Laksalicious — Restaurant in George Town

12.30pm - It's May 1 Labour Day. Travelling from KL, we decided to try well-rated Laksalicious, a heartbeat away from the centre of Georgetown, but a stone throw away from Hotel Penaga where we're perched this trip.

Laksalicious was already packed to the brim. We walked in, took a table encrusted with all the "debris" leftover by previous diners still uncleared. Armed with bacterial wipes, we cleared and cleaned the table. 😁

1pm - The Owner finally came over, and took our order, and apologised that it would be an extremely long wait for our food. I said, "No prob" and started penning this review to while my time away.

1.10pm - 2 index finger-long, crispy deep-fried Cempedak Rolls arrived, followed by the house special Laksa Tea. Unique to us foreigners, the Cempedak Rolls were delightful, but secretly wished there was more Cempedak in them. 👍

Another first for us, Laksalicious' Laksa Tea is a lime-based iced tea, with too few slivers of cucumber, pineapple, and bits of Bunga Kantan (Torch Ginger bud), a couple of mint leaves and a stick of lemongrass, to cause any impactful experiential effect. I doubt the Owners in their right minds would have incorporated fish as an integral part of this drink... 😂😂😂 ... but it would have been radical if they did.

1.15pm - 2 slightly thicker, middle finger-long, yam bean based Spring Rolls arrived. Definitely fresh out of the deep frying pan, fried to perfection. 👍

1.17pm - One of Penang's quintessential, Lor Bak, arrived. Instead of pork, Laksalicious uses chicken. Fresh out of the deep frying pan, the texture of this local delicacy was more subtle in texture and flavour, and succulent, compared to the pork version. A winner, for sure! 👍

1.23pm - A large plate of 5 round-shaped Prawn Fritters arrived. Again, fresh out of the deep frying pan, fried to perfection. 👍 Unlike those from street vendors, Laksalicious' Prawn Fritters was thin and crisp, embodied with peeled Sakura-like shrimps. Another definite winner. 👍

1.55pm - After another half hour of waiting, the Assam Laksa and Lemak Laksa, each "garnished" with a large Prawn Cracker, arrived. Not as dense and funky as other Laksa offerings in Penang, these Laksa were light and delicious. Hardcore Penang prawn-paste lovers may be disappointed, but we devoured them. To us, these Laksa tasted of home, and definitely for me, remiscent of my late Aunt's version, whose recipe was lost after her passing.

Overall, other than the Owners not having the help they need today, which forgivingly is a public holiday, the food offered and served by Laksalicious were simple Penang street fare, but underratedly delicious, and for sure, the Assam Laksa played with our souls and brought back many wonderful memories of our late Aunt revving up delicious Nonya fare in her kampong kitchen in Kedah.

When back in Penang, we'll definitely be back to...

I started things off with the crispy sweet potato roll and the crispy cempedak roll. Both were served at the correct temperature, i.e. steaming hot! They were light and fluffy and absolutely delicious!

The assam laksa was definitely one of the best I'd tasted in Penang. I also sampled the laksa lemak, and it was incredibly good...the yummiest in Penang in my opinion, and I'd tasted many versions of laksa lemak throughout the island over the years.

The beef rendang (accompanied by blue rice, a hard boiled egg and some salad) was spicy, rich and flavoursome - exactly how I like it!

Two desserts were ordered: cendol and sago gula melaka.

The cendol at Laksalicious comfortably beat the Penang Road Famous Teochew Cendol at Lebuh Keng Kwee (what a great shame for the hundreds of people who queue at the stall there each day!) and vies keenly with that at Jonker 88 in Melaka for the title of best cendol in the world! I've been reliably informed that the gula melaka in the cendol at Jonker 88 has added sugar to enhance its sweetness, whereas the gula melaka in the cendol at Laksalicious is completely unsullied. Having tasted both versions, I'd say that the Laksalicious version wins by a nose!

Sago gula melaka is one of my favourite desserts in all the world...and it's very rare that I don't order it when it appears on a menu. My mum makes a pretty good sago gula melaka, and I've been fortunate to have also tasted a fair few delightful versions at cafes and restaurants throughout the world over the years. However, I'd say that the sago gula melaka at Laksalicious was easily the best I'd ever tasted anywhere in the world! The texture and 'springiness' of the sago were perfect, the coconut milk was commendably fresh, the gula melaka was undeniably authentic, and the presentation was visually stunning! As far as I'm concerned, the king of sago gula melaka lives at Laksalicious...and long may that continue!

The customer service by Christine Ooi (the owner) and her team was excellent - friendly, knowledgeable and courteous. The place had an attractive decor and was super clean. I would strongly encourage all Penangites and tourists to visit Laksalicious - you...

There were 4 of us and we ordered a wide variety of dishes and desserts. Original Laksa and Laksa Lemak, Fried Prawn fritters, Chempedak spring roll, Lor Bak, Bubur Cha Cha and of course Cendol. First and foremost, the type of Laksa served in the restaurant is Not the Penang type of laksa but rather more akeen to Johorean type laksa. So the laksa serves in this restaurant is Not representative of the more flavourful and rich assam laksa of which Penang is famous for. Sadly, this laksa is not even a good example of a good Johorean laksa. Both laksas were very plain and did not have the rich Prawn paste and fish flavours. The Prawn fritters and Chempedak spring rolls were well made but not any more extra special to any other well made examples. The Bubur Cha Cha again lacks the rich coconut and pandan flavours. The contents of the Bubur Cha Cha were a miserly few pieces of yam and sweet potatoes and nothing much else, like Black Eye peas. Lastly, the Chendol was delicious but again not any more special.

The biggest disappointment is how could Michelin, a famed rating organisation, rate this restaurant a Bib Gourmand? In recent days, I have been to a Bib Gourmand Bak Kut Teh restaurant in Kepong KL. Save for the pork ribs, I failed to comprehend again, how rigourously the Michelin's food tasters rate restaurants. I remembered reading a comment many years ago about the qualification of Michelin's food tasters engaged to rate Japaneae restaurants, who were not Japanese. Perhaps history is repeating itself.

I observed that most of the customers of Laksalicious were foreigners and hence many of the Google comments are likely to be posted by foreigners. Save for the late Anthony Bourdain, how many of the the customers/commentators are conversant with Penang Laksa? I wish Laksalicious well instead of being elevated to such esteemed levels which add unrealistic pressure on...