Colder weather = more laksa. That’s just common sense.
Element Fresh’s laksa is the most expensive, by about 25 RMB more than the rest of these.
The accompanying ‘bits’ inside are pretty satisfying. You can observe the bouyant prawn and welcoming mussel in the above photo.
It’s all quite good. But, it’s not great. I guess we could say that about a lot of things on the EF menu.
Nice indeed, but, I didn’t drink the sauce. I didn’t drink the sauce. The ultimate laksa test, somewhat failed by Element Fresh here.
If I had to give it a rating, which I don’t, I’d give it 7 out of 10.
I ate the HLK laksa at both the Raffles City Changning GhostTown Mall and also K11 on Huaihai Rd.
Both were excellent.
The service was a bit weird. Not weird by Shanghai standards, because service in Shanghai is very often asleep. But more like no particular professional pride, and the atmosphere that the front of house staff are a little too ‘at home’. Like everywhere in Shanghai. No big deal. I suppose.
The bits and bobs in the laska were nice, and the sauce was excellent. Excelsior in flavour.
The noodles were more like rice noodles than egg noodles, and therefore tasteless. Maybe that’s very authentic, I don’t know.
I drank the sauce. I drank all of the sauce. I give the sauce 10 out of 10. I give the noodles 5 out of 10 and the staff one loud sneeze out of five loud sneezes (I’m alluding to the fact that one of them did a loud sneeze)
Seriously I will go back to HLK in the next couple of weeks for more laksa, due to the sauce excellence. It was around 70 RMB.
Laksa Kitchen
With a name like that, surely the laksa is good?
It is good.
You can observe the generous portions in the above photo.
The sauce was very nice – but not as nice as HLK’s sauce. The noodles were better though. If HLK could use these noodles – they would win the laksa game and wear a laksa crown. Metaphorically, of course.
I give this a solid 8 out of 10 for it all, and it was slightly cheaper also. Also the rest of Laksa Kitchen’s menu is really good (where EF and HLK are more general), with interesting and tasty South Asian dishes.