Singapore Eat: Famous Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa (驰名结霜桥三轮车叻沙) @ Hong Lim Food Centre

22 October 2022

Famous Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa (驰名结霜桥三轮车叻沙) began in 1956 selling laksa, along Sungei Road, using a trishaw and eventually became famous. The second generation of the founder later setup stalls in Hong Lim Market & Food Centre and (current) Yuhua Place Market & Food Centre, and continues to offer their widely-known “Trishaw Laksa”. While both stalls carry the same name “Famous Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa”, they are not branches of one another and improve their offerings along different tracks.

I came to know about Famous Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa, in Hong Lim Market & Food Centre, from the first Singapore Michelin Guide in 2016 and have since visited the stall several times. The couple manning the stall are very friendly and will not hesitate to explain a little on how their famous dishes are made — without giving away their secrets.

The stall’s specialties are their Asia Delight Laksa (or “trishaw laksa” as they used to call it) and the one-and-only-in-Singapore Fruit Juice Mee Siam. They used to offer Mee Rebus too but it had been taken off the menu couple of years back — before I could try it.

The Asia Delight Laksa with Crayfish (叻沙) is slightly different from traditional laksa dishes as crayfish and slices of chicken meat are added in addition to common laksa ingredients, such as fresh cockles, prawns, fishcake slices and, of course, thick rice vermicelli. The rich, flavourful broth is not too spicy (chilli added separately) or oily, and it is lighter and smooth to drink till the last drop — some said they uses coconut juice in place of coconut milk. It is really delicious.

The dish offers a unique taste experience for me, after having tried different types of laksa dishes in Singapore and Malaysia.

Read: The Quest for Laksa Dishes; How many types are there?

The Fruit Juice Mee Siam (果汁米暹) is a unique re-creation of the traditional Malay noodle dish (with Thai flavours) using fresh fruit juice instead of the usual sour asam (tamarind paste). It is hard to tell which fruit juice or cocktail of fruit juices are used, but the sourness is definitely mellower and more refreshing — I choke easily on the sharp sourness of asam, so the fruity broth of this dish is really comforting.

Aside from typical ingredients of hard-boiled egg, tofu puffs and bean sprouts, the dish is added with fresh prawns and tender chicken for the higher-price option — seemed to be offered with crayfish these days. Half a lime and some sambal chilli add extra flavours.