What to do when you're at Balik Pulau...

The stall and the Laksa uncle

When in Balik Pulau in Penang... One MUST go and have a taste of the very, very famous Balik Pulau Laksa.

The Balik Pulau Laksa is located in the new big market building. Before that, it's somewhere at the roadside. The road stalls are all forced to move into the new big market building, which all the food stalls are very inside and it's not that easy to find. You have to ask around if you're new there.

How do you get to the famous Balik Pulau Laksa?

Simple directions : Follow the road signs and - Go to Air Itam - Go straight along the road - you can see Penang Hill from a far and a round about nearby - turn left - follow the road (Paya Terubong) and then halfway the hill when you see a small junction, turn right - Follow the roadsign - Balik Pulau all the way! Do take note that you have to go round quite a number of hills, get to see nice breath taking calm sceneries and all along the way for a 9-11KM journey from Air Itam! It's about 30-45 minutes drive from town.

A bowl of Assam Laksa - RM2.50

We got ourselves a bowl of Assam Laksa each. Assam Laksa is a sour fish-based soup. The main ingredients for assam laksa include shredded fish, normally kembung fish or mackerel, and finely sliced vegetables including cucumber, onions, red chillis, pineapple, lettuce, common mint, "daun kesum" and pink bunga kantan (ginger buds). Assam laksa is normally served with either thick rice noodles or thin rice noodles.

To get the authentic, real and taste every bit of the laksa soup and noodles, I recommend you to order a bowl of laksa WITHOUT prawn paste ("hae ko" in hokkien). With prawn paste, it kinda alter the original laksa taste. What's prawn paste? It's prawns shredded and made into a thick and sweet prawn paste with other preservatives. You see the darker dark brown love shaped spot on the bowl of laksa? Yep, that's prawn paste. Oh, uncle Laksa loves me! Look at the heart shape prawn paste design! Hahahahha. (damn perasan)

Lemak style laksa (forgot to tell the uncle NO "hae ko" again!) - RM2.50

After Me, Graeme & Chern Ta had our own bowls of Assam Laksa, we ordered another extra bowl of laksa to be shared among us 3 - Laksa Lemak. Laksa lemak is a totally different type of laksa compared to Assam Laksa. No, it's not curry either. Laksa lemak is also known as Nyonya Laksa and is a type of laksa with a rich coconut gravy. As the name implies, it is made with a rich, slightly sweet and strongly spiced coconut gravy. Laksa lemak is usually made with a fish-based gravy and is heavily influenced by Thai laksa.

Nutmeg juice - RM1.50

To compliment our food, we ordered Nutmeg Juice. Not many of you tried Nutmeg Juice before, I know. It's rather special though, the taste and NOT EVERYONE likes it. Graeme & Chern Ta's first time trying out that drink and they felt that it's weird. I'm ok with it though - cause I tasted it several times before. Haha

FOOD GOSSIP : We overheard the uncle laksa complaining to some of his aunty aunty customers that eversince all of them road side vendors were forced to move in to the new market building, business dropped more than 50%! He was complaining a lot all the way to the aunties about how terrible it is, how a lot of people did not know where to find, and all... LOL. The uncle was speaking in Hokkien & I translated it to G & CT.

PS : There's other places in Penang that's also famous for Laksa like - Peng Hua Laksa (opposite Penang Chinese Girls High School), another coffee shop in Balik Pulau, Gurney Drive laksa (only 1 stall that's quite nice out of like... 10+ stalls?)

foodie - Rachael Lim 005