On the Laksa Trail With Chief Juror of MasterChef Malaysia #CutiCutiLocal 

Following the Laksa Trail Around the Peninsula With Chief Juror of MasterChef Malaysia #CutiCutiLocal
By Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright June 2022

Chef Jo, an old friend, formerly Chief Juror of MASTERCHEF Malaysia and I decided to take a vacation on the Peninsula by following the Laksa Trail he had planned out for us.

He was instrumental in the planning and launching of the Laksa Festival in Langkawi known as LILAC or Langkawi International Laksa Carnival organised by the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) which lasted quite a few years and wooed plenty of tourists to the island.

So, we skipped Langkawi and started our exploratory journey instead from Perlis across the channel.

At Kuala Perlis, we tasted everything on offer even Laksa “Belut” (eels) that the Japanese called “Unagi”.

My niece who studied in Japan and currently resides in Arau often invites her Japanese friends over for “Laksa Unagi”, a specialty and a “must try” dish while in Kuala Perlis.

She joined us that afternoon and told us that the Japanese found freshly boiled eels combined with herbs and local spices eaten with traditional Laksa noodles made of rice flour that reminded them of “Udon” in a spicy fish soup.

Except that they found Perlis Laksa tastier than their ordinary Udon in dried fish and soy sauce paste, served with seaweeds.

The Japanese were eager students, she told us. They meticulously wrote down everything and documented every step much to the amazement of the Mak Chik Piah who owned the humble Laksa stall.

That was quite enlightening for us, particularly Chef Jo who is always on the lookout for new and better ways to serve Laksa to his international guests. My niece hinted that the Japanese preferred our kind of spiciness which was very different from “Wasabi” which tends to go straight to your nostril if you are not careful.

Next, we moved on to Kuala Kedah for Laksa Telok Chengai a few kilometres south. Chef Jo and I grew up in Kedah and are familiar with the location and the family who had been in the business for years.

Those days the family had relied on local fishermen for their fresh supply of Ikan “Parang”, “Tamban” and “Temenung” for making the sauce. They would wait at the Kuala Kedah jetty for the fishermen to return from the sea with their daily catch.

But more recently they get their supplies from a local wet market nearby, on the bypass to Perlis. The owner told us most of the fish were from Thailand.

Anyway, their Laksa sauce is thinner than the one in Kuala Perlis but they have “Daun Putat” sometimes combined with Pucuk Janggus or cashew shoots which give the Laksa a flavour which is very Kedah. In fact, Laksa Kedah is served with lots of other vegetables other than Janggus or Putat shoots.

Kedah people are not happy when they have to eat Laksa without plenty of fresh shoots and some sliced cucumber, fresh-cut chillies and a slice of lime.

I like Asam Keping (Garcinia Atroviridis) boiled in the sauce until tender. It gives me an extra thrill to chew on a slice of Asam Keping with my Laksa. Just an old habit picked up in the kampung. Eating it almost always brings back my happy carefree days in the village as a boy when our family would gather for Laksa in the late afternoon as a snack.

Kedah people hate it when they crossed over to Penang and have to slurp the Laksa soup with pineapple, cucumber and lettuce. It was not real Assam Laksa for them.

“Laksa is not supposed to be sweet!” said a fellow college mate from Kedah who sat with us at Padang Kota Lama the night we arrived in Georgetown.

“Strange,” said Chef Jo who prefers spicy Laksa minus the pineapple. But being a professional he quickly dismissed it by saying, “This must be the Straits Nyonya influence which makes this a uniquely Penang Assam Laksa!”

He should know. After all, he was once the Chef at Penang Mutiara Beach Resort for many years.

The following day when we were at a Nyonya restaurant on Bishop Street they did serve Laksa with pineapple and fresh local lettuce. It came with a hard-boiled egg and plenty of “Otak Udang”(dark prawn paste). We found identical Laksa at lower prices along Gurney Drive and other hawker stalls on the island, too. So, Penang Laksa is all Nyonya!

