✍ 26 July 2024. Haven't been back at Godma Penang laksa in Permas Jaya in JB for a long time.
The home based stall is in a humble, nondescript house along Jalan Permas 1. It is easy to drive by and miss even during its heyday a few years ago. Today, it is a lot quieter.
Jovial Godma Ms Beh is still running the little stall.
The fish broth tastes savoury spicy with traces of spice and fish sweetness. Not as sourish as one would expect of typical asam laksa - yeah, I prefer less sour. Garnish of julienned cucumber, bunga kantan (ginger flower or laksa flower) add their crunch and flavours to the dish. No pineapple and lettuce was a bit sparse.
The taste profile is not typical of Penang asam laksa even though Godma hails from Penang and her previous rendition was more like those in Penang.
The noodle is the generic spongy chewy type (not the fresh rice noodle which I prefer).
Ask Godma for haeko (ferment prawn sauce) if you want to tune the broth flavour. The runny haeko is relatively mild savoury sweet tangy.
Godma Penang Asam Laksa was one of our food trail stops - our first stop actually. The stops were decided on the fly, some we have never been before while others we haven't been for a long time. All of us enjoyed ourselves and had fun at Godma's stall. The whole fish Penang laksa was a new experience for some of us from Singapore 👍
Stall name: Penang Asam Laksa 槟城干妈亚叁拉沙
Address: 149, Jalan Permas 1, Bandar Baru Permas Jaya, 81750 Masai, Johor
Tel: +6018 572 8278
Hours: 11am - 6pm
Written by Tony Boey on 26 July 2024
✍ 24 Feb 2016. Thanks to Nick Tan's sharing in 吃的平台 foodie group, this humble little Penang Asam Laksa stall is now the rage in Johor Bahru JB.
This 干妈亚叁拉沙 roughly translated "God Mom's Asam Laksa" is my favourite Penang style asam laksa in JB now.
I arrived here 30 minutes before opening time at 1:00pm on a rainy afternoon and there was already a queue patiently waiting.
The asam laksa is literally home cooked here as the stall owner prepares and serves the food right at her front porch. Seats are very limited and waiting time is a little long, I must warn you :-D Be prepared to share a table as there are two only :-D But, everybody is feeling comfy, happy and cheerful.
Stall owner Miss Beh 馬 hails from Bukit Mertajam (Penang). She opened this asam laksa stall just 6 months ago and business has been booming :-D
Everything is market fresh here as Ms Beh 馬 sources her ingredients like cucumber, pineapple, onions, lettuce, daun kesom, bunga kantan, assam keping, etc from the local wet market, just like any mum at home.
RM5 got me this large bowl of aromatic Penang asam laksa in a gorgeous brownish red broth.
The soupy fish broth is spiced up with finely chopped fresh herbs and spices. It's a nice balance of sour, spicy hot, sweet and savoury (with sour and spicy dominant). As the sardine fish was fresh, there was not the slightest hint of fishy smell or taste. The sourish spicy broth was highly drinkable and enjoyable with little, if any trace of MSG at all. (I often had asam laksa so sour that it made me cringe but at 干妈亚叁拉沙 it was just nice.)
If you need more umami kick, you can squeeze in savoury fermented prawn sauce to taste.
I like a little fresh chili padi to wake up my taste buds with a sharp sting.
The large bowl of Penang asam laksa comes with two big pieces of sardine fish. Ms 馬 gets her fresh sardines from the wet market every business day. (Real fresh sardine fish, not the mushy mess from a tin can or mixed fish mince.)
The fat rice vermicelli 粗米粉 is generic factory made but Ms 馬 cooks them well, so they have a nice bounce to the bite and is clean tasting.
The rice vermicelli complements the juicy crunch of the chopped vegetables and soaks up the clingy sourish spicy fish broth well.
The moment I finished my large bowl of 干妈亚叁拉沙's Penang asam laksa, I had to fight my instant craving for another bowl.
->> Now with 槟城干妈亚叁拉沙, I don't have to wait for my next Penang trip to enjoy a good Penang asam laksa. Indeed, I can boldly say that this is as good, if not better, than some asam laksa I've tasted in Penang.
Restaurant name: 槟城干妈亚叁拉沙 (God Mom's Penang Asam Laksa)
Address: No 149, Jalan Permas 1, 81750 Masai, Johor.
GPS: 1.516634, 103.821710 / 1°30'59.9"N 103°49'18.2"E
Hours: 1:00pm to 7:00pm (Closed on Fri)
No pork, no lard, no Halal cert
Date visited: 24 Feb 2016
This is indeed mouth watering, i salivated going through all of the pictures. I would like to try this next time i get to Malaysia
ReplyDeleteI love Penang laksa, and it's a must for me to visit this stall during the next trip to Johor Baru....!!! Certainly looking forward to it,,, and most likely, I will have two bowls too... hahahaha!!!
ReplyDeleteIf you did not blog about this home base stall I would have forgotten about it. It's been ages since I was there with my wife.
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