We love a robust bowl of laksa, but there is nothing more disappointing than to find only a couple of puny blood cockles (ie, "hum") buried under the bee hoon, or simply none at all.
Most of the metallic-tasting bivalves consumed in Singapore are imported from Malaysia, but pollution and overfishing have led to a drastic drop in supply. Which explains why hawkers who use hum in their cooking are now charging more for a portion, or have completely omitted it.
The stall is located at Havelock Road Food Centre. (Photo: 8Days/Yip Jieying)
ALL "HUM" LAKSA
Not Guang Fa Laksa, though. This popular laksa stall at Havelock Road Food Centre offers an Only Cockles Laksa, priced at S$6 or S$7. From its photo on the signboard, the dish comes with cockles, beansprouts, thick bee hoon and gravy. Yep, no tau pok, no fishcake, no hard-boiled egg. Just hum.
The stall is open from 8am to 1.30pm, or till sold out, daily except Wednesday and Sunday. (Photo: 8Days/Yip Jieying)
The stall usually has a queue, and operates only a few short hours a day from 8am to 1.30pm. It is run by a pleasant uncle and auntie who work very efficiently, so you don’t have to wait long for your laksa despite the line.
The man behind Only Cockles Laksa. (Photo: 8Days/Yip Jieying)
Uncle does the cooking and serving of customers here, while Auntie preps the ingredients. When 8days.sg tried chatting with the hawker, he didn’t appear to be verbal. And so, we ordered a bowl of Only Cockles Laksa and watched as he swiftly ladled a small mountain of slippery de-shelled cockles into a bowl for blanching.
A bowl of Only Cockles Laksa, sans beansprouts. (Photo: 8Days/Yip Jieying)
24 PIECES OF "HUM" IN OUR LAKSA
We asked for no
After some intense counting, we found 24 pieces of super plump hum in our S$6 bowl. Very generous, as we usually get barely five or six tiny cockles even after topping up S$2 for hum at laksa stalls. A regular S$4 bowl of laksa at Guang Fa comes with around five cockles.
This stall has also gotten rave reviews online for its robust gravy. (Photo: 8Days/Yip Jieying)
NICE OR NOT?
Now, this stall has gotten rave reviews online for its robust gravy, but during our visit, we found ours too watery and bland even after stirring in the accompanying spoonful of sambal.
That said, we prefer our laksa gravy thick and rich (like 928 Yishun Laksa’s version), and there were other Guang Fa customers slurping up their bowl of laksa with obvious enjoyment. If you like Tanglin Halt hawker stall Wei Yi Laksa or Alexandra Village's Depot Road Zhen Shan Mei Laksa, which have lighter gravy, you might enjoy Guang Fa Laksa.
Digging into a bowl of hum. (Photo: 8Days/Yip Jieying)
IS THERE SUCH A THING AS TOO MUCH "HUM"?
When we first tucked into our cockles-only laksa, we were tingling with excitement. Here was a dream come true - there was so much hum that they filled up half the bowl surface. For the first half of our meal, we were in heaven.
But after making our way through the bowl, the distinctive metallic flavour of the cockles started to get to us, even though they were cooked through and not raw or bloody.
is there such a thing as too much hum? (Photo: 8Days/Yip Jieying)
“See lah, the regular bowl is better,” remarked our dining companion. We see the point; there’s a mix of ingredients in the regular laksa, like puffy laksa gravy-soaked tau pok, strips of springy fishcake and crunchy beansprouts, which makes a good balance.
So unless you can tahan the metallic taste of a lot of blood cockles, we recommend that you eat in moderation.
Guang Fa Laksa is at #01-08 Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre, 22A Havelock Rd, S161022. Open daily except Wednesday and Sunday, from 8am to 1.30pm or till sold out.
This story was originally published in 8Days.
For more 8Days stories, visit https://www.8days.sg/
Continue reading...
Most of the metallic-tasting bivalves consumed in Singapore are imported from Malaysia, but pollution and overfishing have led to a drastic drop in supply. Which explains why hawkers who use hum in their cooking are now charging more for a portion, or have completely omitted it.
The stall is located at Havelock Road Food Centre. (Photo: 8Days/Yip Jieying)
ALL "HUM" LAKSA
Not Guang Fa Laksa, though. This popular laksa stall at Havelock Road Food Centre offers an Only Cockles Laksa, priced at S$6 or S$7. From its photo on the signboard, the dish comes with cockles, beansprouts, thick bee hoon and gravy. Yep, no tau pok, no fishcake, no hard-boiled egg. Just hum.
The stall is open from 8am to 1.30pm, or till sold out, daily except Wednesday and Sunday. (Photo: 8Days/Yip Jieying)
The stall usually has a queue, and operates only a few short hours a day from 8am to 1.30pm. It is run by a pleasant uncle and auntie who work very efficiently, so you don’t have to wait long for your laksa despite the line.
The man behind Only Cockles Laksa. (Photo: 8Days/Yip Jieying)
Uncle does the cooking and serving of customers here, while Auntie preps the ingredients. When 8days.sg tried chatting with the hawker, he didn’t appear to be verbal. And so, we ordered a bowl of Only Cockles Laksa and watched as he swiftly ladled a small mountain of slippery de-shelled cockles into a bowl for blanching.
A bowl of Only Cockles Laksa, sans beansprouts. (Photo: 8Days/Yip Jieying)
24 PIECES OF "HUM" IN OUR LAKSA
We asked for no
After some intense counting, we found 24 pieces of super plump hum in our S$6 bowl. Very generous, as we usually get barely five or six tiny cockles even after topping up S$2 for hum at laksa stalls. A regular S$4 bowl of laksa at Guang Fa comes with around five cockles.
This stall has also gotten rave reviews online for its robust gravy. (Photo: 8Days/Yip Jieying)
NICE OR NOT?
Now, this stall has gotten rave reviews online for its robust gravy, but during our visit, we found ours too watery and bland even after stirring in the accompanying spoonful of sambal.
That said, we prefer our laksa gravy thick and rich (like 928 Yishun Laksa’s version), and there were other Guang Fa customers slurping up their bowl of laksa with obvious enjoyment. If you like Tanglin Halt hawker stall Wei Yi Laksa or Alexandra Village's Depot Road Zhen Shan Mei Laksa, which have lighter gravy, you might enjoy Guang Fa Laksa.
Digging into a bowl of hum. (Photo: 8Days/Yip Jieying)
IS THERE SUCH A THING AS TOO MUCH "HUM"?
When we first tucked into our cockles-only laksa, we were tingling with excitement. Here was a dream come true - there was so much hum that they filled up half the bowl surface. For the first half of our meal, we were in heaven.
But after making our way through the bowl, the distinctive metallic flavour of the cockles started to get to us, even though they were cooked through and not raw or bloody.
is there such a thing as too much hum? (Photo: 8Days/Yip Jieying)
“See lah, the regular bowl is better,” remarked our dining companion. We see the point; there’s a mix of ingredients in the regular laksa, like puffy laksa gravy-soaked tau pok, strips of springy fishcake and crunchy beansprouts, which makes a good balance.
So unless you can tahan the metallic taste of a lot of blood cockles, we recommend that you eat in moderation.
Guang Fa Laksa is at #01-08 Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre, 22A Havelock Rd, S161022. Open daily except Wednesday and Sunday, from 8am to 1.30pm or till sold out.
This story was originally published in 8Days.
For more 8Days stories, visit https://www.8days.sg/
Continue reading...