For many people, Yew Swee 友水 is the best curry laksa in Johor Bahru. For me, whenever I am asked to name the best laksa stalls in Johor Bahru, I always mentioned Yew Swee laksa as among the best.
If you have never tried Yew Swee laksa and come to the shop for the first time, you may wonder what the hype is all about.
The humble kopitiam is a very basic, bare bones shop lot that can get pretty hot especially in the morning. The sun bleached roller shades doesn't help much in keeping out the heat. The air is still and occasionally a waft of fragrant spicy aroma drifts by.
Sometimes, gusts of choking pungent aroma blow by, sending those with sensitive noses scurrying. That's when the staff is stir frying the day's sambal chili in the kitchen at the back.
The bowl of laksa, when it arrived looked loaded but hardly photogenic.
Any doubts about what Yew Swee curry laksa can deliver get blown away with the first mouthful. Yew Swee's laksa is neither subtle nor pretentious. It just unapologetically hammers your taste buds and olfactory nerves with its robustness - not hot spiciness, but fragrant savouriness. The flavour and taste come on so strong, it might make curry novices uncomfortable.
The curry laksa is actually very lemak (loaded with santan) but the creaminess is masked by the spices, chili and belacan. The distinct full bodied umami flavour is extracted from the dried shrimps in the belacan.
These are sambal chili which Yew Swee makes everyday. I doubt many people need this to boost the spiciness and taste of Yew Swee's already very robust curry.
The Liew family, originally from Penang, has been running Yew Swee laksa for 22 years.
Yew Swee laksa - you will either love it or be overwhelmed by it. It's been 22 years and Yew Swee's growing legion of fans keep coming to have their taste buds and noses pummelled by their curry laksa.
Well, it seems that I can never quite have enough of Yew Swee's curry laksa... I shall be back for more.
Restaurant name: Restoran Yew Swee 友水
Address: 64, Jalan Harimau Tarom, Taman Century, Johor Bahru
Non Halal
Date visited: 17 Jan 2012, 22 Apr 2013
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