It’s been nearly 3 months since I returned from a 5 week holiday in Thailand and Malaysia and I’m still dreaming of basking in its balmy weather while chugging a stein of watermelon juice!. Doesn’t help that Sydney is suffering from a cold snap in the middle of Spring!
There’s one thing I miss most of all and that’s Assam Laksa. For those that don’t know Assam Laksa is a sour and spicy soup made of fish stock and tamarind juice and garnished with fish chunks, cucumber julienne, onion slices, and sweet, prawn paste to counteract the sourness. Pineapple chunks can also be used to sweeten your palate with every spoonful of tangy soup. *drool*.
Now I never ventured into Penang (the Assam Laksa epicentre) but I found a viable substitute in KL. Little Penang Kafe is found at The Curve Shopping Centre with 2 other franchises at KLCC and Mid Valley Megamall. It’s not the best restaurant to be found and the prices are double what you would pay at the hawkers but their Assam Laksa is good enough to keep me coming back.
The soup was so thick and rich and swimming with fish chunks. From the first spoonful you are hit by the sour tang of tamarind and then by the aromatic sweetness of the dark prawn paste. I wasn’t much of a fan of this noodle dish in the first place but after tasting this I was hooked and now it has skyrocketed to the top of my list of cravings! It’s a shame I don’t have a photo of it. Gosh know what my computer has done with it! But luckily that’s not the only thing I tasted at Little Penang!
Har Mee as it should be!
The Har Mee (egg noodles and vermicelli in a spicy prawn and pork stock) was pretty good too and one of the better ones I tasted in KL. The stock was very flavoursome with a strong after taste of prawns in my mouth (*smacking lips*). It literally tasted like they boiled the heck of the prawn heads and pork stock – good thing they did too! Best thing of all is that it wasn’t spicy like most other Har Mees I had in KL which made my westernised taste buds very comfortable. It’s always nicer to eat Prawn Mee when you don’t have to wipe the sweat off your forehead after every bite!
The Curry Mee was a bit diluted for my taste buds since I normally need a huge curry hit from the first spoonful and unlike Curry Laksa, it wasn’t rich with coconut milk.
Char Kuey Teow
The Penang Rojak and Char Kuey Teow was standard fare although the Char Kuey Teow wasn’t as greasy as you normally find at the hawkers so that’s always a good thing for the waistline.
Nasi Lemak with Chicken
Mr S. being a Nasi Lemak enthusiast naturally ordered the Nasi Lemak. There were two varieties: chicken and fish. Chicken was dry and the rice wasn’t ‘coconut-ty’ enough. I’ve had better in Sydney actually (Temasek in Parramatta being one of them). Another dish that my father ordered was Lobak, a Penang Five-Spice Roll and it was one of the better ones I’ve tasted.Bottom line is for a majority of the menu, tastier and much cheaper options can be found in street hawkers and even certain food courts (Mid Valley Megamall has a pretty good one and is HUGE!). But if I ever need an Assam Laksa hit to get me back on a happy vibe then this is the place to go if you’re ever in the respective shopping centres.
From top left: Curry Mee, Assam Laksa, Char Kuey Teow, Prawn Mee,
Penang Rojak, Char Kuey Teow (again!), Lobak (centre)
Main Meals approx. 9 – 12.50 RM
Penang Rojak 6.50 RM
Desserts around 4.50 RM
Little Penang Kafe
The Curve Shopping Centre
Mutiara Damansara
Little Penang Kafe
Mid Valley Megamall
First Floor. Lot F001 and 100
03 2282 0215
Little Penang Kafe
Suria KLCC Lvl 4
Jalan Ampang