A unique festival kicking off in the Northern Territory is bringing an explosion of flavour to restaurants over the coming month. The Darwin International Laksa Festival is a mouth-watering celebration of the humble South-Asian soup with venues across the jurisdiction bringing new twists to an old classic.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Although laksa has its roots throughout much of Asia, the Northern Territory states its
00:06claim as the iconic soup's second home.
00:09We eat out laksa more often when we go out.
00:12The flavours are just like insane.
00:16The combination of coconut, spices and chilli inspiring culinary creatives from Alice Springs
00:21to the Top End.
00:23Sometimes you want that extra chilli, sometimes you want that little bit of sweet.
00:26Just for this reason, Darwin's annual Laksa Festival encourages venues to experiment
00:31with their own laksa-flavoured specials.
00:33It's all about celebrating the flavours of laksa and the multicultural diversity of the
00:38Territory.
00:39More than 120 are taking part in the festival's sixth iteration, bringing some unusual combinations.
00:46That's the coconut laksa custard.
00:49My mac and cheese, it was four weeks in the making, we finally finessed it last week.
00:54But for some, nothing beats a hot bowl of the classic spicy soup.
00:58I'm happy with the seafood laksa, so I don't think I'd add some more to that.
01:04Government funded to the tune of $200,000 annually, the festival was designed to boost
01:09tourism in a jurisdiction where the private sectors struggled in the past.
01:14Food tourism is becoming bigger and bigger and people will travel for food.
01:18This year, events from speed eating to laksa tasting are also on offer.
01:23And although it's not clear whether the festival will return under the new government for another
01:27year, one thing's for certain, there's still more to be laksa'd.
01:32I'm all about the wine, if you could, I don't know if someone could come up with, please
01:36if someone could come up with that creation.
01:38The festival wraps up when the Territory's best laksas are judged on November 3rd.