Laksa Sarawak - Singaporean Loves It
Sarawak Laksa a hit with Singaporeans
By Raynore Mering
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SINGAPORE: Let there be no doubt about how good Sarawak Laksa is because Singaporeans are making a bee line to the State to savour it on its home turf.
Just two days after the inaugural Sarawak Laksa Escapade was advertised here, it was sold out! The first flight of 25 laksa-hungry Singaporeans will arrive in Kuching on April 30 for the four-day and three-night tour.
“It’s amazing,” Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) CEO Gracie Geikie exclaimed in an interview with thesundaypost yesterday. She was informed by Singapore-based Konsortium Express & Tours Pte Ltd of the package’s success on Thursday.
She said the consortium of tour and travel agents had initiated the Sarawak Laksa Escapade after a meeting with her and they also got one of Singapore’s ‘food ambassadors’, Moses Lim, onboard to promote it.
The heavy-set Lim, who should be a familiar face for fans of Singaporean television shows, is expected to visit Kuching in the middle of this month for a laksa recce.
Gracie said the tour was being sold in blocks of 25 tourists each trip. This, she explained, was because they would be visiting various ‘kopitiam’ or coffee shops in search of the best laksa in Kuching and there should not be too many people.
STB would be considering holding a competition to grade the best laksa stalls or coffeeshop, she said at the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) Travel Fair 2009, the republic’s largest travel fair.
Urban Development and Tourism Minister Datuk Michael Manyin had earlier launched the Sarawak Laksa Escapade at the Malaysian Tourism Pavillion at the fair held in the sprawling Singapore Expo Centre for three days beginning Friday.
Gracie revealed that STB had in fact introduced a Sarawak Laksa Tour two years ago but it was then not the right time.
“Cost was a critical decision-making factor for them (Singaporeans). Two years ago, it was cheaper for them to go on packages to a lot more places like Bali, Thailand, Phuket and so it (laksa tour) was then not attractive.
“But now with the various airlines and their special fares, it all just took off. I think in the current financial climate, this is one of the best things for us,” she said, adding that the new package was aimed at tapping Singapore’s leisure market.
Should the Sarawak Laksa Tour prove to be a resounding success, Gracie said STB would look at promoting other foods, perhaps ‘mee kolok’ next.
Lim said his mission during the recce was to try the many laksa in Kuching and identify the best ones to recommend to the tourists on the escapade.
“When you say laksa, you should be bringing me to the place with the best laksa. So my usual practice is I go and try first so that I can tell the tourists that if they are in Kuching, don’t miss these laksa stalls.
“Besides laksa, I’m sure there are many interesting Kuching food and Kuching is also famous for seafood,” he said, adding that though laksa is the highlight of the tour, tourists should also be able to enjoy other foods in Kuching.
Lim revealed that the last time he was in Kuching was when he was working for his father’s machine spare parts company in the 1970s.
With a broad smile on his face, he recalled: “I used to fly in to Kota Kinabalu and then fly back from Kuching. I always remember that when I was in Kuching, I would buy all the fresh seafood and those were the days. I’m sure now it is much more improved and very advanced.
Lim is confident that Kuching is a very interesting place to visit and in terms of budget and air fare, it was also affordable. On top of that, he believes that Singaporean tourists could get to enjoy a “finer kind of tour content”.
“Especially in this couple of years with the economic downturn, I think that Kuching is a very nice place to relax in and it is short haul. People can go during the weekends or during their annual leaves; and families can enjoy something different over there. I think it is a very interesting one,” he said.
Asked what convinced him to help promote Sarawak, he replied: “I think when they put down the terms and words like food, I’m already convinced.”
As to the question of which laksa in Malaysia is the best, Lim said: “I think it depends on your mood at the very moment and your appetite. If you are in the right mood, you can go all the way up to Penang to try the assam laksa and if you have a very adventurous appetite, you can go down to Melaka to try the ‘lemak’ kind.”
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