Find Malaysian Comfort Food at CBD Takeaway Stall Da Bao
When Junda Khoo moved from Malaysia to Australia at 16, he didn’t expect to miss chap fan, a homestyle meal of Chinese Malaysian dishes served over rice, which he once considered mundane.
“In Malaysia, we call it economy rice,” Khoo tells Broadsheet. “It’s everyday eating, dishes that I took for granted when my ah ma [grandma] used to cook for me. It [was] like, ‘Ugh, home-cooked meal again?’”
But he now makes it a point to visit different chap fan joints whenever he goes to Malaysia. And on Thursday May 29, he opened Da Bao (Hokkien for takeaway), his own chap fan stall. “For me, it means so much doing it here in Australia. It’s something that I miss so much, and I want to share that with everybody.”
Stay in the know with our free newsletter. The latest restaurants, must-see exhibitions, style trends, travel spots and more – curated by those who know.
Old-school chap fan hawker stalls typically have around 30 dishes displayed buffet-style, and the ordering process varies from shop to shop. Sometimes it’s self-service, other times, you simply point at whatever looks good, and the owner doles out portions onto a plate of rice before drizzling zhup (Hokkien for gravy) all over. At Da Bao, it’s the latter.
For $15, choose three from a selection of 16 daily changing dishes served over rice with that customary splash of zhup. There will always be egg- and sambal-forward dishes; saucy plates such as curry chicken and drunken chicken; deep-fried items like honey fish and caramelised duck; and at least four vegan and gluten-free options – such as tofu and shiitake mushroom stir-fry. Khoo’s favourites are simple recipes from his late grandmother, including braised pork in soy sauce, onion omelettes, and green sambal eggplant.
The 20-seat venue is located on the ground floor of Ho Jiak Melbourne, Khoo’s triple-venue, three-storey Malaysian food haven where his beer hall Ho Liao opened on Monday May 26. Some of Ho Liao’s more takeaway-friendly rice and noodle plates are also available at Da Bao. This includes a staff-meal-turned-bestseller Indomie goreng, where the instant noodles are blanched until they’re halfway done, tossed in the wok with prawns and fish cake, and coated in shellfish oil and two other oils and cooked until al dente.
There’s also lamb shoulder biryani topped with a meat and coriander labneh, plus a spin on Khoo’s char kway teow, made more affordable thanks to the omission of mud crab. (But you can order Khoo’s original char kway teow at Ho Liao and at Ho Jiak: Junda’s Playground when it opens on Friday June 13).
Da Bao is on the same level as the kitchen that services all three floors of Ho Jiak Melbourne. This setup helps the chap fan stall run all day. It’s open until late right now, and, in a few months, Da Bao will open for breakfast. There’ll also soon be more carb options including bee hoon noodles (rice noodles), mee goreng, congee and Teochew muay, a rice porridge with a firmer texture than congee.
