It was love at first bite when I had my first bowl of Laksa over 20 years ago in Pahang, Malaysia during a polo tournament. I have had intermittent cravings ever since. Singapore and Bali also serve a mean bowl of this fire-in-the-tongue broth but anywhere other than these places, the Laksa is a let-down.
And so I had to have it for our first meal in Kota Kinabalu, and then successively, like a maniac--once a day for three days, then twice a day for our final two days! I was salivating when the waitress presented me with the first bowl of steaming, orange broth dotted with tiny oil globules forming along the sides, liberally sprinkled with cubes of fried tofu, bean sprouts, chopped green onions, hard boiled egg wedges, and fried garlic. I squeezed in a quarter of the dayap that came with it and mixed in a teaspoon of sambal. Then, I slurped a mouthful...aaah...piquant, woodsy, spicy, sour, and garlicky all at once with an occasional crunch from the bean sprouts...truly heaven in a bowl.
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