The Land Of Laksa

Ismat Awan explores how Darwin became Australia’s home of laksa – and shares where to find the best bowls.

- Ismat Awan

Darwin’s iconic heat is perfectly paired with its signature dish: laksa. In many ways, the spicy wonder is emblematic of the city and all that it values: food, culture and community. As the meeting point between the influences of southeast Asia – laksa’s natural habitat – and Australia, the territory’s capital is nothing short of a flavour bomb when it comes to laksa. Locals love it, line up for it and, even in the Top End’s sweltering temperatures, always have room for another bowl. So much so, there’s an annual festival that celebrates all that is laksa, with 2020’s festival hosting nearly 40 stallholders. The further you tuck into it, the more you’ll understand the locals’ cult-like craving.

The spicy noodle soup is a true love child – and fusion cooking in action. Each laksa carries flavour notes of its ancestral roots in the Peranakan culture, which came about after Chinese and Indian traders settled in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia in the 15th to 17th centuries.