Had an Indonesian nasi padang lunch today with a couple of friends visiting from Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia.
It’s always difficult to find authentic Indonesian cooking in Malaysia, due to the close resemblance between Indonesian and Malaysian-Malay cooking styles.
Malaysia’s indigenous food is Malay cuisine, which share the same origins with quite a few regional Indonesian cuisines. However, due to its history, and the presence of significant Chinese (22% of the populace) and Indian (6%) communities, Malay cooking has absorbed and adapted some of those minorities’ cooking styles and food items, plus influences from neighbouring Thailand’s culinary tradition.
Over time, Malay cuisine diverged from its Sumateran and Javanese origins to become what it is today, although distinctive Indonesian influences can still be detected in various states of Malaysia: Minang cuisine in Negeri Sembilan and Selangor, North Sumateran/Medanese/Achehnese in Kedah, and Riau in Johore.
Recently, however, we kept hearing about 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗸𝗼 on Tamil Lane, next to George Town’s Chowrasta Market, from several expat Indonesians living and working here. They talked about the authentic Minang flavours from the restaurant. Minang cuisine, which originated from Sumatera, is perhaps the most popular regional cuisine amongst the many in Indonesia.
So, when I had two friends visiting from Surabaya a couple of days ago, I decided to
bring them there, barely 24 hours after they’d arrived in Penang, to see if Restoran Pusako’s food is as authentic as the Indon expats say.
What we ordered:
𝙍𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜 - I found the “real” stuff here: fork-tender, dark-as-night beef, with red chili oil oozing out to form a puddle around it. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 was what I’d been looking for outside Indonesia, and rarely found. The one here was 100% the genuine thing.
𝙂𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙞 𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙠𝙖 - young jackfruit, cooked Minang-style: coconut milk-rich, tinged yellow with fresh turmeric, spiked with fresh chilis.
𝙋𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙡 𝙡𝙚𝙡𝙚 (pan-fried catfish) - the version served here was actually the best one I’d ever had: lightly crisped on the outside, but with the fish-meat just cooked and still juicy inside.
𝙂𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙞 𝙠𝙞𝙠𝙞𝙡 (curried beef tendon) - this was delicious: I’d come back here just for this dish. The gelatinous tendon was slow-cooked, Minang-style: which meant the use of a piquant, turmeric-inflected spice mix, and rich coconut milk which gave a curry sauce a creamy delicacy. Explosive tiny habanero chilis (Indonesian: cabe rawit) perked up the curry and undercut the coconut milk richness.
𝘿𝙖𝙪𝙣 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙠𝙤𝙣𝙜 - cassava leaves, one of the must-haves for a Padang meal.
𝙄𝙠𝙖𝙣 𝙜𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙖𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙟𝙤 - pan-fried fish steak with green chili relish;
𝙏𝙚𝙡𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙤 (golden-fried hard-boiled egg with red chili paste), and 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙤 (eggplant with red chili paste).
Unlike Singaporean-Malays or Malaysian-Malays who regarded fish, prawn or root vegetable crackers (Malay: 𝙠𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙤𝙠, Indonesian: 𝙠𝙧𝙪𝙥𝙪𝙠) as a snack, Indonesians would treat 𝙠𝙧𝙪𝙥𝙪𝙠 as a garnish, to be eaten together with rice or noodles during a meal.
Left: 𝙎𝙖𝙢𝙗𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙟𝙤 (green chili relish), a staple and must-have in any Padang meal.
Right: 𝙎𝙖𝙢𝙗𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙝 (red chili relish), this one is invented to cater to the local Malay/Malaysian taste preferences.
The owner-chef is from Padang, but her chief cook-server, Hery, happens to come from Malang, a favourite weekend destination (for food) amongst Surabayans, and located only 95 km (60 miles) from Surabaya. Serendipity!
Modus operandi when eating in a nasi padang restaurant:
- Customers will simply choose and self-serve the dishes from the display cases upfront - ladling the food onto one’s lunch plate, or onto small saucers provided on the side counter;
- Bring one’s selection to the head server at the cash counter, who would tally up the cost of the meal. She’ll write down the itemised costs on a chit and hand it over to the customer;
- Bring the food to one’s table. A waiter will come up to take one’s drink orders.
- Waiter will serve the drinks to one’s table, whilst informing the head server of the costs of the drink. She will come to the table and update the cost of the drinks to one’s bill;
- At the end of the meal, just bring the chit to the head server, who would then collect payment at the cash counter.
My lunch plate - this costed about RM10 (US$2.30).
Address
Restoran Nasi Padang Pusako
10, Lebuh Tamil (Tamil Lane), 10100 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +6017-591 6083
Operating hours: 11am to 5pm daily, except Wed (closed).
