Lee Kee Johor Laksa ● JB's Oldest Curry Laksa Stall since 1946 李记柔佛辣沙

Lee Kee is one of the oldest curry laksa stalls in Johor Bahru - it's also one of the first JB hawker stalls I shared in Johor Kaki blog back in 2012.

Started by the current boss' mother, Lee Kee is originally a shoulder slung mobile (kandar) stall plying Jalan Trus in JB. Now located in Kee Kim Huat coffee shop in Taman Sri Tebrau, Lee Kee is still very popular with locals. I like this style of curry laksa too and it hasn't changed one bit since I first tasted it in 2012.

This style of JB curry laksa is loaded with fresh blood cockles, fried bean curd skin, fried tofu, and fried ikan parang fish balls.

The curry has layers of crustacean savouriness, sweetness of onions and coconut milk, and mild spicy heat from chili and other spices. I like it that the flavoursome curry is not cloyingly creamy or milky. I enjoyed it to the last drop.

The fried tofu skin was like a piece of thin and light savoury paper. It was brittlely crispy when dry and when wet with curry broth it was soft crunchy to the bite with curry flavours clinging to its wrinkled surface.

The pieces of tofu stuffed with fish paste were quartered. The stuffed tofu was similar to those served with Hakka fish ball noodle soup. They were very likeable because of their mildly sweet savoury flavour and interesting rough texture. There were even hints of soy bean taste.

This JB style of laksa always have this fried ikan parang fish ball. Biting through the fish ball's soft browned leathery skin releases bursts of fish aroma from the minced fish meat inside.

The house made sambal chili is mildly spicy with crustacean savouriness from dried shrimps in the blend.

👉 Lee Kee (1946) is an old school Johor style curry laksa, the same vintage as Singapore's famed Sungai Road laksa (1956) and Janggut Laksa (1946). The stall holders have kept faithfully to the elaborate old recipe with loads of liau 料 (ingredients) - its worth a try to taste the flavours of old Johor.

Read about my first visit to Lee Kee Johor laksa in 2012 👈 click