Sungei Road Laksa – Authentic Laksa With A Huge Following

I was first introduced to Sungei Road Laksa more than ten years ago. It was one fine day when my father and I were craving for a good bowl of laksa around the area before I attended my first class for the day, and before my father began his shift at work.

Back then, one bowl costs $2 ($3 around 2016, now $4), a super reasonable price for hawker fare. You’re only allowed to ask for more broth, cockles, fishcakes and beansprouts. For more thick bee hoon, the only option was to order a second bowl. With the ever lengthy queue (that was before they introduced stanchions to manage the line), we persisted no matter what. My father ordered three bowls for the both of us; one for myself, another for him, and the last bowl to share between ourselves since the size of one bowl never felt filling enough.

Brief History

It all begun in 1956 in Sungei Road, also known as Thieves’s Market where the largest and oldest flea market can be found in Singapore.

Wong Yew Hwa, the founder of Sungei Road Laksa, had a Hainanese friend (Ah Tong) that gave him and his brother (Wong Yew Poh) his secret recipe for laksa on account of their long-standing relationship. Why did Ah Tong gave the Wong brothers his closely guarded recipe that gave the latter a critically acclaimed laksa to be well-known across Singapore and the world? It’s a mystery, and probably something between three men with bonds thicker than water, I guess.

Being the 1950s and like most hawkers back in the day, the Wong brothers set up a push-cart stall to sell their laksa and it was a big hit among customers. What made Sungei Road Laksa stood out amongst other laksa stalls was the use of charcoal to heat up the broth which is still used today, providing a distinct smoked and charred scent that few laksa today can compare.

Since then, the stall has been passed down from one generation to the next, preserving the original recipe that still remains today as one of the best laksa in Singapore and across Southeast Asia.

Like Katong Laksa, Sungei Road Laksa is served with a single spoon with no chopsticks in sight to preserve the authenticity of the original way of eating.

Experience

Since my first visits to Sungei Road Laksa ages ago, I didn’t return due to various life obligations and responsibilities that came along the way. That is, until I watched Alderic’s Besk Laksa video series featuring, you guessed it, Sungei Road Laksa that the idea was planted in my head out of a mix of curiosity and excitement.

As expected, the queue was long throughout. The moment you can find the store from afar, you’ll understand why this stall is one of the very few hawker/kopitiam stalls that uses stanchions to manage the line that extends all the way till the other side of the stall.

As you progress closer to the front of the stall, you’ll realize that the laksa broth is heated using charcoal, a rarity in today’s hawker culture. At around five customers before me, the lemak scent, or the smell of coconut milk permeated the air and in that brief moment, my impatience was quelled. Waiting in line for the past 30 minutes or so didn’t feel so painful anymore with that respite from my agony.

I ordered two bowls, because as stated at the start, one bowl isn’t enough for my huge appetite. Furthermore, me and other customers have waited for ages for their order, so my ultimate reward was to get twice the goodness, twice the fun.

Taste Test (Two Bowls of Laksa With Extra Fishcakes, $10)

I didn’t have any lingering regrets when I ordered two bowls instead of one as soon as both bowls are placed on my tray. As much as I wanted to start chowing immediately, the mere sight of these two perfect bowls of laksa, elevated with tiny curdles of coconut milk made me forget the agony of waiting in line for almost an hour. Mix it up, and the first bowl was good to go!

Until last year, I actively avoided cockles in laksa, often requesting to not include them in my bowl whenever I find the chance. The fears of getting Hepatitis A from cockles served by poorly-prepared stalls dominated my mind for so many years that I wasn’t going to like them for the rest of my life. Call me cowardly, I know, but these days food standards in Singapore are pretty safe, aside from food poisoning cases that were only reported to the public once in a blue moon. (At least we hope that’s the case 😓).

However, seeing the fleshy cockles on my spoon convinced me otherwise, and it tasted extremely fresh. Like, it’s not overtly raw but not overcooked than it actually needs to be. Add in the broth, and the two worked hand-in-hand perfectly.

Speaking of the broth, it never tasted too heavy despite initial appearances. I’m glad I requested for more fishcakes as it never felt cumbersome scooping them up, and it helps that the fishcakes were of fitting sizes. And just like the cockles, they taste so much better when eaten together with the broth and the noodles.

Because chopsticks are not provided, it was necessary for the noodle strands (specifically thick bee hoon) to be shorter than laksa from stalls that provide chopsticks to make scooping of the noodles possible without it falling off due to the weight and length. As mentioned by plenty of food critics, this acts as an advantage to the dish as you get to savour all the flavours in one spoonful rather than to taste the noodles and broth separately. And my gosh, does it work to Sungei Road Laksa’s advantage and also makes for a quick meal that I moved on to my second bowl within 5 minutes after the first.

Final Thoughts

By the end of finishing my second bowl, there was still space in my stomach for more food thanks to the broth not tasting overly heavy like how some laksa do. But for the sake of my borderline fragile digestion system, I rather walk it out first before hunting for my next meal of the day.

The further I walked away from the kopitiam, that’s where I find my lips feeling slightly hot, tingling even. It was a good feeling to be had and even with the sambal sauce, it never felt like it was turning more spicy to the point of reaching for a glass of water. Overall, it was an extremely satisfying meal, even more rewarding with the effort of lining up patiently behind tens of people doing the same. The biggest fear about all of this? The laksa that I’ll have after this visit will be a tough act to follow so the standards established by Sungei Road Laksa has set a high bar for other stalls to meet or bypass.

Address & Opening Hours

Address

Gourmet Street Kopitiam
27 Jalan Berseh, #01-100, Singapore 200027

Opening Hours

Thu to Tue, 9.30am to 4pm
Closed on Wednesdays
Nearest MRT Station: Jalan Besar (DT22)