Laksa King - Vancouver, British Columbia
Located on East Hastings between Kamloops and Penticton it was actually a block away from the busiest part of East Hastings. The surrounding shops looked a bit tired and some looked closed permanently. So I was a bit worry about the condition of the restaurant. But to my surprise when we walked in the place was very bright and cheerful and clean. If you are familiar with Johnny Rockets then you would think that you just walked into one. The seating are booth with bright red color. There is some colorful neon lighting as well. I thought it was a diner before. But the daughter of the owner told us that the landlord remodeled it.
Now let's talk about the food. We already checked out the menu on their website so we roughly knew what we wanted to order. But since we brought my father-in-law we just quickly checked with him and then placed the order. The first one that came out was Singapore vermicelli. Funny thing is I am not sure if you can actually find this dish in Singapore. Anyhow it is a stir fry rice noodle with some protein and curry powder. This dish turned out to be pretty decent. The curry smell was distinct and the flavor was a bit more on the salty side.
Then the laksa came with our choice of rice vermicelli in a bowl with sliced red onion, a wedge of lime, cilantro and bean sprout. The broth was rich of coconut milk and flavorful. We often make laksa at home using those package paste so we have built our own standard of laksa. And the laksa here was almost as good as our own version. Ehem..if I can say so myself. One thing I didn't like was the chicken was boiled in the broth so it was dry and bland. While at home, I would stir fry the chicken meat and serve it on the side as topping so it won't get dried up with the reheating of the broth.
Another thing that was worth mentioning was the basil eggplant. I always try to order eggplant dishes when we dine outside. Reason being I couldn't cook eggplant the way restaurants do. I guess I couldn't get the ratio of eggplant and oil properly. This eggplant dish was simple with dry shrimp, onion and some dark sauce served with rice.
The ones that we wouldn't order again would be roti canai, char kway teow and spring roll. The spring roll was typical fried egg roll. It was crispy and freshly fried but it was nothing special. The roti canai looked promising and different from the frozen one that we normally buy in the supermarket. But it probably should not have been folded and became too thick and harder to break apart. We have been to another Malaysian restaurant where they served the roti canai in a pile all fluffed up. It's not neat but at least it's fluffy. The curry dipping sauce that came with it was too diluted and bland. We all used our laksa broth to dip it in instead.
The biggest disappointment was the char kway teow. Looking at the name I was expecting Malaysian style fried rice noodle. But it came out a bit on the wet side and had no wok hei. The color was a bit pale too.
Laksa King
2546 E Hastings St, Vancouver, BC V5K 1Z3
604 428 0155
www.laksaking.ca
Another thing that was worth mentioning was the basil eggplant. I always try to order eggplant dishes when we dine outside. Reason being I couldn't cook eggplant the way restaurants do. I guess I couldn't get the ratio of eggplant and oil properly. This eggplant dish was simple with dry shrimp, onion and some dark sauce served with rice.
The ones that we wouldn't order again would be roti canai, char kway teow and spring roll. The spring roll was typical fried egg roll. It was crispy and freshly fried but it was nothing special. The roti canai looked promising and different from the frozen one that we normally buy in the supermarket. But it probably should not have been folded and became too thick and harder to break apart. We have been to another Malaysian restaurant where they served the roti canai in a pile all fluffed up. It's not neat but at least it's fluffy. The curry dipping sauce that came with it was too diluted and bland. We all used our laksa broth to dip it in instead.
The biggest disappointment was the char kway teow. Looking at the name I was expecting Malaysian style fried rice noodle. But it came out a bit on the wet side and had no wok hei. The color was a bit pale too.
Laksa King
2546 E Hastings St, Vancouver, BC V5K 1Z3
604 428 0155
www.laksaking.ca
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