Gluten Savvy

Seafood laksa is one of my favourite foods in the world. If you haven’t heard of laksa, you’re in for a treat: it’s a sweet coconut curry soup with a secret ingredient, the spice galangal. Random noodle shops will claim to do a laksa, but it’s most often a Singaporean imitation that is a thin yellow soup rather than the substantial creamy rich orange colour of the real Malaysian thing.

One of the sad things for a laksa lover is that the traditional version has both egg and rice noodles in it and some commercial paste bases are not gluten-free. Penang Affair can make you a delicious gluten-free version, though, and you can be sure it’s safe. The host, Peter Goy, has a gluten-intolerant daughter, so he knows what he’s doing.

Peter is a delight. He’ll visit each table for a chat, remembers the faces and stories of regulars, and he’s just plain charming.

The new menu has gluten-free items marked and even those that aren’t can often be altered (like the laksa). There’s a large vegetarian selection and I’m yet to have a dish there I didn’t like. I finish every meal with my favourite dessert, banana in coconut milk with palm sugar and sago pearls. It’s almost too sweet but it’s heavenly and warm.

Penang Affair is fully licensed with a good selection of wines. BYO is also available.

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Penang Affair
325 Brunswick St
Fitzroy 3065

Ph: +61 3 9419 7594