328 Katong Laksa

It beat Gordon Ramsay in 2013. The real rival has been across East Coast Road the whole time.

Worth it if you want Katong laksa in its spoon-only form and you are near East Coast Road anyway; less so as a cross-island pilgrimage, since there are branches closer to most people. This is the shop with the press clippings, and the clippings don't settle anything. The move is a small bowl here and a small bowl at Janggut across the road, then pick a side.

The bowl is the reason. Founder Nancy Koh spent six months on the recipe, and the shop has served it since 1998: a thick, punchy broth where coconut and sambal both push to the front, over rice noodles cut short so the whole thing goes down with a spoon. No chopsticks needed, which is the whole idea. Toppings are shrimp, fish cake and cockles, and beyond the standard laksa in small and large there are versions with shredded chicken or flower clams. The menu is short because it can afford to be.

Then there is the rivalry. 328 and Janggut Laksa, at Roxy Square across the road, share roots in the same 1950s stall, where 328's founder once worked, and East Coast Road has been arguing about the two ever since. 328's headline moment came in 2013, when it beat Gordon Ramsay in a laksa showdown at the Singtel Hawker Heroes challenge; the shop also says it was recognised by Yan Can Cook back in 2001, and it now trades on collaborations as far afield as Macau. None of that decides the street argument, which is why we would eat at both. One rule: order small at each, or the second bowl turns into a chore rather than a verdict.

How to do it well: go for a late breakfast, before the lunch rush, when getting a seat is still easy. Eat at the flagship at 51 East Coast Road rather than a branch. The other outlets, from further along East Coast Road to Thomson Road, Queensway and Westgate, are handy for a weekday fix but the taste-off only works here. It is casual and quick, with no ceremony and no reason to linger, and it is not halal-certified.

Good to know Not halal-certified. The hours in the box are for the 51 East Coast Road flagship; check 328katonglaksa.sg for prices and branch hours before you go.

328 Katong Laksa | 51 East Coast Road, Singapore 428770