The Best Dishes Everyone Should Try in Melbourne Best Dishes Everyone Should Try in Melbourne | Page 18

It’s not surprising since his spicy noodle soup is known to be one of the best in Melbourne.
What might surprise you is that Wong didn’t grow up anywhere near laksa.
Born in Vietnam, to Chinese parents, he came to Australia as a refugee when he was a
teenager. He worked his way up in kitchens until he became the chef of a Cantonese
restaurant.
“One day, I ended up working in a Malaysian restaurant when somebody was on leave. I stayed
for a few months and found the cuisine very interesting. I wanted to cook that style of food,” he
says.
He opened the first Laksa King in 1998, in a small arcade in Flemington. It took a few years for
things to pick up, but when the word got out about his curry laksa, queues started forming out
the door.
“We make everything from scratch. We make the paste with some lemongrass, galangal,
turmeric, curry powder and we cook it with oil,” explains Wong. “We cook down our chicken
broth for a few hours so it gets the meat flavour and a bit of sweetness. Then we mix the broth
with the paste and the coconut milk to balance it out.”
He says that he adjusted the level of spice and herbs to the perfect level so "it works for both the
Western and Asian palate".
Each bowl comes with rice vermicelli and Hokkien noodles, tofu puffs, eggplant, fried shallots and
fresh mint. You can then decide what to add, from duck to seafood and fish heads.