By 7pm on Thursday over a hundred people had joined the queue snaking in amongst the plastic picnic tables.
They were prepared to wait over an hour for the nasi lemak, char kway teow and curry sauces that have made Jackie M famous as a market stall, and now restaurateur at her Concord outlet.
Jackie M had a few minutes to spare to answer some emailed questions, but with a restaurant being refurbished and thousands of enthusiastic mouths to feed during the two week-long Night Noodle Markets, her brain was understandably "scrambled".
London's Asian Food Inspires Aussie Entrepreneur
Jackie grew up in Seremban, a town south of Kuala Lumpur and from her stepmother she learned the basic techniques and skills of Malaysian cookery.
She did the requisite two years in London and started her Sydney business as a market stall eight years ago in 2002, and as an inner-city Sydney restaurant in 2005.
London's Asian restaurants had left her cold, with Wagamama being a key culprit despite the queues around the block near where she worked. "I was underwhelmed by a lot of the hip new Asian-inspired food outlets...and decided I could do better."
5-Star Hotel Eyes Jackie M Malaysian Dishes
Trial and error and a lot of self-teaching has paid off as Jackie M Malaysian-the-restaurant is being lauded in reviews and has been approached by the Shangri-La Hotel to supply some dishes for its buffet.
Jackie said the procurement manager ate at her Concord outlet "a while back" and was impressed enough to suggest she forward some samples to the brasserie head chef.
He was interested, but as the hotel was running a Thai theme at the time they didn't need Malaysian food. Jackie said when the time was right she would touch base with them again.
Jackie M Frozen Packs
Jackie makes all the food she sells herself, except for the roti in her frozen section because, "I can't physically produce enough of the homemade version I sell separately at my other outlets".
The frozen packs idea also came from the U.K., when Jackie read about an Indian woman who began a frozen food business out of her kitchen and now had a brand that was being distributed in supermarkets.
At this point she wanted to keep her own branding, but she was open to where the future could take her.
Nonya Cuisine To Be A Sydney First
Jackie tries to visit Malaysia every two years for research, and is looking particularly at street food and Nonya cuisine, which is a fusion of Chinese and Malay food.
The refurbished concord restaurant will work with a Nonya-inspired menu, which Jackie thought would be the first in Sydney, if not Australia, and would "extend my repertoire beyond the run-of-the-mill Malaysian dishes I've been dishing out at the markets".
The launch date will be early in the new year.
The Night Noodle Markets are being held Monday to Friday between October 12-23, as part of the Sydney International Food Festival.
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