Malaysia
Singapore
Thailand
Rumah Makan Minang located along Kandahar Street serves nasi padang with more than 20 varieties for you to choose from. Here, you can expect full-bodied dishes that will tantalise your taste buds and leave you with a happy tummy.
Expect to queue during lunchtime but fret not, the lines move quickly and food will be served at your table once you have ordered and make payment. After all, queuing is one of our favourite national pastimes, isn’t it?
You don’t have to worry about fighting over what to eat at Rumah Makan Minang if your partner is fickle-minded. There’s nasi padang, mee soto, and if you’re craving for something sweet you can try the assortment of traditional Malay kuehs too.
The food comes in a plethora of colours and our orders started filling the entire table, garnering attention from onlookers.
We started with The Paru Belado (S$3.50) which is cow’s lung marinated in chilli. You might be turned-off by hearing cow’s lung, but the chilli adds a lovely, sweet-acidic taste to it and remove any pungent smell.
The texture of Rumah Makan Minang’s cow’s lung is crispy and slightly chewy, similar to eating kerepok lekor (fish cracker) that are sold at pasar malam.
The next dish we had was Asam Pedas (S$3.50). The dish had a clear lemony note and the fish was fresh and it flaked apart easily.
Don’t be fooled by the fiery red curry, it wasn’t as spicy as it looked, and would have fared better if there was a stronger tamarind taste.
The Acar (S$3.50) consists of a mix of long beans, cucumber, carrots and chilli, picked in vinegar and salt. It is a must-have, which acts as a palate cleanser to neutralize the heavy spices used in the other dishes or to get rid of any fishy taste.
The Daging Rendang (S$3.50) is chewy, juicy and full of rempah (spice paste). I like my rendang rempah to be thick just like how Rumah Makan Minang have done it.
The dish was cooked over low heat for a couple of hours, allowing the flavours to fully infuse into the meat, which wasn’t too tough and required little jaw work.
I had high hopes for the Ayam Gulai Padang (S$3.50), the chicken tasted fresh but I was sorely disappointed when I couldn’t taste any of the spices (star anise, cinnamon, cloves and kaffir lime leaves) in this dish.
It was watered down and we felt it was mediocre compared to the other dishes we tried before this.
The Ayam Belado (S$2) means “tangy chicken sambal” when translated into English. The difference between this belado and the belado from the paru is the chilli used.
I find the green chilli sweeter than the red chilli belado, and the chicken meat was infused with the heat from the chilli without being too overbearing.
The Sotong Masak Hitam (S$2) might not look appealing at first, but don’t knock it till you tried it. Essentially, it is an entire squid in black ink sauce.
The garlic and ginger were prominent in the tangy sauce to remove any briny taste of the squid ink, which paired perfectly with rice and I couldn’t stop pouring it over my rice. It was simply addictive!
The clear winner is the Indonesian Tahu Telur (S$6). Large fried tofu mixed with eggs adorned with bean sprouts, grated peanuts and sweet soy sauce.
This was an incredible pleasure to eat as the tofu is crispy on the outside and soft and warm on the inside. The sweet sauce contrasted the acidity of the tofu, creating a harmonious mix.
I had an enjoyable time at Rumah Makan Minang as the dishes hit right at home — heartwarming, simple and satisfying. The prices here are slightly more expensive than the usual nasi padang stall, but the portions and the quality made up for it.
You could tell a lot of preparation was put into each dishes and I was spoilt for choice given the variety of dishes served. I highly recommend coming in big groups to get your money’s worth.
Expected Damage: S$10 – S$20 per pax
