Darwin’s Laksa Festival will kick off October 1 this year to encourage locals and visitors to sample their way through as many laksas as possible, and vote for their favourite laksa to be the winner of the 2023 Golden Bowl at the Festival Finale.

Now in its fifth year, the Darwin International Laksa Festival 2023 is a celebration of the Territory’s multicultural community and hospitality venues which shares Territorians’ love for the dish.

This year’s festivities will start in October, a month earlier than previous festivals, where secret laksa aficionados will be visiting participating establishments to sample and score their laksas under four categories: Darwin’s Best Laksa, Regional Best Laksa, Darwin’s Best ‘Inspired By’ Laksa dish and Regional Best ‘Inspired By’ Laksa dish for the entire month.

Once again, this year’s event encourages people to use a special Laksa Festival app – developed by the NT Government – to sample as many variations of the dish as possible throughout the month, before voting for their favourite.

Communities can earn points and win prizes through the app. There will also be daily, weekly and major prizes up for grabs for the users with the most points throughout the festival.

The Festival Finale will be held on October 29 and will feature Darwin’s best restaurants, food vans, market stalls and eateries coming together to celebrate all things laksa.

The Territory’s laksas are recognised as among the best in the world, some have claimed. The competition will again be open to any restaurant, eatery or stallholder from across the Darwin, Palmerston and rural areas.

“The Darwin International Laksa Festival highlights what we all love about living in the Territory – our multicultural community, our vibrant hospitality industry and a good laksa! This iconic event is about more than food, it’s about supporting local businesses and creating jobs,” Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said.

For more information, or to register as a business, visit https://laksafestival.nt.gov.au/

The Darwin International Laksa Festival is a Northern Territory Government funded program, run by Activate Darwin.