After trying the extra long fried dough fritters at Te Chang You Tiao Wang, we headed back to the Air Itam Market area for a bowl of assam laksa at the popular Air Itam Laksa place. Both the locals and tourists love their assam laksa because they have been serving up authentic Penang laksa since 1955.
Did you know? Penang’s assam laksa was ranked 7th in CNN Travel’s The World’s 50 Best Foods list.
Image source: Penang Air Itam Laksa FB page
This laksa stall is located outside the wet market (Pasar Awam Air Itam) along Jalan Pasar. Not difficult to spot.
Only open on weekends
In May last year, they had to cease operation due to mounting debt and dwindling business. With the help from a local assemblyman, they reopened for business in December and now they only operate on weekends i.e. Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 5pm.
Hence if you want to give this famed laksa a try, you’ve to make sure your travel dates coincide with a weekend.
Current price of the laksa is RM5.50 per bowl (as at June 2022).
This bowl of assam laksa was filled with thick rice noodles, onions, mint leaves, julienned cucumber, sliced chillies, shredded mackerel fish and a dollop of shrimp paste. To enjoy this, you’d have to mix everything up.
The noodles looked like thick bee hoon but tasted somewhat like mee tai mak as it didn’t have that springiness.
Soup was flavoursome but also a tad too fishy (likely due to the shrimp paste) for my liking. However, I did prefer this version to those that used sardines (instead of mackerel) as it had more body.
Hubby enjoyed it a lot as this was less tangy. He said it reminded him of the assam laksa he had at Mama’s Kent Penang Delights in Singapore.
Assam laksa fans, do not miss out this famed Penang laksa when you’re here!
Closed on Mondays to Fridays.