Ho Liao
Junda Khoo opened the first Ho Jiak in Sydney in 2014, then built a three-level Malaysian complex at 235 Bourke Street and put a beer hall on the top floor. Ho Liao, the loud communal room on Level 2, opened in May 2025 with the home-style end of his family cooking.
Why go
Broadsheet tracks Khoo's Melbourne build across three floors: Da Bao for takeaway on the ground, the more formal Ho Jiak on Level 1, Ho Liao on Level 2. The grandmother line explains the plate. Khoo told Broadsheet, "When I first started Ho Jiak, I was trying to re-create my grandmother's cooking," and Ho Liao runs that register upstairs, with noodle and rice dishes "capped at $15." Gourmet Traveller put the complex in its Best New Restaurants Melbourne 2026.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the dry-aged roast duck is the marquee,
rubbed with a five spice salt mix then aged for 10 days before roasting
(Broadsheet, quoting Khoo), sothe skin gets crispy and crackly after roasting while retaining the juiciness of the meat
(Broadsheet). Add the chicken and beef satay off the grill, the Yunnan rose char siu pork belly, the salted duck egg squidcoated in a rich blend of salted duck egg yolk, butter and fragrant curry leaves
(Broadsheet), the inchi kabin (Nyonya fried chicken wings), and a $15 laksa. Finish on the sago coconut pudding. - Avoid: assuming the vegetable dishes are meat-free. Malaysian cooking here leans on shrimp paste and fish sauce, so ask, or book the Vegan & Gluten Friendly Banquet the venue runs for groups (holiao.com.au).
What locals & experts say
- Gourmet Traveller (2026): for its Best New Restaurants Melbourne,
Sydney chef Junda Khoo has brought his clever take on Malaysian flavours to Melbourne,
with therooftop beer hall with home-style family favourites, called Ho Liao, which means 'good stuff' in Hokkien.
4 - Gourmet Traveller (Michael Harden, Oct 2025), on the flagship Ho Jiak downstairs on Level 1, not the beer hall: the riff on prawn toast arrives
ball-shaped, the crunchy deep brown crust of breadcrumbs revealing a sublime interior combo of minced prawn meat and salted duck egg yolk custard,
and the verdict isIt's fun stuff to eat.
Read it as the kitchen's ceiling one floor down, since Ho Liao itself has yet to draw a matured review.5 - Broadsheet: reads Ho Liao as
a Malaysian beer hall that feels like a slightly upmarket Pappa Rich,
the top floor ofthe chef's $7 million Malaysian food destination
in the revamped Tivoli Arcade.2
Good to know
- Timing: open daily, later on Friday and Saturday. Check the Maps page for exact hours.
- Booking: recommended via SevenRooms or 03 8637 0889. Walk-ins work off-peak.
- Finding it: Level 2 at Rainbow Alley, inside the Tivoli Arcade at 235 Bourke Street (Broadsheet, holiao.com.au). Head upstairs.
- From MCEC: about a 20-minute walk or a short tram to Bourke Street.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: Not one of my saves. His words arrived in conversation (2026-07-20): "the new Malaysian to hit, Junda Khoo's beer hall on top of the Ho Jiak building. Best for a loud group."
Verdict
could-visit — Competent and likable, with two things it does well (group-night energy and value under a proven chef) plus one standout in the dry-aged duck. But nothing reaches the 9-10, can't-get-it-elsewhere bar: this is the casual home-style arm of Khoo's complex (the reviewed craft lives at Ho Jiak on Level 1, which Gourmet Traveller calls 'fun stuff to eat'), Malaysian home-style is well-served in Melbourne, and the GT nod is a spot on a best-new list, not a marquee win. That lands it at could-visit: go if you've got a loud group and you're already in the CBD, but you don't build the night around the beer hall itself. Newness and the buzz around the complex do not move the rung.