Kitchen Inn, 469 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. Phone: 9328 2562
Appointment in the city, park at Vic Market, left enough for time for a quick lunch – of course!
I have no great plans or destinations in mind.
Indeed, this stretch of Elizabeth Street is so busy at lunch time I’m happy to get a seat just about anywhere.
I have no plans to write or take pictures.
But then I get Kitchen Inn’s Sarawak laksa ($10.90).
CTS has been here before.
I’ve even had the laksa here on another occasion.
But …
I don’t remember it being THIS good!!!
Gravy that looks like a rich chocolate milkshake. Spice/heat levels that are just right and plenty of deep, dusky flavour – quite unlike the more regular laksas around town.
Vermicelli only in terms of noodles, which is real nice for a change.
And the extravagant goodies … oh my!
Shredded chicken, two monster pieces of chewy tofu sucking up that amazing gravy, fish cake, bean sprouts, quite a few very good prawns, noodle-like strips of omelette.
And – best of all – stacks of salty pork belly/crackling that is wonderfully crunchy to begin with but that becomes equally wonderfully soggy as the eating of my meal unfolds.
Wow.
This is a 10/10 laksa – a masterpiece of Melbourne cheap eats.
See earlier Melbourne laksa monarch post here.
consider the sauce 
That looks INCREDIBLE!
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Have just read the review of Kitchen Inn at Asian Restaurants in Melbourne:
http://asianfoodmelb.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/kitchen-inn.html
The author is from Sarawak.
He has to say this about Kitchen Inn’s laksa:
” …is not authentic – to the point where some reviewers on Urbanspoon say it’s similar to the Curry Laksa offered by Killiney Kopitiam. Ok, admittedly, it has a nod to the herbal shrimp belachan taste that’s prominent in Sarawak Laksa – but it requires more belachan and less curry. The travesty is the use of BBQ Pork (Char Siew – sweetening the soup), bean curd puff, and fish cakes! Dear Kitchen Inn owners – you know this is not how this dish is meant to be served …”
Just a heads up – I still think it’s amazing!
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On the strength of this endorsement I went to Kitchen Inn with a fellow laksa fiend last week — we both completely agree! Authenticity notwithstanding, the sarawak laksa is delicious and the depth of flavour is a nice contrast to the one-dimensional sweetness of some other places dish up.
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Hi Chiara! Wow, so happy you liked it!
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