Laksa
Village

Ben was born in Ipoh, a town in Malaysia famous for its traditional Malaysian food, notably the Kai See Sar Hor Fun (flat rice noodles in soup, served with shreds of poached chicken meat, garnished with chopped scallions) and the curry noodles. Ipoh's curry noodles are unique, not only for its thick Indian style curry soup, but also for its silky-smooth hor fun.

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Ben inherited his uncle and his late father's passion for cooking. They were both chefs and had their own restaurant business. At a young age, cooking has always been Ben's passion. He loved spending hours in the kitchen with them, learning delicious recipes using authentic and fresh ingredients. Both of them were impressed by Ben's eagerness to learn and gladly passed on their culinary expertise to him.

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But Ben was eager to learn and to gain more experience and skills in the culinary industry. So he packed his bags and headed south to Singapore in early 1998. During his time in Singapore, he had worked as a cook in well known restaurants as well as in a hotel. Among the various Singapore dishes mastered was the Fish Head Curry which is a Singaporean dish of Indian and Chinese ethnic cuisines. Another very deriving from a hybrid of Indian and Chinese ethnic popular dish was the Teochew Braised Duck.

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Both the Fish Head Curry and Teochew Braised Duck are now among his specialty dishes in Laksa Village.

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In 2003, Ben left Singapore to return to his hometown in Ipoh for a brief period before migrating to Australia. When Ben arrived in Australia, he ventured north to Darwin and then to Bendigo in regional Victoria to gain further experience, working in Malaysian restaurants, cooking authentic, traditional Malaysian hawker-style food.

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Ben finally settled down permanently in Melbourne. He continues to use his creativity and ideas about cooking and spends a lot of his available time experimenting with flavours to create new, exciting and scrumptious dishes. With a wealth of experience in Malaysian/Singapore cooking, Ben sets up his own restaurant business, Laksa Village in 2021.

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Cooking, eating healthy food, and making customers happy have always been Ben's way of life. ENJOY!

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