Joo Chiat Kim Choo — laksa + tea ($5.80)!
Joo Chiat Kim Choo Peranakan laksa: thick rice vermicelli in coconut curry gravy with prawn, fishcake, egg and bean sprouts, plus a tea. $4.80 + $1.
Lunch at Joo Chiat Kim Choo, $5.80 for the laksa + tea. 😋
What was in the bowl:
- Coconut curry gravy: the orange laksa broth, rich with coconut and rempah
- Thick rice vermicelli: the round laksa noodles, cut for the spoon
- Prawns: a couple of halved prawns
- Fishcake slices + tau pok: the fishcake rounds and fried beancurd puff
- Halved egg: the hard-boiled egg, yolk soaking up the gravy
- Bean sprouts, with a cup of tea on the side
Joo Chiat Kim Choo is best known as a heritage Peranakan rice dumpling (bak chang) specialist, the Nyonya zongzi being its signature, but the shop also serves a small spread of Peranakan dishes, laksa among them. Coming from a Peranakan kitchen, the laksa carries the depth you would hope for: a rempah-and-coconut gravy built properly rather than the thin, watered-down version some stalls serve.
Laksa lemak is the Peranakan-Chinese coconut curry noodle, and the gravy is everything: a spice paste (rempah) of dried chilli, candlenut, lemongrass, galangal, belacan and turmeric, fried down and simmered with coconut milk and dried shrimp until it turns thick and fragrant. A good laksa gravy is rich without being cloying, the coconut balanced against the spice and the belacan funk.
The standard toppings ride in it: prawn, fishcake, tau pok, egg and bean sprouts. The thick bee hoon is cut short so the whole bowl is eaten with a spoon, gravy and noodles in every scoop, the traditional laksa service style.
At $5.80 for a Peranakan-kitchen laksa with tea, this is fair value for the heritage cred and the proper gravy.
Overall: 4.2 / 5. 😋👍🏼 The rempah-and-coconut depth of the gravy was the standout. Heritage Peranakan, would re-order.
