3/10 (mostly for the friendly and efficient service)
I used to frequent Laksa Me several years ago as a solid pre-night on the town option. It was (and still is) BYO at $10 a bottle and the food went from either standard quality to exceptional. The pandan chicken used to be succulent and flavoursome, the laksa (obviously a big part of their menu considering the name) a creamy bowl of goodness, and the meat included in most dishes of a good enough quality to keep the regulars returning.
So for Tuesday lunch I thought, why not try an old favourite?
Sadly, age has not treated Laksa Me well. Perhaps there is a new chef, or perhaps the place has changed hands, but Laksa Me, I no longer recognise you. The décor is the same, the service still reasonably quick and polite and the menu still has many of the same items. But that is it.
Let me explain. First, I went for my old favourite, the pandan chicken. This entrée ($6) used to come wrapped completely in a pandan leaf and deep fried, leaving the inside piece of chicken moist and perfectly cooked. They were like mouthfuls of heaven. Today, the pandan leaf was instead used like a decorative garnish, with a thin band wrapped around a dubious hunk of chicken. Obviously the chicken had been cooked in a pan or, possibly considering the taste, microwaved. The chicken itself was impossible to bite through and I had to resort to hands to pull it apart. Inside it was a dubious mix of pink and fat. Still, I pressed on, thinking, ‘it must taste the same’. Sigh. No. It tasted how it looked. Horrible. One mouthful and I was done, leaving 70% of the dish on the plate.
Next I went for the Laska. Laksa – not hard to do. Has been done to death by many a cheap eatery in Melbourne, and most of them seem to pull it off relatively successfully. Not here, anymore. I went with the My Mum’s Laksa ($10), a mix of noodles, spicy coconut sauce, pork, chicken and prawns. It didn’t mention them on the menu, but I just assumed that some form of vegetable would be in the laksa. Something, even a single piece of spring onion. But no, not a single vegetable. Instead it was a gelatinous hunk of over cooked noodles, think gluggy soupy sauce and large hunks of fatty meat. The only redeeming feature were the prawns, of which there were three, and I desperately searched around for more (I was hungry post entrée disaster) to no avail. Again, sigh. Another issue I had was that the meat in the dish was served in super large hunks, so large that you either had to pull it up with your chopsticks and rip it apart with an awkward hacking motion with your fork, or give up. Considering the taste of the dish, which I’d liken to muddy watery curry, I gave up. My companions were equally unimpressed and gave me the ‘I’m not going to openly say it, but you recommended this place so it’s your fault’ look. I left hungry and will never again return.
Laksa Me, you’ve changed. Today you made me sad. My mental state of bad meal induced depression was only saved by buying a 50% off pair of shoes on the way back to the office.
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