Sarawak Laksa at Bangsar

The Sarawak Laksa is a curry laksa, usually served with coarse rice vermicelli. The taste of the gravy is different from our local Kuala Lumpur curry laksa or the Nyonya curry laksa. The recipe for the Sarawak Laksa paste is a well kept secret by its counterpart. Even this lady who operates this stall at the Nam Chun Restaurant at the corner of Lorong Ara Kiri 2, Lucky Garden, Bangsar, flies in her laksa paste periodically from Kuching by air. This lady is Aunty Christina, who hails from Kuching, also serves other popular dishes of Sarawak's Ho Poh Hakka dishes : fried abacus disc and Kacang Ma (Kampung chicken in herbs. The most popular and oldest brand of this pre-prepared laksa paste is the Cap Burung Layang-layang (Swallow Brand) Sambal Laksa that comes in 2 sizes, 300g and 500g. It is available in most Kuching supermarkets and also at the airport. The paste can also be used for stir-frying of seafood and vegetables.

For accompaniments, the Laksa is served with shredded chicken, boiled and shelled prawns, sliced egg omelette, blanched bean sprouts, topped with a generous garnish of fresh coriander and half a calamansi for you to squeeze over the Laksa just before you dig in! For extra spiciness, she would also give a small sauce plate of fried grounded dried chilles.

I have been to a number of stalls around KL for this Laksa, but this one is still the best and affordable. Price has increased from RM4.80 to RM5.00 per bowl since two months ago. While the gravy is considered 'guaranteed' of its consistent taste, sometimes the coconut milk in the gravy would curdle. You see, when the santan is added too quickly to the gravy, the milk would cause the gravy to curdle resulting the gravy to be not in a smooth consistency.

The Remedy: the coconut milk should not be added to the gravy first until a customer places an order. The gravy will be ladled out onto a smaller saucepan, bring to a boil, add the milk and top with the noodles followed by the accompaniments/garnishings. Another point to note is that if the milk is added to the gravy too early and as the gravy has to be kept served piping, the continuous boiling will caused the santan to turn to oil. This will caused the gravy to taste less milky or rich but oily which is a turn-off.

Aunty Christina's stall is opened from 7am until mid-afternoon and taking alternate wednesdays off.