The Circular Quay location may be smaller and slicker than this institution’s old Hunter Street digs,but Malay Chinese’s warm atmosphere endures. Regulars strategise on how to score a seat,and lean over bowls of laksa made to a recipe that hasn’t changed since patriarch Meng Woon opened the first shop in 1987.

Chilli oil forms a slick on the surface of coconut-milk rich broth,vermicelli have appealing bite and protein choices – chicken drumstick or king prawn,perhaps are generous. Woon is still a fixture,greeting customers,clearing tables,occasionally handing out mandarins.

Sydney has too much great laksa to pick a “best”,but the har mee,built on broth of long-simmered prawn heads and teeming with pork and Hokkien noodles,has few competitors. Don’t sleep on the char kwai teow and Hainan chicken rice,either. (Also in Ashfield.)

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