'More like laksta': Netizens up in arms after laksa dish from Sydney eatery resembles pasta

When it comes to bad versions of Singaporean food aboard, laksa seems to be one of the dishes that many end up butchering.

From incorrect noodles to subpar soups, the spicy noodle dish has been a victim of one too many overseas chefs. Now we have a new contender: Laksta. 

User Jpatokal took to Reddit on Sunday (Aug 27) to post the pasta-looking dish that he said was supposedly laksa.

"I ordered laksa in Sydney and got this," said Jpatokal, attaching a picture of his order.

While one might expect the usual rice noodles drowned in a reddish yellow broth and topped with fishcakes, what Jpatokal got instead was entirely different: Dry yellow noodles tossed in a creamy peach gravy topped with green onions, a meatball and a sad piece of tau pok (tofu puff).

According to Jpatokal, the noodles were a little overcooked, and the meatball was actually a "crumbly ball of fish mince". Elaborating further on the latter, Jpatokal said: "Imagine an Ikea meatball, but made from fish."

The verdict? Though the tau pok was "nice", Jpatokal felt that the dish tasted "weird".

One netizen remarked that they probably went to a "fine dining place" and "should have expected it to be different" to which Jpatokal denied: "This was a dish of the day thing at a regular cafe, which usually does good (mostly Western) food so I'm not going to doxx them... It wasn't listed as a deconstructed laksa or anything."

Other netizens in the comment section expressed their displeasure towards the bizarre looking laksa, while others criticised Jpatokal for ordering the Singaporean dish in a foreign country.

"Imagine a Roman visiting Singapore, going to Pastamania, ordering a carbonara [dish], and getting upset with the abomination they bring out," another netizen compared in an analogy, bringing up the local restaurant chain that sells mainly Italian food.

"Wtf is this s**t?" another commented. 

Another joked that the dish looked more like "laksta", a combination of laksa and pasta.

Some also shared their own experiences with unauthentic Asian food in other places.

One netizen recalled ordering xiaolongbao, Chinese soup dumplings, in Melbourne that came "dry with no soup inside". They also ordered fried rice which was "tasteless" and "clumpy" with no wok hey flavour.

Another shared that they had the same two dishes at a restaurant in Chinatown located in Liege, Belgium, but the food tasted "microwaved" despite the owners being of Chinese ethnicity.

Using spaghetti for laksa?

Earlier in May, Singapore-based YouTuber Ghib Ojisan was in Seoul, South Korea, where he tried $29 laksa at a Singaporean restaurant named Kitchen Shiok.

While the supposed laksa did have a flavourful spicy broth, it lacked the lemak (richness) factor. Not to mention, the noodles used were spaghetti instead of the regular rice or egg noodles used in Singapore.

The final verdict?

"It's definitely not the most authentic, but it's not bad," Ghib concluded.

Singapore spicy coconut soup

If you think having some broth is better than nothing, you might want to think again.

Canadian influencer DrHobs posted a TikTok video reviewing what was supposed to be Singaporean food.

Presenting what he called "laksa Singapore spicy coconut soup", what was shown on camera was not quite what he described.

The soup was cloudy and pale in appearance with a light sprinkling of chilli flakes.

Despite the dish's appearance, DrHobs called it a "good soup" with super salty flavours that hit him right away and rated it a 7.5 out of 10. 

ALSO READ: 'Definitely not Japanese unagi': Japanese YouTuber compares Sushiro in Singapore to Japanese counterpart

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