I was on my way to IKEA Alexandra to get some stuffs but dropped off one bus stop after the IKEA-stop and headed for Alexandra Village Food Centre.
It was 10 minutes before 11am when I reached the food centre and a little early for lunch. But, knowing that I usually spent at least 2 hours in IKEA and would be purchasing some bulky items. I decided to have brunch before shopping. And also to avoid any lunch-time crowd later.
Several stalls in Alexandra Village Food Centre were accoladed in the Michelin Guide 2019 and I would want to try all of them if I could. And I picked Zhen Shan Mei laksa as it was more suitable for brunch.
Depot Road Zhen Shan Mei's claypot laksa was accoladed by the Michelin Guide since 2016, its claypot laksa must be really nice. But when I was at the stall, I noted that the "claypot" wordings on its signboard were covered up. It could be due to COVID-19, thus there would be no using of claypots to reduce waiting time.
Since I had made up my mind to try it, I decided to go ahead and ordered its medium-size laksa at $5.00. After around 5 minutes, my laksa was ready.
The colours of the noodle dish made it looked really appetising and not oily. There were tofu puffs fully soaked with gravy, slices of fish cake, shredded chicken, a prawn and my favourite cockles — in Singapore, a laksa dish would be incomplete without cockles. A thicker curry gravy was added to the noodle dish, topped with minced coriander leaves and chilli, before serving. I guessed that could be what made their laksa special.
A sign at the stall said that its "curry is spicy", but it was not so for me. The spiciness was just right and the gravy was smooth to drink — there was no choking sensation from red chilli oil or coarse grated coconut because none existed. Despite the absence of the claypot "taste", the laksa was still rather flavourful.
But the portion seemed to be quite small despite it being supposedly "medium-size". I would probably be back again to try their claypot laksa once they started selling them again.
Address:
Alexandra Village Food Centre, #01-75
Opening Hours:
9am ~ 3pm | Closed on Sunday & Wednesday