To be frank, I am not really a foodie as I am more into clean dieting, paleo diet and try to avoid process and junk food. But laksa, who can resist? Well, we can indulge a little, like once a month 🙂 The blog took me few months exploring laksa from different corners of Singapore.
Malaysia Curry Mee = Singapore Laksa
Laksa is popular spicy noodle soup in the Singapre. Singaporean called the spicy noodle as Laksa but Malayasian refer it as curry mee. In fact, there are various type of laksa in Singapore. The well-known Katong Laksa and the tamarind asam taste of Penang Laksa. Today I am going to talk about these laksa in Singapore and my personal ranking 🙂
No 5 : Janggut Laksa – The Original Katong Laksa
Address : 1 Queensway, #1-59, Queensway Shopping Centre, 149053
Janggut in Malay means beard. Janggut laksa is named because the guy, Mr Ng Juat Swee who first started Katong Laksa has the mole hair in his neck. And you know people normally don’t shave the hair in the mole so it looks like janggut/beard. Anyway people started to nickname him as “Janggut”. He started his laksa with pushcart in Marine Parade beach area in the 1940s. Janggut was originally from China, born in Fujian Province. He came to Singapore when he was a teens and later married a Nyonya, a Peranakan lady. One thing special about his Katong Laksa is he would cut the noodles short strands so that it easier to eat with just a spoon, so there is no need to provide the chopsticks, a smart way to save cost.
The soup has shrimps taste with coconuts milk. The day I visited the stall in the basement of Queensway Shopping Centre, it was already 8 pm. I am not sure was it because of the timing, I felt the soup is not hot enough and the coconut milk is not as fresh. Topping are very tiny mini and only a few cockles, two prawns and few stands of fish cakes.
Special characteristic : Use only spoon and their sweet chili paste. (Noting special actually but they called themselves the Original)
No 4 : 328 Katong Laksa
Address : 51 East Coast Road, 428770
328 Katong Laksa is quite similar with Janggut Laksa, except you are given a pre-packed sachets of red chili paste. Only one pack for each bowls. They won’t give you extra. Yes, they have the popular “wall of fame” in the shop. Many people, especially tourists will go in because of the wall of fame.
Personally, I felt the coconut milk in 328 laksa soup base is not thick enough and is also not as fresh. The cockles are super small but fish cakes in strands and noodles are given quite a lot. If you can’t take thick coconut milk, you may like this one.
Special characteristic : Use only spoon & Chili paste in pre-packed sachets and “wall of fame” (I am more interested in the “Wall of Fame” than their laksa)
No 3 : Laksa at EAT.
Address : 21 Choa Chu Kang Ave 4, Lot 1 B1-K3
EAT. is a chain stalls selling noodles in Singapore. Personally I love their laksa and let me tell you why.
You can taste the fragrance of the thick coconut milk in the laksa soup base. The topping also generous, with fish cakes, tao pok/fried tofu, cockles and their signature taukee/fried tofu skin. The taukee goes well with laksa and I love fried taukee.
Special characteristic : 1/2 of fried taukee/Deep fried crunchy tofu skin.
No 2 : Depot Road Zhen Shan Mei Claypot Laksa
Address: 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1, #01-75 Alexandra Village, 151120
The version at Alexandria Village Food Court is slightly different, it is served in a claypot. So when it served, it is sizzling hot. I don’t know why the gravy look more yellowish and not so orange color. However, the taste was good. The gravy given is very thick and but not very much. The coconut milk in the gravy tasted very fresh. This is also one of my favorite.
Special Characteristic : Serve in sizzling hot claypot and gravy is thicker and the coconut is very fragrance.
No 1 : Sungei Road Laksa / 结霜橋叻沙
Address : Blk 27 Jalan Berseh #01-100, 200027
Laksa soup is boiled with charcoal fire, these days is quite rare to see hawkers still using charcoal. I like the fact they still insist in using charcoal fire to keep the soup hot which make the soup base really different from other laksa stalls.
On a Sunday afternoon, the queue is very long. I waited for about 20-30 minutes to get my bowls of laksa.
There is only one size, $3 for a small bowl of laksa. If you want bigger portion, then ask for two bowls. The topping are pretty simple, only cockles and fish cakes. No prawns but cockles given are a lot, over 10 + pieces. No prawns in laksa is what I prefer because I don’t find laksa goes well with prawns.
If you love cockles, this is the place for you. The soup base is awesome, extremely fresh coconut milk and fragrance laksa ingredient. I would say this is my no 1 favorite from the laksa list here. Again, this is my personal preference, it all depend on your own liking.
Special characteristic : Soup base is cooked with charcoal fire. Only serve with fish cakes and cockles as topping. Cockles served generously. Use spoon only.
Different variation of laksa : Asam Laksa at Island Penang Kitchen
Address : 721 Clementi West Street 2
Asam laksa do not use coconut milk instead the soup base is made from fish (mackerel/ikan kembung) and tamarind asam. The toppings are also interesting, it contain small slices of pineapples, cucumber, onions and mints leafs. Finally the Asam laksa cannot be completed without the prawn paste as it final touch. Asam laksa in Island Penang Kitchen is one of their signature dish, it tasted not too sour which suited my liking very much. I visited the place every few months 🙂 Go try out these stalls and see which are you top shop to visit in Singapore.
