Di Tanjong Katong…

Di Tanjong Katong
airnya biru…

These are the words of the traditional Singapore Malay song though I am not too sure  how far it is true now unlike when I was staying somewhere there in 1973. With the land reclamation over the years, if I’m not mistaken, it is actually quite a distance from the sea these days.

Well, I did eat at the shops at Katong then though I can’t exactly remember what and I am not too sure whether this 328 Katong Laksa place was in existence there already or not at the time…but it seems that they have a few outlets here and there in the island republic and obviously, it has become a franchise now and not too long ago, somebody set up the business right here in Sibu at the Sarawak House Complex…

It is not a very big place and on one wall, you can see all the celebrities that have dropped by the shop in Singapore to enjoy the laksa…

They also have a flatscreen tv showing all their promotional clips and television shows that have featured them one time or another.

Unfortunately, I am not too familiar with the people featured in their mosaic of photographs except maybe this guy…

…or this one…

…and a few others like Singapore actor, Li Nanxing or Taiwan singer, Richie Ren.

Anyway, my ex-student/lawyer friend, Louis, took me there the other night to give it a try. Actually, he had been there once earlier but he did not want to tell me what he thought of the laksa. All he said was that I could try it myself and give my own verdict.

I ordered the small bowl (RM5.90)…

…which was kind of very soupy – lots of gravy and quite a bit of the laksa noodles but hardly much else except for some bits of prawn and slices of fish cake and a few strands of taugeh (bean sprouts)…plus a glob of sambal belacan (dried fermented prawn paste). If you order the big bowl (RM9.90), you will get a couple of bigger prawns and half an egg along with the rest of the stuff…

I tried a spoonful and my immediate response was, “Masak lemak!!!” Louis agreed wholeheartedly for he too thought that was exactly what it tasted like – the Malay dish cooked with a lot of santan (coconut milk) like this one, for instance, with nangka muda (young jackfruit) or cempedak…

*recycled pic – Bandong’s masak lemak cempedak muda*

It was all right, not bad at all…quite nice really… but I felt it could do with a bit more ingredients like serai, kunyit or bunga kantan to make it more fragrant and flavourful. A comparison of some sort would be it was like our rather diluted Foochow/Chinese curry compared to the thick and rich nyonya ones.

They had some add-ons on the menu and I saw cockles in the list and I wanted those but I was duly informed that all of them were presently unavailable. I also wanted to try the popiah (spring roll)…

…but unfortunately, the lady said that they had not started serving that yet either. Anyway, judging from what I could see in the picture, it does not look like it is going to be as nice as the ones that I enjoy a lot here…

*recycled pic – How Nice Kuching popiah*

At the present moment, all you can have here would be the laksa and the otah-otah [SIC]…

…at RM2.90 each…

That too was all right, not too bad…and Louis thought it tasted like SPAM. I would agree with that as far as the texture went but it tasted a bit different. Of course, it came nowhere near the ones we can get here…

*recycled pic – Payung Cafe otak-otak*

…and I would not say that it was cheap either as inside, there was only a very small piece…

…and a very very thin one at that.

All things considered, I may stop by again sometime…but you certainly would not find me going out of my way just to go and eat something there…and thank you so much, Louis, for the treat!