Semi Warm Semi Cooked Semi Fake Darwin Laksa

When I told my Aussie friends that I was flying north – as in Darwin, the one piece of advice I kept getting, more than crocodile sightings (or eating or combined) or Kakadu hiking, was to try the Darwin Laksa.

The thing is, I don’t like Laksa, not even when I lived in Singapore, a place where the Peranakan dish is considered one of the national dishes. Why the rich-tasting, coconut-based pipping hot soup is so beloved in the constantly 35-degree humid weather island is beyond me.

But this wasn’t about Singapore—it was about Darwin, where people suggested I try Darwin’s Laksa, which has lower temperatures but equally humid weather.

Truthfully, I tried to avoid it.

I skipped the Darwin laksa at Parap Village and again at the Mindil Market the next day until the last day in Darwin. By then, we’d eaten all sorts of food—territory meats, Vietnamese, Korean, Indian, wraps, couscous, yum cha, Peruvian ceviche, crocodile, Indonesian, and even Australian-at Pee Wee’s. The only things left, it seemed, were Darwin laksa or mud crab. Unfortunately, it was still morning, so most crab restaurants were closed except for some Laksa joints, which is not an uncommon breakfast choice in Darwin.

Darwin Laksa

Only the day before, a local had recommended an award-winning Laksa stall. On the last day, due to a lack of options, we reluctantly decided to check it out. “Well, when in Darwin,” I remember saying to Jik—she rolled her eyes.

The place is located in a mini-mall in Darwin town centre, within walking distance of our Travelodge Hotel. It was easy to find—a stall in the food court near the entrance, with many winning medals displayed.

According to Google, the place was open at 10 AM, but when I rang the bell ten minutes past, the owner asked us to return in an hour.

By then, we were intrigued by the awards, so we decided to wait to return in an hour. At 11 on the dot, we were back.

The menu was interesting, filled with various soups, with the option of Laksa mentioned somewhere in the middle.

The Laksa choices were limited to chicken, beef, seafood, or a combo. I couldn’t imagine having beef laksa, so we both went with seafood, though we would have preferred vegetarian with tofu. It cost $24 and came with a drink of choice.

Let me start with the good things. First, they let us take as much chilli as we wanted, and the lady at the counter, who was from New Guinea, was so friendly.

As for the Laksa itself—the broth was convincing enough that it seemed clear why they had won those awards. But then, for my I-have-had-Laksa-once-in-Singapore standard, the broth wasn’t hot enough.

Jik said it could be a “Darwin thing.”

But since the soup wasn’t hot, the noodles weren’t cooked properly either.

Another issue, the main one for us, was that the seafood wasn’t real—it was crab sticks, fish balls, and rubbery squid. Before you judge, I get that using all authentic seafood might not be feasible, but I was expecting at least some.

Lastly, and this is a personal pet peeve of mine: I forgot to ask them to leave out the bean sprouts, and the ones in my bowl were gigantic.

In the end, we still tried to finish our bowls as much as we could. I left noodles with bean sprouts, and Jik left the fake seafood.

All these comparisons come from the fact that, for me, the “ideal” Laksa is the Singapore way, which comes with one-fifth of the price tag.

Maybe in Darwin, the Laksa is supposed to be semi-warm, semi-cooked, and filled with fake meat.

Also, since this place had won many Laksa awards and was about to fly to Melbourne to compete when we visited them, I wanted to try Melbourne Laksa as a comparison.

God, don’t tell me I’m warming up to Laksa!

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