Malacca Curry Laksa There really has been quite an influx of F&B establishments in the last couple of months that had entered the local food scene that specialises in serving up Malaysian fare — one of the stalls that we had recently found out about whilst walking around the Bishan neighbourhood would be that of Malacca Old Taste 马六甲古早味. Located within the S11 coffeeshop that is situated at the foot of Blk 504 Bishan Street 11, the coffeeshop had been seeing quite a fair bit of movement in the stalls operating within in recent times (Vietnam Kitchen previously operating within the now-defunct Chateraise outlet at Great World City had also relocated here recently). Malacca Old Taste occupies the stall unit that is situated right beside the beverage stall there; its signboard being rather obvious to spot considering how they had used a red background with the namesake of the stall taking up almost the entirety of the space of the signboard. Being a stall that specialises in serving up Malaysian-style Chinese cuisine, the menu comprises of quite a number of noodle dishes; this will include the likes of the Pork Ball Noodle, Malacca Hu Kiao Noodle and WanTan Noodle. For rice-eaters, the only rice dishes offered would be the Long Bean Rice and Pork Lard Rice which could be had with the various fried items or the Fishball Soup / Pork Meatball soup that they have to offer.
The Malacca Curry Laksa was something which we were looking forward to try after roughly skimming through the menu on the variety of dishes that they have to offer — while Malacca Old Taste does not describe on the elements that each of their dishes come with, it can be observed from our order that the Malacca Curry Laksa does come with elements like the fried beancurd puffs, Fried Tau Kee with Fish Paste, fish cake and Char Siew; patrons do get the choice to chose between the various noodle options that they have (think yellow noodles, Kway Teow Kia, Bee Hoon, Mee Tai Mak, Mee Pok and Mee Kia), we were being recommended to go for the Kway Teow Kia which they have claimed to be the de-facto choice to go with the Malacca Curry Laksa. Just like how we expected things to be, the Malacca Curry Laksa follows that of the Malaysian-style curry noodles where the gravy is rich and fragrant of curry spices, but isn’t one that is overwhelmingly heavy — not one that is being clouded with too much coconut milk and hence wasn’t particularly jelak. The use of Kway Teow Kia also kept things light and easy to have, while the various fried beancurd puff and Fried Tau Kee elements soaked up all of the curry laksa gravy and provided a flavour burst as one chews upon them. The Char Siew that came along with the Malacca Curry Laksa were sliced sufficiently thick, though were of a leaner cut — these helped to add a contrast of sweetness amidst the notes of curry and the rather light note of spiciness that the dish carried; one that should be rather manageable for those whom have a slightly lower than moderate tolerance to spiciness in general. The slices of fishcakes do help to add an element of bounce to the overall dish. There have been quite a number of posts on social media mentioning about Malacca Old Taste and their fried pork lard and this is also how we found ourselves going for the Pork Lard Noodle here; we did find out that the Pork Lard Noodle here is served “white” rather than “black” — the latter being the way it was being illustrated on their menu. It is also noted that the default type of noodles served with the Pork Lard Noodle is the yellow noodle.
The Pork Lard Noodle at Malacca Old Taste deserves a mention simply given how they serve up perhaps the largest-sized chunks of fried pork lard we had ever seen around the island; they are also very generous with the serving at the same time as well. Tossing the noodles with the pork lard, the yellow noodles come lacquered with lard oil and was incredibly tasty on its own; the crispy pork lard being very well-fried, delivering a crunch factor with its crispness of the exterior, whilst very fragrant within — definitely ambrosial for those whom love their pork lard. The Pork Meat Ball Soup helps to balance out the heaviness from the Pork Lard Noodle with its clean flavours from the soup, though itself coming with yet a few pieces of pork lard that also absorbs the flavours of the soup as well. Other elements that were included in the Pork Meat Ball Soup included the Fried Tau Kee with Fish Paste, fish cake and pork balls. One thing worth noting about Malacca Old Taste is how they seemed to be pretty affordably-priced; the most priciest item on the menu would be their Malacca Curry Laksa at $5. Considering the price point of their food and the way that it is being executed here, Malacca Old Taste is an establishment that we would be expecting to see more often on social media that is likely to be well appreciated by the residents around the area.
