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We love sharing good food recommendations with you, but for now, keep these recommendations as bookmarks—visit them only when the COVID-19 situation ends. Stay safe!
During this ‘Circuit Breaker’ period, it’s normal for us to fall back on our favourite food as a source of comfort, but as I was perusing Facebook, my luck brought me to WaWa Seafood, which drew me in for two reasons.
The first being that they’d just opened a brick-and-mortar shop in Kovan, in January 2020, after years of solely running their shop at food events and bazaars, and the second was that they’re highly likely the first and only lala-themed F&B establishment in Singapore. Just based on these two points, the only thing left to do was to drop them a text for my order!
First off, can we take a second to appreciate their adorable logo? I have to add that I was also impressed with the quality of the takeaway containers, as they were sturdier than some that I’ve encountered.
If you’re already a fan of lala clams and would like to quickly place your order, you’ll be elated to know that they do deliver islandwide, and all you have to do is head to their ordering platform and place your order at least one hour in advance.
There’s a S$30 minimum order, with a delivery fee of S$5 – S$10 depending on location. Orders above S$80 enjoy complimentary delivery, so if you have an army of people at home to feed—who all love lala clams—then this is a great solution!
To start, I dug into the Signature Fresh Lala Pasta (S$10.90) that came with fusilli and an ample slathering of garlic butter sauce. Now, some cream sauces may prove to be cloying, but this one was surprisingly light and aromatic.
I still managed to taste the sweetness of the lala clams and there was minimal grittiness, which is always a bonus when you’re enjoying shellfish. The punchiness of the garlic really shone, so it was an effortless slurp after slurp in a bid to finish it.
The number of lala clams were certainly generous, however, due to the nature of delivery, the fusilli arrived soggy and close to mushy. I did provide feedback, and they acknowledged it’s a struggle to have pasta in sauce arrive at your doorstep without getting too soft, but it’ll take some tweaking on their end to rectify the issue.
Should you wish to enjoy the clams in their signature sauce on its own, WaWa Seafood also offers Signature Fresh Lala In Homemade Garlic Butter Sauce (S$8.90). It comes with a petite-sized crisp butter toast coated in sugar, which, personally, was slightly confusing to me.
I tried to sop some sauce with the toast, but the combination of sugar and garlic butter was not my jam. For some odd reason, I enjoyed this dish better than the pasta one, and I could truly relish in the garlic butter sauce punctuated with the sweetness of lala clam flesh.
It’s been raining in the afternoon this past week, and so it’s the perfect weather for porridge. Their Fresh Lala Tasty Porridge (S$6.90 for Mini, S$8.90 for Standard) might look underwhelming when you pop off the container’s lid, but do a little more digging and you’ll hit a jackpot of lala clams at the bottom.
Since you’ll be enjoying this from the comfort of home, you might feel compelled to add a dash of white pepper and soya sauce just to add a nice pop of flavour. I wasn’t the biggest fan of this one, simply since I don’t really enjoy porridge in general, but it definitely is a comforting choice.
Now, the dish from WaWa Seafood that surprised me the most—and also won me over in my first helping— is the Signature Fresh Lala Soup (S$6.90 for Mini, S$8.90 for Standard), where you can choose either soup only, bee hoon, or mee tai mak. At first glance, the soup looked simple, with a pale grey-brown colour that didn’t excite me in any way.
However, one sip and I was blown away by how robust and spicy the soup was. When I asked WaWa Seafood what the broth was made of, the only answer I received was, “Haha, only thing I can tell you is all halal ingredients.” I suppose it’s in their best interest to keep their recipe secret because I simply couldn’t get enough of it, despite how much my whole mouth felt like it was on fire (think of it as a medley of tom yum and sweet seafood flavours).
I was very tempted to keep some of the remaining broth as stock, to elevate my instant noodles, but I’d already polished off most of it in the end.
WaWa Seafood truly surprised me with how rich and bold its flavours can be, simply using lala clams as a base. Missing out on seafood during this ‘Circuit Breaker’ period? This is a simple, no-fuss way of satisfying that craving.
Expected Damage: S$7 – S$12 per pax
