Sarawak laksa @ Chong Choon Cafe, Kuching (Malaysia)

The late Anthony Bourdain called it "breakfast of the gods", and featured Sarawak laksa in his programs Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown and No Reservations. I heard that this laksa had made such a great impression on Bourdain, it was on his top 10 wish list for his food market in New York! My first introduction to this East Malaysian version of laksa preceded Bourdain's televised publicity of this dish by more than a decade, when I was still a university student in Perth, and a Sarawakian friend's visiting mother cooked this dish for us. From that first bite, we were smitten with Sarawak laksa, which is not very much like the curry laksa that we were more acquainted with. Unfortunately this dish is not easily obtainable outside of its region, not even in Peninsular Malaysia, and it would be a number of years before we would taste this dish again on our first visit to Kuching in 2009. When we revisited Kuching at the beginning of this year, we had planned to visit the top three places for Sarawak laksa, as rated by my Sarawakian cousins and friend, who each had their favourite. Disappointingly our family was struck down by a flu virus for half of our stay, so we got to try out the laksa at only one of the three places. Still, it was better than none, and we can look forward to trying the other two next time we visit Kuching! The Sarawak laksa at Chong Choon Cafe is one cousin's favourite, and indeed it packed an aromatic punch for a small bowl. Chong Choon Cafe also has several other food stalls offering non-laksa food, and it was good to have non-spicy options for the little ones. I was told that Chong Choon Cafe is extremely popular for breakfast, often with a queue for a table. We arrived just before noon on a weekday, and there was plenty of available tables and seats. The area was bright, airy and spacious - perfect for families with kids. We enjoyed everything we ordered at Chong Choon Cafe, and we will revisit when we are in Kuching again, to do a proper comparison between the top three outlets for Sarawak laksa as rated by my cousins and friend!

A sure sign that we had arrived at the right place:

Chong Choon Cafe is a clean and tidy kopitiam, with several other food stalls selling food other than Sarawak laksa, and the main cafe at the front selling :

This stall at the corner is likely the most popular stall at the kopitiam, dishing out the much-beloved Sarawak laksa for the locals who come here for breakfast:

Sarawak laksa - aromatically spicy, not too creamy, with generous serving of prawns:

A delicious claypot of congee with century egg, from another stall:

Son was already homesick for homecooked food, and this bowl of meesua with chicken was his request:

Chong Choon Cafe
275 Jalan Chan Chin Ann
93100 Kuching
Sarawak, Malaysia