Thursday 14 July 2016

LIFT Vlog Episode 75: The London Laksa Company

Hi guys, I am so pleased to present my latest vlog episode to you on the London Laksa Company. Now my regular readers would have heard me bemoan a zillion times that I can't get an authentic Singaporean Laksa in the UK - well, imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon the London Laksa Company on Facebook and I just had to track them down for my vlog. It turns out, the man behind the London Laksa Company is in fact from the north of England and he has never ever been to Singapore or Malaysia. So I was a bit doubtful at first, but decided there was only one way to find out and that was to do a taste test. The Laksa wasn't a Singaporean Laksa per se, but it wasn't bad at all and I would definitely pay good money for it. There are countless number of varieties of Laksas all over Malaysia, Southern Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei. Indeed, the Laska I had when I was in Brunei last year was radically different from the Singaporean version. It was a tasty noodle soup, but just not quite an authentic Singaporean Laksa.
I was quite disappointed that almost half the interview was not usable - such are the perils of filming in a noisy public place. It got extremely windy that afternoon and the wind makes the audio unusable; that really sucks when you're recording an interview! The bit of the interview I couldn't use was when I asked Ian how he manages to hold down an important office job during the week and then spend his weekends making and selling Laksa on the streets of London. He said that it was a labour of love - he enjoys cooking and saw the gap in the market. Well, I certainly saw the gap in the market a long time ago but I wasn't sure if there was a demand there to be met. Ian took a gamble, set up the London Laksa Company and I witnessed the long queues of people who have traveled from far and wide, just for his Laksa. Talk about turning your passion into work! I was seriously impressed by not just his cooking skills, but by his sheer tenacity in making the business work. The London Laksa Company is a small outfit at the moment, only selling in the street markets at weekends, but I do hope that they will expand to create a proper restaurant one day. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed watching this vlog piece. I do love a good story behind my delicious food. Thanks everyone!

4 comments:

  1. Poor ang moh tak boleh tahan the smell of dead fish. Lol. Looks good to me. Need a bowl right now!

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  2. Yes. Quite common in South East Asian restaurants. Mee Siam and Yong Tau Fu are non-existent. I was craving for laksa so much after your post that I bought the paste and made it tonight. Now I am yearning for Popiah!

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    1. You could recreate most dishes on your own within varying degrees of authenticity. Mee Siam is not that hard, and Yong Tau Hoo, well, it's the kinda thing you'll wanna make one afternoon then freeze the lot so you have an endless supply. Can't do that with popiah though, I settle for freezer bags of frozen spring rolls, but that's never the same as the fresh ones.

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