Kulai 生记 Laksa 古來生记叻沙

It's the hum. Nothing but the hum.



We stumbled upon this small food centre at Jalan Bunga Santalia while roaming the backstreets of Kulai looking for delicious food which locals like.

Sitting next to a group of 5 - 6 boys, we overheard them making orders at 生记叻沙 stall. "Don't want hum" one said. "No bean sprouts" said the other. "Want everything" we heard another said.

Born and raised in Singapore, I quickly put in my order of "want everything" laksa ;-D



生记 laksa with everything for RM5.

There's bee hoon, bean sprouts, tou pok, fried wantons, hard boiled egg, chopped spring onion and, of course, hum (blood cockles).

(Chopped spring onions instead of daun kesum? Oh... what laksa apostasy. :-D )



生记's curry broth - it doesn't have the lemak-ness (level of coconut milk creaminess) of Katong laksa. It lacked the soup base of Cathay laksa. It is also missing the depth of spices of Water Works laksa.

But, hey, there is something about 生记's curry laksa broth that makes it attractive - I just can't pin it down. Perhaps, it's the perfect balance of creaminess and spices (or lack of it?).



But, in the hum department, 生记 Laksa is the Champion. I've never seen so much hum in a RM5 bowl of curry laksa.



The cockles are clean and very fresh. They were shelled right there at the stall as we ate.



Auntie was getting a top up of more fresh hum for her laksa.



Then, there was this awesome house made sambal chili. The sweet, crustacean savoury, spicy hot flavours were gentle and well balanced. I ate quite a few spoonfuls of this sambal chili by itself - it was delicious.

I am sure it will do wonders to the curry laksa broth (if I scooped it in) but I prefer to taste the broth on it's own.

The bean sprouts were masterfully cooked. They were perfectly done with great crunch.



We were not supposed to do this.

On a food hunting trail far away from Johor Bahru, we are not supposed to make repeat orders of the same thing. The logic is obvious. Precious stomach space is supposed to be conserved for trying out as many different stalls as possible (for the trip to be worth it).

But, we succumbed.

We ordered another bowl of 生记 laksa with everything, anyway.



I couldn't resist the fresh hum, crunchy bean sprouts, awesome sambal chili and that perfectly balanced curry laksa broth with gentle flavours.



The boss Mr Law has been running 生记叻沙 for over 30 years in Kulai. Besides his popular laksa, Mr Law also serves wanton noodles and yong tau fu.

When we asked him what inspired his laksa recipe, Mr Law said it was from years of tweaking until he found a balance that suits the local taste buds.



If you are in Kulai, you might want to try this "localised" laksa.



Restaurant name: 生记叻沙
Address: Junction of Jalan Bunga Raya 4 and Jalan Bunga Santalia, Taman Sri Kulai Baru 1, Kulaijaya, Johor
GPS: 1.666488, 103.589955
Hours: 7:30am to 1:00pm (Closed on Monday)

Non Halal



Date visited: 15 Jan 2016

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