BaBa Laksa House

BaBa Laksa House

baba1b

baba1c

This relatively unknown Malaysian eatery located in the gothic Grace Hotel is a welcome retreat from the hoards that frequent those dreaded busy food halls. It seems the bulk of the clientelle works nearby and the rest are tourists and hotel guests enjoying the air-conditioned atrium with plenty room to move.

baba2

I’ve paid homage to this place several times over the last week or so, sampling a variety of dishes to form my own conclusion on the kitchen’s talent. First off the mark was the mee siam goreng (10.5), a golden mound of thin rice noodles with tofu, egg, fish cake, sprouts and sambal egg and ahchat. It’s all quite flavoursome with a sharp chilli after-bite and the egg is always a welcome addition to any Malaysian plate. I’m not loving the ahchat, however, as I find its sourness clashes with all the other flavours. The slices of red capsicum present well but seem a little odd to put on a Malaysian dish.

baba3

The prawn fried noodles (11) have almost as much flavour as a glass of water yet do come with a generous quantity of prawns and another curious sprinkling of shredded lettuce and red capsicum. Truth-be-told, the only flavour came from the slight caramelisation the wok made with the noodles, and the sweetness of the capsicum.

baba4

You can’t go to a laksa house and not try the laksa, right? The king prawn laksa (10.5) sounds good enough and comes out a little pale and anaemic compared to the mighty ones you get at Malay-Chinese a few blocks away. The flavour is pretty good and the stock is clearly made using prawn shells and fish bones. Nice spicy bite as well.

baba5

Once again I can never go past the nasi lemak (10.5) – coconut rice served with curry chicken, sambal egg, fried anchovies and ahchat. I’ve never quite had one like this before, virtually submerged in curry gravy. Not loving the sloppy onion sambal that came with the egg.

Overall my lunch outings to BaBa were little hit and miss. The okay and not-so-good meals won’t get me rushing back.
  • BaBa Laksa House
  • Grace Hotel, 77 York Street
  • G8 Ground Floor
  • Sydney 2000
  • 9299 5833
  • BaBa Laksa House on Urbanspoon
Real Time Analytics