Ian-Tau Sarawak Laksa – Ex-SQ Crew Opens a Sarawak Laksa Stall

Singapore has always been known as a cultural melting pot. This melting pot is constantly enlarging, with many from all over the world coming to make Singapore their home and bringing a piece of their culture with them.

Mitchell, whose hometown is in Sarawak, was stuck here as flights home were no longer available. On top of that, due to the Covid-19 situation, he was retrenched by Singapore Airlines as part of their retrenchment exercise. It was then when he could no longer fight the strong craving for his hometown dish, Sarawak Laksa, that he decided to take things into his own hands. The result? The birth of Ian-Tau Sarawak Laksa. Throughout the circuit breaker season, he experimented with different types of laksa pastes that are air-flown from Sarawak (kudos to his family) and cooking methods, to get the taste right — the taste of home.

There’s only Sarawak laksa on the menu for now, as Mitchell is testing the receptiveness of Singaporeans. Mitchell shared that it has been receiving great response thus far! As Singaporeans like myself get more familiar with this type of laksa, it surely opens up a new horizon in Singapore’s food scene.

There are three variations : Jumbo Prawn ($9.90), Special ($7.90) and Normal ($5.90). They are all built with the same soup base and beehoon. The only difference is the portion of the ingredients added into each bowl.

As Chinese Sarawakians mostly speak Hokkien in their hometown, Mtichell decided to add ‘ian-tau’ the authentic Hokkien spelling into the menu as well as the sign board. ‘Ian-tau’ (or what Singaporeans usually spell as ‘yan dao’) means handsome in Hokkien. So, you’re tasting a handsome bowl of Sarawak Laksa, or you could say that it’s a bowl of laksa whipped up by a handsome lad.

There is a proper way to enjoy this bowl of handsome laksa. First, you have to squeeze the lime juice over the bowl.

Next, get all of their handmade Belacan into the bowl. Lastly, give it a good mix and wala~ an even more flavourful soup, with a slight tangy touch to it.

The soup base was thick, slightly creamy, and had a strong aroma of the many different spices added. With the number of spices that are required, I thought that the taste of them would be overwhelming and too strong. But it was the opposite. The soup was quite enjoyable with a small initial kick from the spice which slowly builds up to a slightly bittersweet aftertaste as all the flavours of set in.

There’s only beehoon for the noodle type, just like how it is in Sarawak (if I’m not wrong). If you’d like more prawns and ingredients, go for the Special bowl, instead of the Normal bowl to satisfy your cravings. It’s really worth a try as the feedback they’ve been getting from the Sarawakians in Singapore is that it really tastes like home.

It’s been a good few months since they’ve been in Johnson Eatery at Toa Payoh, and they have plans to expand their menu to include other Sarawakian delights, such as Kolo Mee and Kiao (wanton dumplings). This is one stall to look out for! Jiayou guys! May you all bring the Sarawakian food culture far and wide here in Singapore and eventually around the world.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

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