Ho Jiak, Haymarket: For better or worse, the flavour's still there

The new streamlined menu being offered during the season explains the continuous round of delivery drivers and locals picking up orders as it retains the spirit of its previous dine in menu.

9 dishes are on offer at the special price and it’s one of the few with its shopfronts open on this particular night for dinner.

Available for pickup / takeaway and delivery.

Nasi Lamek Beef Rendang is $15 with the rest of the dishes on the limited edition menu sitting at $10.

These include dishes like Char Kuey Teow / Char Hor Fun (Flat rice noodles with seafood & chinese sausage), Indomee Goreng (Stir fried noodles), Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice) and Hainan Chicken Rice.

The curry chicken laksa uses tender thigh cuts that absorb the tamarind / fish flavoured broth.

Sprouts for crunch, tofu and seafood / fish cakes for texture. Hokkien and vermicelli entangles all elements into flavoursome twirls that excite the palette.

Chinatown has taken quite a hit since the Sydney lockdown restrictions came into place as a community makes a collective effort to combat a health threat. On another front it’s a test of survival and re-invention. The once bustling walkway in between the dragon gates abandoned and dead silent by 8pm during what would normally be peak dinner service. The intermittent whirring of bicycles provides the soundtrack to Chinatown’s hibernation…

DECEMBER 2019 REVIEW:

Turning the heat up with chilli peppered, sambal based and sun dried pastes! Conveniently located close to home and open until midnight, makes for a an ideal choice instead of the usual fast food establishments that dominate after the area surrounding Chinatown disappears into slumber.

The visit takes place half an hour before close and the kitchen and staff kindly waited for us. Customer Service = Tick!

To kick things off were the thin and crispy tart shells (Pie Tee $18 Prawn / $25 Spanner Crab). The pomp and circumstance of consuming this dish you could liken to a Peking Duck assembly. Very interactive, great conversation piece and portion control over the turnip, carrot to prawn ratio. An elegant start that sets the tone.

It was the slow cooked tenderness of the Rending that our taste buds called for, with a lust compounded at the fascination in the use of premium Wagyu ($45). A great dish more than double a ’normal’ beef rending you would find somewhere else, accented with toasted coconut, does the choice of meat affect the magnificence of this dish? Honestly, a normal cut of beef would have been taken to new heights due to the coconut curry’s depth alone.

The richness of the chilli, ginger, galangal, turmeric and lemongrass all sweated down leaving a potent mix of aroma and flavor for the meat to take in.

If you’re like us and not into standard Indian, Indonesian or Singaporean curries, this could be the best one for you as this method of curry is dry and pastier in texture.

Sang Har Mee ($45) is a contrast of crispy noodles and egg gravy seasoned with soy. There’s a familiarity in taste reminiscent of a Chinese chowmeain sauce base which is elevated through their use of crayfish.