The name means different things to different people.
At my favorite venues in Singapore and in New York, the laksa has a coconut base, and at the Malaysian Mission in New York, I've sampled laksam from Kelantan and an egg-bolstered bowl from Johor. To be sure, there are as many versions of laksa as of barbecue. In Penang, the prevailing flavors are tamarind (assam jawa or sometimes asam jawa in the Malay language, commonly shortened to assam) and fish (here, perhaps mackerel). Filled with thick rice noodles, my bowl of assam laksa (rm 3) had a splendid tang from the sour tamarind; the onion and pineapple retained most of their original character.
Joo Hooi Café
475 Jalan Penang
Penang, Malaysia
(From a December 2006 visit)
haha- I had a similar experience before in Flushing. In my definition, Laksa was the coconut curry broth noodle and when walking into a Malaysian restaurant in Flushing, I ordered one to go. While I thought the soup color was a bit peculiar (dark brown), I didn't put much thought into it. When arrived at home, I was quite surprised with what I got - sadly I ended up throwing out most of them. Later Wiki search proved there are two kinds of Laksa indeed and the one I got was tamarind & fish broth type. I learned my precious lesson of Laksa then.
Posted by: Gowoon | January 21, 2009 at 01:40 AM
BEWARE.you cannot eat the chandul or laksa without ordering drinks from this shop.they will demand 50cts person .this day light robbery
Posted by: adam goh | July 03, 2012 at 11:10 AM