The first time I heard of Katong Laksa, it was from KL People KL Food. At that time, I was kinda amazed at the fact that it has to be eaten without chopsticks (no kidding!). Stories had it that this variant of curry laksa, originated from the Katong area of Singapore but there are a lot of proprietors dishing out the same dish all over Singapore (talking about competition) – it is almost impossible for many people out there to really determine which one is authentic. The coconut milk content in Katong laksa is higher than the usual curry laksa, hence the slightly pale orangey-red curry broth.
Talking about laksa, there are two main types; the curry laksa and assam laksa. Curry laksa, as you might already know, is a coconut-based curry soup with noodles, while the latter is a sour fish soup with noodles. Commonly used noodles is the lai fun or laksa noodle – a white, rounded thick rice noodle (similar to loh shee fun but longer and less thick in shape), but different types of noodles are used in different places, such as Johor, where spaghetti is used instead of lai fun, where else, rice vermicelli (meehoon) is commonly used for Sarawak laksa.
Ops, I think I digress.
I finally got the chance to try out Katong laksa with Danny’s help. He was courteous enough to wakes up early on a weekend morning to bring us to have laksa for breakfast. But since Danny is not a typical foodie himself, he don’t really know which one is the authentic. Therefore, he brought us to this place, which is the nearest one to where we were staying – 216 East Coast Road. This is supposingly the newer outlet on the same street.
Coconut milk definitely is higher in this variant of curry laksa. The noodles (SGD 4 for small, SGD 5 for medium and SGD 6 for large) they used is slightly smaller than the usual lai fun and cut up into shorter strands so that the entire dish can be eaten with a spoon alone (yep, no chopsticks, no fork). Normally served with chopped daun kesum, prawns, cockles, sliced fish cake and bean sprouts, we asked them to omit the seafood (me not a selfish shellfish person).
As the coconut milk ratio is higher than curry paste, the spiciness has been toned down. People who can’t take spicy stuff will be thrilled with this laksa, but not for those who can’t take food heavily laced with fatty acids. The curry broth was flavourful with spices like lemongrass, turmeric, galangal, chillies and belacan but I would suggest to thread with care as you might get nauseous or bloated if you’re sipping too much of the santan-laden broth. If you want it to be more fiery hot, add in the sambal provided.
328 Katong Laksa,
No. 216, East Coast Road,
Singapore.
For map, click here.
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