The Top Line: When you see the a giant line building, and when all hope for grabbing a table seems lost, don’t give up. Fight through the crowd and you shall be rewarded. The laksa will blow you away.
The Review: Many restaurants serve the humble laksa – a Malaysian noodle soup with a coconut cream and curry laksa base, often with hokkien noodles or vermeceli. This one has rice noodle and the soup is thick, creamy and has so much depth of flavour. The fried tofu is brilliant because it sucks up all the flavour and it’s a joy to eat. The chicken here is wonderful, but get the skinless chicken laksa if you want chicken that doesn’t seem like the off-cuts of a Hainan Chicken rice.
This is one of the best Hainan Chicken Rice’s I’ve had. The rice itself was full of flavour and each grain held its own. the chicken was so tender and succulent with a delicate flavour and great skin (excuse the fat!) The ginger and shallots mix well with the chilli sauce and it also comes with a light (but very salty) soup.
There may be a lot of people, but turn around is fast. I waited in a long line but got to the counter within 2 minutes. I wated 5 seconds for my laksa and a few more minutes for the chicken rice. Seats are plentiful, but in demand. It might take a couple of goes to find one, but people come and go so fast that you’ll eventually have one. Even if you have to share, there is the beautiful feeling of a community of people enjoying their laksa lunch.
(They also have bibs for 30c, if you’re going somewhere or meeting someone special afterwards, or if you simply don’t want a red blob on your shirt)
It's CAKe Time 