Sungei Rd Laksa

Address Bk 27 Jalan Berseh #01-100 Jin Shui Kopitiam

Opening Hours 9am –6pm close 1st Wed of each month

What when you bestow kindness on a simple soul who is friendly, unthreatening and seemingly has nothing you want and wants nothing from you, except for good companionship? You regularly buy him a cup of coffee and share stories of life and love over smokes in the name of true unconditional friendship.

Well, one fine day, in this instance, Ah Tong, the simple Hainanese soul from Malaysia, asked Mr Wong Yew Poh and his brother Yew Hwa “ I like to share with you my favourite recipes, laksa, chicken rice, mee siam and curry puff, which would you like?”. They chose only laksa.

And the Sungei Road laksa legacy was born. The year, 1956.

“Ah Tong initially helped us set up the push cart stall and the response to his recipe was overwhelming. We sold out everyday, even until today!”. recalls the spritely 75 year old Yew Hwa. Then it was sold it in little chicken motif bowls and under the instructions of Ah Tong, the thick beehoon was to be cut up and served only with a spoon, without chopsticks, topped with cockles, bean sprouts and home made fried fish cakes. Customers ate it while standing by the roadside and it costs only 20 cents a bowl then. By day they sold along Johor Rd and by night, off Sungei Road.

They have since lost contact with Ah Tong.

And it is still the same old story today, same recipe, same daily sell out response, same little bowl with cut up beehoon served with a spoon, and still sold at a very reasonable price adjusted for inflation, $2. But customers eat, seated, in coffeeshop comfort.

So, unlike the Nonya Katong laksa story about the bearded Janggot and his Peranakan wife, this Sungei Road laksa has Hainanese connections. And the “spoon-only” phenomena of both the laksa, is quite simply explained. Laksa is best enjoyed with one mouthful of beehoon, cockles and the devilishly smooth spicy gravy, all, from one spoonful. You can’t get the long strands of beehoon onto a spoon unless it’s cut up. It’s not the same if you lifted the beehoon with chopsticks and slurped the gravy separately. The similarity between Katong and Sungei Road laksa ends there.

Their laksa is distinctively different from the Katong version. It is much lighter with less use of coconut milk, which makes it much smoother and easier on the way down. This Sungei Road version comes with cockles, which the Peranakan laksa purists frown upon. The flavour of the chicken broth permeates and blend very well with the rempah base. And rightly so, they use the correct type of thick beehoon, which is courser and more absorbent. Gravy simply slides off the thick and smoother ones. They top it with fresh succulent cockles, towgay, fish cakes, a dollop of sambal and daun kesom (dried Vietnamese coriander). It looks humble and simply wonderful.

These days, a diligent but reluctant second generation is helping the seniors out. “ Preparing and frying the laksa rempah and the chilli sambal is physically tough and being on your feet for nine hours a day is no joke. We don’t even get a day off a week.”, says sweet faced Ms Wong Ai Tin, who together with sister Ai Ling, helps outs daddy Mr Wong Yew Poh. They still heat up the pot of laksa gravy with charcoal fire, which requires constant monitoring, but lends a soft, consistent flame and does not burn the gravy.

Well ladies, if you even have the time to read this, please continue your family’s laksa tradition. The amount of copycat Sungei Road laksa stalls sprouting all around the island claiming to be your franchisees (which is a myth as the Wongs only have one outlet here), is testimony to your success. A success that hails from kindness and a kind soul. Many customers then, and their young siblings today, still swear by your makan. It is a great disservice to their appreciative and loyal patronage.

And hey, if Ah Tong or his successor ever show up again, do treat them with kopi-kow (thick coffee) and some seriously good makan. Then gently ask them for the mee siam recipe, for there is a dire lack of a damn good mee siam around these days.