Royals…

My missus came home the other day with this pack…

…of instant noodles – over RM8.00 each. My! My! That sure is not cheap for instant noodles, is it? I, for one, would never buy as it had noodles and standard Sarawak laksa is always served with bihun (rice vermicelli)…and for that reason, I would not bother buying the (cheaper) made-in-Kuching Lee Fah brand either though I have heard of people using their own bihun to make it more authentic and keeping the noodles for something else.

There are only 4 packets inside…

Usually, there would be 5 or sometimes, 6 if there is a complimentary packet given.

Inside, there are two sachets…

– the seasoning and the creamer which, I guess, is santan (coconut milk) in powder form.

Now, this looks quite promising…

– premiun laksa taste, mouthwatering…with 8 herbs and spices and a refreshing hint of lime.

I got down to cooking it to try, adding all that I had in the freezer – the mussels, sotong (squid), fish balls, not the usual condiments that you would find in a regular bowl of Sarawak laksa except for the thinly-sliced omelette and I even had some crispy lettuce by the side in place of the taugeh (bean sprouts)…

So what’s the verdict? Unfortunately, I really must say that it was nothing like Sarawak laksa, far from it! Why, even the name is not quite there – we do not call it sambal laksa – it has always been Sarawak laksa or more specifically, Kuching laksa.

It had a very strong fragrance of the bunga kantan (ginger torch flower) and that immediately brought to mind the Penang assam laksa and the lime gave it a sourish taste, not quite that of the calamansi lime that we would squeeze into our bowl of Sarawak laksa sometimes, should we happen to like it that way. It certainly tasted like something we would find in Thai cuisine – my friend was running a restaurant in Kuching once and he had this very popular dish that he called laksiam, a cross between Sarawak laksa and tom yam bihun. I wonder if this…

…is anything like that or not.

To give credit where credit is due, I would say that it was very very nice and if you are willing to fork out over RM2.00 a packet for this, I would say that you can go right ahead. After all, those from Korea or Singapore cost a whole lot more and the bottom line is they are what they are – instant noodles, nothing more and nothing less. Having said that, if you have never tried Sarawak laksa before and would like to find out what it tastes like, this is definitely not what you should go for.