We decided to skip Perak because Chef Jo believed that Perak Malay Laksa is similar to the one in Kedah except it is served with fewer vegetables. But Chef Jo told me they serve Laksa “Sarang Burung” in Ipoh. I have yet to try one. Chef Jo said, “We’ll have to try that next time”.

From Penang we flew Firefly to Kota Bahru to try an authentic “Laksam” in Kelantan.

Laksam at the central market was just awesome. It was creamy and served with noodles like rolled Kueh Teow. They do serve it with regular rice noodles too. The sauce is thicker than the ones in Kedah or Penang. Some even served us with sliced boiled fish but with fewer vegetables than those found in Kedah.

Wandering around Kota Bahru we came across a local Laksa franchise named Maheran. It looked good, better than what we saw above the central market, cleaner and quite professional.

That night for nostalgia reasons we dropped by “The White House” to have a late-night supper of Nasi Bungkus and Teh Halia. During our youth, we were fond of The White House because there was no other outlet that stayed open all night long.

The following morning we chartered a taxi bound for Kuala Terengganu. The taxi driver still uses an old Mercedes Benz that ran on diesel. He said it belonged to his dad who has since retired, so he took over the business.

It took longer than expected just because Chef Jo who once worked as a Chef in Terengganu wanted to try many delicacies we came across along the way.

Somewhere along the coastal roads, there was a lady who served Maggie mee with fresh crabs. He said Chef Muluk his old colleague was responsible for promoting the dish. It was delicious. My first Maggie mee with fresh crabs, ever! Will definitely return for more, soon.

We checked in at Primula Kuala Terengganu where Jo was the Chef for a few years before moving on to five-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur.

We sat down to try Laksa and Laksam made by his successor. He was quite impressed with the Laksa compared to what we had in Kota Bahru which he said was too sweet.

However, one peculiar aspect of the Laksa in Terengganu is that the creamy sauce is never cooked. The chef would merely stir the coconut milk with all ingredients in hot water and pour the concoction onto the rice noodles then add in the pounded chillies on top with extra boiled fish.

He then explained the complexity of preparing Laksa sauces from Kuala Perlis to Terengganu. Then he told me the Laksa in Pahang the neighbour of Terengganu is no different except the noodles are never made from rice. They use wheat flour sometimes tapioca flour.

In any case, we drove to Kuantan the following day with a brief stopover at Club Med Cherating to visit a mutual friend for lunch then onwards to Kuantan. Chef Jo was right. I did not quite as the Laksa noodles served in Kuantan. It reminded me too much of the slippery Japanese noodle.

Travelling overnight we reached Johor Bahru in the morning. We slept all the way to Puteri Pan Pacific. Chef Jo knew some of the key personnel and we were set for our mission of trying Laksa Johor.

According to Chef Jo, Johor had always been more Westernised than other states on the Peninsula thus the use of spaghetti in the Laksa instead of rice noodles. He could be right.

I have always liked Laksa Johor, and so does Chef Jo, mostly because of the thick fish sauce mixed with special herbs and spices which made it more fragrant than other Laksa that tends to smell of “Belacan” or prawn paste.

The toppings of chopped Bunga Kantan (Etlingera Elatior) bean sprouts, sliced fresh long beans, cucumber, onions and fermented radish make Laksa Johor really unique.

We flew out of Senai airport to Subang and decided to end a week of being on the road looking for Laksa by trying Chef Jo’s own Laksa Goreng.

You have to try this concoction. It tastes exactly like Laksa except it is served dry. After a week of eating Laksa with gravy, I had to make some slight adjustments to suit my taste buds yet unaccustomed to Laksa which was dry. But it was extremely delicious.

I must say Chef Jo is a great tour guide on Malaysia’s culinary experience. I am now well enlightened on the many types of Laksa on the Malay Peninsula.

I told him he would do well if he should decide to conduct a tour for foreign or local tourists intrigued by our culinary heritage.

Thank you, Chef Jo!

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Mihar Dias is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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