Laksa Village, Donvale

Laksa is quintesentially Malaysian. For me, a good laksa is one that is sweet, salty, spicy. Most of the laksa sold here is too creamy and sweet, modified for Western tastes. Or watery, because spices are expensive. That is why I usually just make my own. 

So while we ate at Laksa Village, we didn't order the laksa so I have no idea whether it ticks all my requirements. Instead, we ordered Claypot Tofu and Seafood in Egg Gravy $25. There are an abundance of seafood in this dish - pipies, squid, prawns which makes this a worthwhile dish to try. You will not find a seafood & tofu claypot dish in another restaurant with so many seafood for this price. The only shortfall is that there were no fish slices and plenty of squid which we are not a fan of. The tofu is deep fried white firm tofu (not egg tofu). This dish has all my favourite ingredients - seafood, tofu, veges and egg! The sauce makes it a great accompaniment to white rice.

Yam Basket with Kung Pao Chicken $29. This is one of the Chef's Specials and there is a dearth of restaurants serving yam baskets so we made sure to order this dish. It has been a long time since I last had this dish. It was tasty, but there is a lack of fluffiness or lightness to the taro. Perhaps there was not enough shortening in the dough. The chicken was average, but the star was really the taro. Despite the shortfall, we enjoyed this dish. 

Yam baskets are called 'Fatt Put' in Cantonese which translates to 'god's pot'. It was conceived as a vegetarian dish - deep fried yam dough filled with stir fried vegetables, a dish full of complexity, beauty and taste to outshine the meat dishes. As if to ask 'Who says vegetarian food is boring and tasteless?', it has the final say. 

The food here reminds me of my neighbourhood Chinese restaurants in Malaysia. If we were sitting outdoors in humid heat and sweating bucketfuls and battling mosquitos while eating, it would totally have transported me back in time. The chef is Malaysian, which explains a lot. If you wish to be transported to your local zi char, then you will like this restaurant.