnt to love cooking in my amah’s kitchen,” he says referring to his grandmother who cared for him in Kuala Lumpur when he was a child and later in Sydney as a teen. “She basically raised me, and to this day she is one of the biggest influences on who I am and my cooking. Even from a young age I would watch her cook, help her prep, follow her to the wet market, and eat with her at hawker stalls.”

As an adult Khoo left a career in finance to cook professionally, starting from the bottom. In 2014 he opened his first venue Ho Jiak Strathfield, with the name translating to delicious in Hokkien. A decade later, Khoo oversees three locations in Sydney, including the boundary-pushing flagship Ho Jiak Town Hall, plus a three-level Melbourne opening, slated for later this year. “Eating is still my passion and I somehow made that into a career,” he says.

Many accolades later, Khoo’s venues still take inspiration from amah’s home cooking, together with Malaysian hawker stalls and Australia’s contemporary dining scene. As he tells it, “My food can be traditional, it can be modern – it can be anything, but it has to be delicious. It has to be ho jiak.” 

KIAM HU CHOAY BAK