Come to Darwin. Find a boat club. Have a beer or 10. Watch the sun set into waters you can’t swim in. Sweat and dehydrate. Wake up hungover. Eat a laksa.
It's Saturday morning at the Parap Markets. Slumped over the counter and drenched in sweat, I ordered the chicken laksa with extra spice. Like most Saturday mornings, I’m hungover. Thankfully, the markets are a five-minute walk from the apartment. Towards the end, I taste more sweat than broth. Satisfied, all the same, I stumble back to the apartment and pass out.
The origins of laksa can be traced to the noodle soups of Chinese traders in Southeast Asia. Over time, the noodle soups became spicier, incorporating local ingredients. The point of contention is where noodle soup became laksa which remains a source of culinary and even diplomatic tension between Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.
Fast forward to the end of the 19th Century, East Asian immigration to Northern Australia was in full swing and inevitably, laksa made it to Darwin. To outsiders, Darwin has a reputation for being a sweaty backwater. Living here, you soon realise how culturally vibrant the city is.
Walking through the Parap or Rapid Creek markets can be an assault on the senses. The array of smells, the exotic Asian produce and the stifling humidity is a lot to take in, but tasting the laksa makes it all worth it. Laksa is the NT capital's signature dish, served in restaurants, markets, pubs, boat clubs and even strip clubs.
Darwin's devotion to laksa is most prevalent during the Darwin International Laksa Festival, a month-long festival held every October, celebrating NT’s top laksas. Over time, strong rivalries have formed between establishments and family laksa recipes remain top secret.
Choosing your vendor can be a serious business. Leisa and I usually visit Purple Lady at the Parap Markets. It’s cheap, convenient and delicious. That said, we are equally afraid of being spotted by our Laksa lady eating elsewhere – especially at Mary’s. Regardless of where you go, paying $12–$15 for a top-quality laksa is hands down the best value meal in the NT.
After a few visits to the Parap Markets, we noticed many locals bring reusable containers for their laksa. We even noticed some people using old hummus containers as their sustainable receptacle of choice. Feeling self-conscious about using single-use plastic containers, we bought some tupperware containers from Woolies. We were impressed with how well-stocked the tupperware section was for noodle soup containers. A clear indicator of how the whole city seems to get behind the dish.
Coming from South East Queensland, the food scene can feel more fickle, catering to whatever’s trendy. By contrast, Darwin's food scene seems more comfortable with what it likes and has done well for generations. Please take this unqualified generalisation with a grain of msg.
