That looks good…

Yes, I would say that it looked good but one must not judge based on appearance alone as at times, it can be quite deceptive.

Well, we dropped by here…

*Archive photo*

…the other morning as somebody told me that the Sarawak/Kuching laksa from a stall at this coffee shop was so very good, nicer than the ones here, our favourite in town, and if you have a look at their Facebook page, obviously, there are a lot of people who actually think likewise.

We sat pretty close to the stall…

…and while the guy was getting our orders ready, the whole time we were wondering why we could not detect the fragrance of the broth and were prepared for the worst – that it was not really all that good, after all.

My missus had the regular and I had the special…

…and they did look good…

…when they were served.

The regular came in a smaller bowl…

…and only had two small prawns in it…

…two fewer than at our favourite Sarawak laksa place, going for that same price…

*Archive photo: Thomson Corner – Sarawak laksa*

…and one fewer than the nice one here, also RM5.50 a bowl at this point in time…

*Archive photo: Colourful Cafe – Sarawak laksa*

I had the special…

…priced at a whooping RM10.00 a bowl…

…and there were four very big prawns. I just could not put my finger on it as to what I did not like about them but somehow, they did not seem to have the nice sweet taste of very fresh prawns even though they were firm in texture, nothing like the horrendous ones I had here once and never again.

Well, prawns aside, yes, the broth was quite close to the real thing, the nice authentic Sarawak laksa in Kuching but no, we still prefer our favourite. This one is a little bit mild, kind of watered down…and it was only when I added the sambal belacan and the squeeze of calamansi lime that I started to enjoy it…but there was so little of it so I did not have much left to eat together with everything in the bowl after that.

All things considered, I would say that it would be something I might consider having should I happen to be in the vicinity, the regular, that is, not the special – RM10.00, I feel, is a bit too steep but no, I would not go out of my way for it whenever I have a craving for Sarawak/Kuching laksa.

JIA JIA LOK FOOD CORNER (2.293336, 111.837017) is located at the Fortune Commercial Centre (Lorong Chew Siik Hiong) in that same block of shops as the CHAMPION CORNER coffee shop, right at the other end, facing the back of the Rejang Medical Centre along Jalan Pedada.