Tucked away from the busy Oxford Street, Laksamania is an unassuming little gem at the very heart of London’s West End. If you can’t already tell from the name, Laksamania is a Malaysian restaurant specialising in – duh – laksa! You can find them opposite to popular Japanese coffee shop, Omotesando Koffee, and is the perfect location for a grub after a shopping trip in the area.
As we walked inside the restaurant, we immediately liked the place. For some reason, I was kind of expecting a typical loud Asian canteen-style restaurant. However, it was quite the opposite. The interior of the place is very chic – featuring dark wood tables, sofa seats, and a heart neon sign at the back of the restaurant with “laksa” written in it. If you go downstairs, there’s a large dining space too for larger tables and with a more dimly-lit setting.
Laksamania London: More Than Just the Laksa Specialist
Whilst laksa certainly takes centre stage of the menu, they offer more than that. Laksamania’s menu offers a wide variety of options to choose from other than laksa, including an extensive offering of Lo Mein, Soup Noodles, Stir-fry etc. Anyhow, we’re here for the laksa and they’ve got pretty much every laksa style for you to choose from. Whether you’re more into Singaporean-style or Ipoh/Melaka/Penang Assam-style, Laksamania has it all for you to pick from.
Chicken is halal at Laksamania. Pork and alcohol are served at the restaurant.
The Food at Laksamania: What We Ordered
Date of visit: December 2018 (and multiple times after ever since)
Chilli Garlic Fried Wings (£7.95)
For starters, we decided to go for their Chilli Garlic Fried Wings. The seasoning of the wings follows a Chinese salt & pepper style, and it’s then elevated with the addition of red chillies and fried garlic. It was a very fragrant dish highlighting a subtly addictive savoury flavour. Whilst nowhere as memorable as those from Normah’s, they’re still pretty decent wings.
Laksamania Laksa (£17.95)
This is one of Laksamania’s signature dishes. The laksa features a rich Melaka-style chicken broth with coconut milk and infused with an umami seafood flavour. Both yellow egg noodles & rice noodles are used in this dish and it consists of generous toppings, including one big tiger prawn as the centrepiece. Its portion certainly makes your money worth and the quality of ingredients was great too. Especially, it was to my absolute delight that the tiger prawn was of fresh quality and cooked to a perfect al dente texture. If you love prawns like me and don’t mind spending a little extra, I’d recommend ordering this one.
Chicken Curry Laksa (£12.95)
We also had the Chicken Curry Laksa, which features a Nyonya chicken curry incorporated into a rich Ipoh laksa broth. Similar to the Laksamania Laksa above, it is served with a mix of both yellow egg noodles and rice vermicelli noodles. I’d say this one’s got a more tart and tangy touch against the rich curry flavour. The chicken was cooked succulent and comes in a reasonably large portion. This has become our go-to order ever since.
Coconut Snow Ice (£6.50)
Last but not least, we had the Coconut Snow Ice for dessert, which is a shaved iced dessert, in a nutshell. The dish was first lined with a base of sweet red beans, then topped with coconut shaved ice, topped off with coconut jelly and drizzled with syrup. Overall, the dessert was okay if not a tad bit underwhelming. We felt there could be a richer coconut flavour and I personally would prefer a sweeter touch on the red beans as well.
Laksamania Restaurant Review Summary
All in all, we enjoyed our meal at Laksamania and found the food fairly delightful. Is it the best Malaysian restaurant in London or one that makes the best laksa? I could name a few that I think are better options but Laksamania is still a great spot nonetheless (it still made it on both lists, just not the top spots). The prices are reasonable for its location and it definitely makes a great option if you’re around Oxford Street or West End!
RATING:
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Food
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Service
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Value
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Atmosphere
Halal Status
Chicken is halal.
Alcohol is served at the restaurant.
Restaurant Info
Nearest station: Tottenham Court Road
Tel: 020 7637 9888
Website: laksamania.co.uk/
Instagram: laksamania
