We tried Singapore’s worst-rated laksa

In Singapore, nearly every local has a strongly preferred, tried-and-true location for enjoying authentic laksa. My loyalty was immediately challenged when a colleague gave me a thumbs-down after I admitted I used to frequent the famous 328 Katong Laksa at 51 East Coast Road. I was ‘educated’ that Janggut Laksa at Roxy Square is the best. Oh well, that’s the beauty of being human — our preferences and opinions are wonderfully diverse.

So you can imagine my astonishment when my research showed that 328 Katong Laksa’s Westgate outlet was the worst-rated on Google Reviews. It holds a 3-star rating with 164 reviews in total (at time of writing). Out of its 5 outlets in Singapore, this was rated the worst.

“Dry with no gravy at all’, ‘Too much noodles and no ingredients’, and ‘Salty and smells of sesame oil’ were just some of the comments online. I was determined to find out if this outlet’s laksa was really that bad, or has 328 Katong Laksa’s overall quality gone down the longkang. After all, it has been a few years since I visited them.

What I tried at 328 Katong Laksa

I ordered the Small (S$7.30) and Large (S$9.30) laksa together with a piece of Otah (S$1.60). First of all, S$7.30 for a small portion?! Inflation is certainly real.  No wonder netizens were complaining about the scarcity of ingredients despite so much.

Some of the reviews also claimed that the service here wasn’t exactly stellar. But honestly? While it wasn’t all roses, rainbows, and chirpy small talk, the staff weren’t rude at all. Even the infamous aunty everyone kept grumbling about was alright. Hmm… maybe she had been counselled by the upper management? Or maybe she’s not the legendary aunty in question? Who knows?

But enough about service ratings— let’s focus on the star of the show, which is really all that matters here: the food!

Before heading back to our table, we helped ourselves to the chopped laksa leaves and sambal. The bowl was filled with thick bee hoon, fishcake slices, tau geh, prawns, and cockles — the standard combination of most laksas. It looked perfectly fine, but my only gripe? The colour of the laksa leaves looked a little ‘dead’ and unappealing.

The gravy was more savoury than coconutty and the spices really came through. While I would have preferred a more intense coconut richness, the flavour profile was surprisingly decent, making it a very acceptable bowl overall. At least it didn’t taste off, and the primary flavour profile was pretty much present.

Unlike the online picture on the left which just looks like plain thick bee hoon with gravy, our Small bowl had a substantial amount of ingredients (that was just half of it). The prawns were firm and weren’t mushy, and the fish cake was good.

The pieces of ‘sea hum‘ might be a little tinier than what I’m used to, but they were fresh and had a great texture, bursting with an ocean-like brininess upon biting. The small bowl had about 5 to 6 while the large bowl had 8.

What I didn’t quite enjoy was the sambal. It delivered pure heat without anything else; no umami-ness of dried shrimp, which unfortunately led to a dramatic misstep — a misplaced swallow that left me coughing and briefly choking for a solid ten seconds.

The otah wasn’t a standout, but it was perfectly acceptable and landed squarely in the ‘decent’ category. It had a firm texture and didn’t taste exceptionally floury like the ones at other establishments. It was lacking in the flavour department, and a more robust punch of spices would’ve taken it up a notch.

Final thoughts

Though 328 Katong Laksa at Westgate has the worst reviews, I’ll rate it a 3.5 for how decent my entire experience was. I do agree with netizens that you can get better laksa at cheaper prices elsewhere, which explains the almost-empty crowd situation during the peak lunch hour.

At the end of the day, I finished my bowl of laksa which says a lot. I hope the chefs can enhance the gravy with more coconut milk to produce its signature ‘lemak’ broth that they’re known for.

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