Ah Fai Dry Laksa

Got to learn about the existence of Ah Fai Dry Laksa whilst scrolling around social media — Ah Fai Dry Laksa is a stall that is situated within a coffeeshop that is located at 146 Sims Avenue named Monster Eating House which also houses Monster Thai Mookata. Ah Fai Dry Laksa can be found taking up a stall that is located at the corner of the coffeeshop; the establishment hasn’t changed out the signage of the previous tenant that had occupied the stall, though one can find the menu board that mentions Ah Fai Dry Laksa with various news clippings and customer reviews on their food. Turns out, Ah Fai Dry Laksa is run by the same folks behind Ah Huay Dry Laksa that was previously located at Ci Yuan Hawker Centre in Hougang — though the same folks had also run the stall as Tamako Ramen-Ya before switching its concept into Ah Huay Dry Laksa back then. Ah Fai Dry Laksa focuses on its Dry Laksa offerings, serving them in portion sizes of $6, $8 and $10. It also seems that these folks are also serving up Lok Lok in an attempt to provide a snack option for those whom are having beer in the coffeeshop as well.

We went for the $6 portion of the Dry Laksa during our visit to Ah Fai Dry Laksa — Ah Fai Dry Laksa does not describe the elements that are featured in their Dry Laksa but it can be observed that the dish does come with the usual suspects that one would typically find in a standard Laksa dish; think elements such as that of half-boiled egg, tofu puffs, fish cakes and prawns. All that also gets accompanied with the thick Bee Hoon, and also a sprinkling of the Laksa leaves. As opposed to the traditional Laksa dish that comes with a gravy, the Dry Laksa is a wok-fried dish where the gravy gets reduced down and clings onto all of the elements within the plate; also a dish that is not quite commonly found around the island here. Ah Fai Dry Laksa’s rendition of the Dry Laksa does come with a smoky note which some would describe as Wok Hei, while there is definitely a distinct note of rempah spices that hints quite heavily throughout the whole plate as well within the gravy. With that being said, their rendition of the dish doesn’t seem to carry much of a hint of coconut milk fragrance; considering so and also the type of noodles that it is served with, it does seem to almost become a crossover between Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodles and Laksa. We did feel that the other elements were considered a good-to-have, though the provision of only chopsticks with the shelled prawns weren’t something to our preferences for ease of eating. We also did find the Dry Laksa a tad too greasy as well. Overall a pretty tasty rendition of a Dry Laksa, though not quite as refined as that of some others that we had tried from Peranakan establishments around — $6 does prove to be rather wallet-friendly for such a dish, though probably something that is worth trying to see what they are all about and if it does suit one’s fancy.