I don’t usually devote a long-form column to food court vendors but SingMaTei, in the Ala Moana Center Makai Market food court, is an exception. In this fast venue, chef Jun Xi Chen takes pride in the slow processes that bring a Southeast Asian classic dish to life.

Just six months ago I was lamenting the loss of a laksa specialist in Chinatown, leaving just a handful in town, including Panya and Mariposa (still shuttered from the pandemic). Now Chen produces Singapore- style curry laksas that go beyond the seafood versions available in Honolulu to date.

Chen, born to a restaurateur family in Guangdong, China, was content to produce Chinese specialties until a trip to Malaysia eight years ago, wherehe had the eye-opening experience of trying laksa for the first time.

“It was my first time in Malaysia, and I fell in love with it,” he said through an interpreter. So he attended cooking schools in Malaysia and Singapore to learn their culinary traditions in hope of bringing the knowledge back to China.

“At the time, not many people in China knew about laksa. Now it’s better known.”

Ironically, Chinese traders, beginning in the 15th century, had a role in the development of laksa. They settled throughout Southeast Asia and married local women, creating mixed Chinese-local communities known as Peranakan culture. Their Malay and Indonesian wives incorporated local spices and coconut milk into Chinese noodle soups, resulting in the tantalizing dish still enjoyed today.

Against the odds of opening during a pandemic and specializing in a dish few in Hawaii know about, Chen and his wife, Sue Wu, and husband-and-wife friends Nancy Wu and Richard Ma, opened the counter to expand the love for laksa. The eatery’s name combines the abbreviation of Singapore and Malaysia, and tacks on “Tei,” the Japanese word for place.

If you’ve tried Thai red coconut curry, you’ll understand the flavor profile laksa has going for it, with its blend of such aromatic ingredients as galangal, turmeric, lemon grass, dried chilies, shallots, dried shrimp and shrimp paste. Coconut milk adds richness, and all this is poured over two kinds of noodles — a practice of only the most serious purveyors of laksa — a thin rice vermicelli and softer egg noodle for a layering of textures with the contrast between sturdy and soft.

With so many diners opting for take-out now, they automatically pack the soup and noodles separately because the noodles will absorb a lot of the soup in about 30 minutes. If you plan on dining in, let them know if you prefer to have the pour done in the kitchen.

Given the fast-food nature of a food court, people might assume ingredients for the curry soup come from a jar or package, but Chen takes pride in creating his dishes from scratch, from the curry paste to the broth made from bones boiled more than four hours each day to produce a rich base for the laksa.

This far from home, dishes have been toned down to accommodate a general aversion to spiciness, fishiness and the grittiness of ground dried shrimp that is believed to be responsible for laksa’s name, derived from the Hokkien “luak sa,” or “spicy sand.”

I think it’s sad that so many restaurateurs alter their dishes to accommodate the masses, but that’s just economics. For those who can tolerate heat and shellfish, there is Chen’s spicy housemade sambal that plays well with anything on the menu. Another labor of love, sambal-making days involve five hours simply peeling the ginger, turmeric and galangal that goes into it.

There are six protein options to top your laksa, and they recommend you start with the classic shrimp laksa ($14.95). For $2 more, there is a seafood version that includes clams. Each bowl is also stocked with aburage, fish balls, fishcake, sliced long beans and bean sprouts. I still think seafood makes the perfect marriage, but for those who favor meat, there is also sukiyaki beef ($13.95), lemon grass pork chops ($12.95) or Malay-style turmeric fried chicken wings.

SingMaTei also puts a blue spin on nasi lemak, the Malaysian version of the plate lunch. The meal is centered around a mound of rice flavored with coconut milk, colored blue by a tea made from the butterfly pea flower imported from Malaysia. The blue color is traditionally associated with nasi kerabu, an herbed rice dish.

Just like the laksa, plates come with protein options of curry beef ($13.95), lemon grass chicken ($12.95), lemon grass pork chop ($13.95) and chicken wings ($12.95). I prefer the pork this way instead of in the laksa, where it tends to get soggy.

Their recommendation here is the curry pineapple shrimp ($14.95), with large cubes of pineapple that would appeal to those who enjoy sweet-sour foods. Love of sour foods abounds in Southeast Asia; my preference for savory flavors leads me to curry and lemon grass preparations.

The butterfly pea flower also figures into an eye-catching blue tea latte ($4.75) with layers of brown, white and blue, and a butterfly pea lemonade ($4.35) that turns purple where floral tea and lemonade meet. You can add boba to any of the drinks for an additional 50 cents.

SINGMA TEI

Ala Moana Center Makai Market

Food *** 1/2

Service *** 1/2

Ambience N/A

Value ****

>> Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily

>> Prices: About $30 for two

>> Precautions: Masks and gloves; and in the food court social distancing (tables limited to two, or four max), wet wipes, security watch, table sanitizing

Ratings compare similar restaurants:

**** – excellent

*** – very good

** – average

* – below average

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.