Curry laksa tastes rich because it is rich. That orange gravy is built on coconut milk, which is about 230 calories and 24g of fat per 100ml. A bowl uses a good amount of it, and you drink most of it. The noodles and toppings (tofu puffs, cockles, prawns, chicken) are reasonable. The gravy is the calorie engine.
Note this is curry laksa, the coconut one. Asam laksa, the tamarind based Penang version, is a totally different and much lighter dish at roughly half the calories because it has no coconut milk. If you love laksa but want lighter, asam laksa is the move.
Respect the taufu pok. Those tofu puffs are sponges by design, each one soaks up curry gravy and comes out at 50 to 70 calories a piece. Four puffs is quietly another 250 calories of absorbed santan sitting on top of the bowl you already ordered.
The santan math explains the whole dish. A bowl of curry laksa carries roughly 100 to 150ml of coconut milk at around 230 calories per 100ml. That is 230 to 345 calories in the gravy before a single noodle enters the picture. Whether you drink the gravy or leave it is genuinely a 150 to 200 calorie decision.
The laksa family tree, ranked for your convenience: asam laksa around 330, laksa kedah 400, sarawak laksa 550, laksa johor 570, curry laksa 600. The pattern is simple. The more coconut milk in the recipe, the higher it climbs. Penang people have been winning this particular game the whole time.