600 calories or less meal: Laksania Express @ Vivocity

This was an invited food tasting session courtesy of the Singapore Health Promotion Board. 

Here's Destination No. 2:
Laksania Express at VivoCity.

If you ask me have I heard of Laksania? I have not until this invited food tasting by HPB. The other 3 food bloggers who was with me, le keju, lembu lapar and 1/2 blog makan also thought they were quite good.



I just did an online search on Laksania and realise it's part of the Secret Recipe 'empire'.
I also read that they help people who are usually shun by most people an opportunity to work. They hire mentally ill from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) to work in their central kitchen.



So many kinds of laksa they have here. Did I just see Laksa Chicken Rice on the menu?
I wonder how the Myanmar Laksa taste too!




Anyway, those are not the lower calorie (less than 600 calories) meals that we were suppose to taste.
We were there to taste the Special Laksa ($4.20)

We were met by Ms Josephine Tan from Laksania. She's such a chirpy happy lady! We asked her how they did it? They did not skimp on the dried shrimps or other spices needed to prepare the gravy. They have been doing research and experimented with different kinds of coconut milk alternatives. Evaporated milk and other alternatives did not go well with many taste buds during taste tests. In the end they settled on UHT Milk. We did not ask how many percentage of fat content in the milk they used or brand. :-)

The noodles used were also different. The rice noodles had 10% of brown rice content. Healthier choice. 



We were surprised when we saw the laksa. It's quite a big bowl! The soup spoon's there for a purpose. ;-)

Can it really be only 600 calories? I asked the Health Promotion Board folks, how can I be sure it is 600 calories? They said, HPB collaborates with them and helps them count the calories.

Do you know a normal bowl of laksa this size usually has about 900 calories?
By shaving off 300 calories, it's like a 5 km run?



The above was the 'sampling size' bowl of laksa we had. HPB nutritionists' counting on the go! We were to take meals from 5 places. By giving smaller servings, we can keep to our 1800(F)/2200(M) calories requirements.

We were there for taste test, so we asked for the normal version of the same laksa. The original version with coconut milk was thicker and the laksa gravy was creamier. But comparing the two, the healthier alternative is quite promising.

I really liked the bowl of laksa. I rather eat this than other healthier alternatives. I get more satisfaction from these calories. Cockles lovers take note, this lower calorie version has no cockles ;-)


Laksania Express
VivoCity Basement 2 Kopitiam
1 Harbourfront Walk
#02-117
Singapore 098585


Note: The healthier version I was told is currently only available at the Vivocity branch.

Laksa Steamboat Seafood Restaurant @ Telok Blangah Road

Last Friday night, Momo, Sis and I met up with friends from Melbourne. One of them was my sister's housemate long long ago in Melbourne.

The girls had wanted to try this Laksa Steamboat place for a long time, and decided it would be a great time to try it out.

If you have eaten the San Katong Laksa in Holland Village or the Nasi Lemak, this is their sister restaurant.

The place is quite pack and busy! There must be lots of laksa lovers out there!



It's an a-la-carte style steamboat. You are given this menu and a piece of printed order chit and you tick what you want. There's not like a big huge selection, but it's good enough to give you a good varieties.



We chose the "2 in 1" pot and had the "laksa" soup and the "we think it's ikan bilis or maybe it's chicken" soup.



The photos of the first round that we had. Price are quite reasonable. Around $3-$10 per plate depending on what it's seafood, meat, vegetables.



The above is from one side of the table. This is on the other side of the table. (The soup pot's in the middle)



Now... it's cooking and eating time.

We slided everything gently into both soups. The left side looks like laksa now right?
We started with the laksa half. It was like eating countless bowls of laksa with ingredients only!



Now what's laksa with 'hum' (cockles). Scoop it up and gently boil them in the laksa soup. Yumz!



Our soup was topped up quite frequently without us asking. We were a bit too ambitious with the laksa. It was like 3 or 4 bowls of Laksa soup and you get really satiated. (super jelak) haha....

Here's one of photo of the many 'rounds' we had.



This place is for laksa lovers. The stock gets thicker and thicker and more delicious. We paid around $98 plus relevant taxes for 5 people. We had 31 plates of food according to the receipt.

Laksa Steamboat Seafood Restaurant
404 Telok Blangah Road
Singapore 098840
Tel: 62757069

Yong Tau Foo & Laksa @ NUS Arts Canteen

Yesterday, we abandon our normal colleagues whom we usually have lunch with, and join other colleagues. We went to the NUS Arts Canteen. As the exams are finally over, the canteen's the best place to eat now! Very few students are coming in!

However, we saw nearly 50 kindergarten children though, all walking into the canteen while we were eating. Wah. Kindergarten children and they are already having visits to Universities! What an early head start!

I finally tried the acclaimed Yong Tau Foo stall in the Arts Canteen. The queue was the shortest!



It's famous you know! Look at the awards and the newspaper article pasted there. Many colleagues says so too.



What did I order, both Yong Tau Foo & Laksa in a bowl!
I kinda like the laksa gravy. It's thick enough but not overly thick with the 'jelak' feeling. The Yong Tau Foo stuff's really fresh too.



8 diff pieces of YTF, kuey teow and laksa gravy.
Only $2.40 (8 pieces : 1.80, noodles : .30, laksa gravy : .30)

OK, let me post the price list, zoomed in from the first picture above.




Have a good weekend!