Satisfying my Laksa craving...

As what Stan and I have come to a common independent conclusion, one simply cannot seem to find good authentic laksa in Sydney City.

This came about after I told him that I had tried the famous "Malay ChineseTake away" stall located at Hunter Street @Martin Place, where it was famed to be rather authentic to taste based on website customer reviews. My review was that it was rather NOT authentic. Both Stan and I agreed that it was lacking some important ingredients that could have made it sweeter, richer and yummier. We reckon it is the lack of "Hei Bi Hiam" in Hokkien (otherwise known as tiny super dried shrimp with a "fish" smell), and also the portion of coconut milk was not quite there.


As I constantly bemoan about the lack of authentic homefood flavours, several of my friend recommended the package laksa by Prima Taste, a singapore company that sells local flavours in a box. To be honest, I never liked "Plastic food" or package food. Even when I go to cafes and if the soup taste strangely like those from a can, I would actually rather waste it. However, I decided to give it a go and find out why everyone is raving giving thumbs up about Prima's laksa pack.

Winnie brought me to Thai Kee IGA Supermarket at Market city (2 Quay Street, Haymarket Sydney), where the place is stocked with local Asia products. A box of laksa premix cost about A$4.75 here.

The instructions of the premix are rather easy really. Pour the coconut and laksa paste mix into 600ml of water, bring to boil, garnish with seafood or meat and done. The whole thing ideally takes less than 5 minutes for the sauce to be ready.
However, as i would never eat plain dishes, I headed out to grab myself a chicken drumstick, fresh big prawns, beansprouts, scallops and calamari rings. I added more water than the recommended 600ml because I wanted to water down the coconut taste, and also i wanted to cook my prawns (for 2mins) and chicken drumstick (for 12mins) in the gravy to give it the enhanced flavour and taste.

The laksa noodles (thick bee hoon or known as white rice spaghetti on the pack) which i bought was rather crap. They could hardly hold up in the boil water and I swear it was disintergrating before my eyes, like a snowman in an afternoon sun.

There was an additional sambal chilli pack but I didnt use it since it was more sweet than hot. I thought it tasted like Nasi Lemak chilli more than hot sambal. Anycase, the gravy was spicy enough.

Verdict, it was the best laksa I ever tasted since i arrived in sydney 10months ago! As my partner said, "It really tasted authentic!" Everything except the noodles (which lacked the firmness) and calamari were great! My husband even grab a bread to dip into the remaining gravy sauce.


So that is it! From now on, I am sticking to cooking my own laksa (from a box) rather than shelfing out good money for unoriginal laksa in Sydney.

Update: 2012: The seafood version with prawns, boiled eggs, Jap crab stick and bok choy and mushroom. This is my bowl of goodness:)