Ah Koong (or AK) Noodles is a regular place of ours when we wish to eat fishball noodles (soup for me and dry for my family) with a side of
yong tau foo. They also offer
curry and
tomyam noodles with more or less the same
liew (ingredients) you'd find in a bowl of their fishball noodles. I've never tried their tomyam noodles but had their curry noodles before once (let's just say it isn't quite my definition of a proper bowl of curry mee).
In one of our visits here, I noticed that they also sell their own brand of
AK Instant Laksa (or Curry) Bihun. They come in a pack of 5 for RM31 or RM6.50 for one individual pack. Not cheap as far as instant noodles is concerned (almost the cost of a fresh bowl of noodles!). I was curious to see if it's any good, so I bought one pack to try.
The contents of the packet included dried meehoon (a good portion size at 125g), a (cooked) sambal paste, coconut milk/cream (
santan in powdered form) and a chilli powder (that comes with a warning...
put at your own risk!). I emptied the sambal,
santan and chilli powder satchets into boiling water and cooked the bihun for about 4 minutes (as per instructions on the packet). You can eyeball it as to how soft you like your bihun.
The first time I had this I added some extra
tofu puffs and
AK's fried fishballs (these are their vacuum-packed fishballs which you can get online or from their restaurant). The tofu puffs tasted great as they were the perfect ingredient to soak up all the flavours of the
laksa.
Even though the sambal paste looked like a real sambal with its reddish chilli oil, I was surprised that there wasn't much of the oil in the finished product once the contents of the paste was dissolved/cooked. This would be welcomed by those who don't like their curries too oily.
Overall, I thought the taste of the curry was very decent for an instant version. It's a proper curry with a creamy taste of santan (not quite as fragrant as the taste of fresh santan of course but certainly very respectable for a powdered version). It's unlike
Maggi's curry which only has the taste like a spicy soup.
The second time I had this (I obviously liked what I ate and bought another packet when I visited
AK again), I cooked it with some
leftover prawns I had in the fridge,
AK's fried fishballs (of course) and a few greens of
dragon vegetables or
ching loong choy (I had to make do with what I have in the fridge, they taste like spring onions anyway).
The first time I had this laksa, I didn't heed the warning and emptied all the chilli powder into the
laksa. Although it was very nice this way, I couldn't drink more of the soup as it was a bit too spicy for me. The next time I had it, I heeded the warning and refrained from putting all the chilli powder in (you can see the soup was a little paler).
Seeing that
AK's instant laksa comes with bihun was already a plus point for me as I find bihun to be a more appropriate choice for
laksa instead of the usual instant egg noodles. I always have my curry laksa with meehoon + mee as I like how the bihun is able to absorb the flavours of the curry. Finding remnants of the laksa paste (like real spices) sticking to the noodles (and at the bottom of the bowl) made it felt like I was eating the real deal.
This AK brand is now my current go-to instant laksa noodles.....and one of three brands of instant noodles you'll find in my pantry...for now! ;) The other two being the Korean Ottogi Spicy Jin Ramen and our old faithful of Maggi Curry which has our continous loyal support. Anyway, I need our old faithful to make Maggi Mee Goreng (+ my husband and son are easily contented with eating this brand dry-style).
Haiya, nowadays even the usual brands of instant noodles from supermarkets can't cut it for me....I need restaurant-qualtiy atas brands to satisfy my instant noodles fix..lol. Whenever I dine at Ah Koong, I almost always pick up a packet....yes, just one packet will do, that's how to moderate intake lah (you can of course get them online in packets-of-five from Ak's own platform or other shopping sites).
If you love to eat curry mee, then this instant version may be something you might want to consider stocking up as part of your pantry staples for those late nights curry fix! ^_~
I have only tried curry instant noodles once - Maggi's and it didn't tickle my fancy. I still prefer the chicken flavor. Since then I am of the impression that curry instant noodles are not any good but based on your review, I am obviously mistaken. Since this AK Noodles is to your liking, then you can conjure your own version of Curry Laksa Supreme with your own added ingredients. Do you like mint leaves in curry laksa? I find that it brings out a certain oomph!
ReplyDeleteIf there's one herb I don't eat, it's mint leaves (and would pick it out if I find it in my laksa)! If you like mint leaves, you'll find it in Ipoh-style curry mee (always) and Penang-style curry mee (usually). I've to agree that most commercial brands of instant curry noodles out there (that I've tried) aren't good. The only one I thought was worthy was A1 Laksa Bihun (and this one is also sold in single packets coz they're expensive for an instant version) but can't always find it at the supermarkets so the next best thing is to get this one whenever I'm at AK. P/S: If you're in for a carb meal at home, try making Maggi mee goreng with their curry powder (that's what the mamak restaurants use). ^_~
DeleteAre those dragon veggie (Qing Long Choy) in you second bowl of noodles?
ReplyDeleteI rarely have instant noodles now due to my carbo-less diet, but once in a while will crave for it, so I do keep some in my pantry.
Yes, it's qing long choy! If it was not already mentioned in my write-up (or you missed reading it), then I would say you have a keen eye. :P
DeleteThis probably won't tickle my fancy, they also need to specify which type of laksa it is kan.
ReplyDeleteI thought it's quite telling itself on the packaging with the picture of the sihum...lol! ;)
DeleteI definitely heard of this AK brand instant noodles but I cannot recall where. The AK reminds me of AK-47 and I thought it was a clever name.
ReplyDeleteAfter migrating to KL, I ate curry laksa here and loved it. I thought it's better than Penang's Curry Mee though they differently prepared.
Like PH mentioned, it would be heavenly to add mint leaves!! I could easily add a kg of mint leaves and swallow them all. I would arrive heavens and see my parents playing harp on the clouds. 😂😂😂 Maybe you can train yourself to slowly eat and love mint leaves too.
As I know this AK brand is their own inhouse brand, so I don't think it's sold commercially other than through their shops and website. Perhaps you may have mistaken this AK brand with another brand A1?
DeleteI too feel that KL curry laksa tastes better than Penang's curry mee (at least that's what I prefer).
Wow, can eat 1kg of mint leaves...you must really love mint! ;D Nope I've tried it but still don't like it. >.<