Padang food makes transition to five-star setting

Padang food makes transition to five-star setting

JAKARTA (JP): Padang delicacies are this country's fast food.
It's said so often that it has become a comfortable cliche, like
saying Indonesia is the land of smiles.

Of course, it's not cooked to order, like the offerings at the
golden arches and the smiling colonel, but sits there on its
stack of gingerly balanced plates in the window for the good part
of the day and night for all-comers when the hunger pangs hit.

The traditional way is to have it from a small warung (food
stall), a bare-basics establishment where "decor" is limited to
the artificial flowers and plastic table covering, if that. But
the surroundings are the supporting player to the main event of
the meal. You pay for what you eat from the small bowls that are
set before you, and the remaining victuals are scooped away for
diners yet to come.

Now, of course, there are also chain restaurants offering
Padang. The setting is spruced up a bit, the waiters know a
smattering of English for when foreign visitors pass their way
and it's more expensive, but essentially the experience is the
same as in the Padang eateries that dot all corners of the
archipelago.

A different proposition occurs when a hotel gets an idea to
serve up Padang, which is what the five-star Le Meridien is doing
in a food festival at La Brasserie restaurant until Sept. 16.

The distinctly French atmosphere of the restaurant has
undergone some changes in keeping with the event. Miniature
wooden Minang houses, with their distinctly curved roofs,
decorate the partitions between the buffet spreads, the jaunty
traditional music of West Sumatra plays in the background and the
waiters and waitresses are adorned in red-and-gold Padang finery.

For the opening night on Monday the selections included three
types of gulai (curry) -- beef brain, jackfruit and chicken --,
dendeng balado (dried beef in chili), the particular soto
(chicken broth) of West Sumatra plus the king of Padang food,
rendang (beef stewed in coconut milk and spices).

For dessert there was kolak (stewed bananas in coconut milk)
served with glutinous rice, serabi (rice flour cakes) and
different types of porridge.

No Padang meal is complete without a sampling of rendang,
which can be made in a thickish sauce, or simmered for hours
until the meat is caramelized, breaks apart on the fork and, yes,
melts in the mouth.

The Meridien version tends toward the thicker-sauce variety
but, thankfully and somewhat surprisingly, the spices have not
been toned down for milder palates. It was tasty, hot and
delicious eaten with white rice, cabe hijau (green chili sauce)
and emping (melinjo crackers).

The dendeng I've eaten in the past was always dry and crispy,
but the meat at the hotel was moister, more like braised strips
of meat, although the chili factor was still glaringly present.
It would be unfair to say too much about the curried jackfruit
because we arrived toward the end of the evening when most of the
sauce had already evaporated and the vegetable was fast turning
into mush. It was a pity, however, that there were no perkedel,
the heavenly tasting potato or corn cakes, which are a winner
with people from all over.

But the heavy sauces and meats of Padang food fill you up, and
there was only a bit of room left to try the desserts. The serabi
were a bit dry, but that again had something to do with the time
factor. The dessert that really impressed was the bubur kampiun,
with its sweet, caramelly flavor a perfect counter to the
spiciness of the main entrees.

It's Padang food all right (the waitress told me a Padang
restaurant chef was recruited specially for the promotion) and it
is tasty, but, even with the music and pretty decorations, it
cannot really be called a Padang restaurant experience. Picking
food from a buffet (the menu items are changed daily) is not the
same thing as having the plates put in front of you Padang style,
and forget about pushing your cutlery aside and trying the Padang
way of eating with your fingers.

The flip side, though, is that it does bring this excellent
cuisine to some diners who probably would never have thought of
setting foot in a traditional Padang eatery. For others, who are
already long acquainted with Padang delicacies, it's a chance to
renew the old love affair in a new setting, and the Rp 99,000 ++
price for lunch or dinner includes additional buffet choices of
European entrees, salads and desserts. (Kevin Vickers)