Oh Penang, how I miss your wonderful cuisine. From your kick-ass Assam Laksa to sexy Hae Mee(Prawn Noodles), your fiery-charred Char Kway Teow and wonderfully comforting Kway Teow Tng, there really is no other city that can rival your local cuisine except for……Singapore.
Which is why I was incredibly ecstatic to discover a wonderful little joint in Toa Payoh selling very authentic Penang food, almost similar to Penang prices too!
Unlike its more popular Laksa sibling which can be found in almost every other foodcourt or hawker centre, Penang Assam Laksa is less commonly available in Singapore. A couple of Penang-themed cafes have sprung up here in recent years, but none that I’ve tried seem to resemble in soup flavour, texture or taste, possibly because the noodles itself are already a wrong ingredient in the first place. Some of these joints use the thick white beehoon commonly used in the other version of Laksa, and to me, that in itself is already a sacrilege! Surely the food deities who are watching must be punishing them for this! In fact, the noodles used in Assam Laksa are a shorter, fatter and more slippery version known as laoshu fen (aka Rat’s Tail Noodle because of its similarity to a rat’s tail, but that’s where the similarity ends of course).
So back to this recent discovery of mine. I’ve not tried the rest of their other dishes yet(the Char Kway Teow seems to have received glowing reviews too) but what struck all the right notes for me was the use of laoshu fen, slashings of hae ko (black prawn paste) and bits of sardines, mint, onions and lettuce all wonderfully infused in a thick, tangy tamarind gravy. To me, it was good enough to bring back memories of the roadside coffeeshops of Penang (don’t bother with the Gurney Drive food centre, the real stuff is in the suburban coffeeshops).
So if you’re in the mood or around the Toa Payoh Central area and have a sudden craving for sour-based soup, don’t forget to check out this place!
Masak Masak 