Rumah Makan Siang Malam: Masakan Padang @ Jakarta Pusat, Jakarta

Nasi Padang, the Minagkabau Cuisine originating from the West Sumatran province has been my all time favourite and every time I am in Indonesia, this is a must do thing for me. It is one of those cuisines that I could live on everyday as my staple diet. This time around, we decided to try out this place called Rumah Makan Siang Malam that is located in Jakarta Pusat area, quite close to MONAS which is the National Monument of Indonesia. 

Entrance to the Restaurant

The Restaurant and the Parking Area

As it is commonly frequented by many, this restaurant does provide ample parking spots for customers. The Minangkabau architecture is clearly visible at the entrance though the rest of the building is modern in design. Do note that they also provide delivery's to homes and offices in the surrounding areas. 

Food Items Are Stacked and Clearly Displayed

All Busy At Work

Air Conditioned Area is also Available

Teh Botol

The restaurant has a huge dining area which has been divided into two sections, open space and air conditioned area. Smoking is allowed in the open space but not in the air conditioned area though you may find some actually smoking in there. The above Teh Botol or Bottled Tea is a must try drink in Indonesia. It is a very common drink among the locals and it tastes really good and refreshing. Commonly available, it is my favourite when I am in Indonesia. 

White Rice

To those that are not familiar with Nasi Padang, here you would get all their available dishes being served at your table. The deal is simply this. If it is a gravy or vegetable and you happen to take, then they would charge you for the entire plate. If it is a meat piece regardless of weather it is fish, beef or chicken, there would usually be two pieces in a single plate and you could just take one and they would charge you for one only. If you happen to take both, then you would be charged for both. This is a very good concept as it gives you the flexibility, provided you are in a decently sized group, to try all the dishes without having to pay huge prices. What has not been touched and the remains from the meat dishes are then sent back to the display counter. Some may argue that it is not hygienic but all these years that I have had this, I have not had any health issues so far. Similarly, as you can see from the above photo, the rice portion is not too huge and hence when there are two people dining like us today, they would serve four plates of white rice whereby if you need top ups, you could just take it from what has already been served. 

Ikan Bilis In Green Chilies

This was one of our favourite dishes here. It is typically Anchovies that are slightly large being deep fried to a crispy level and sauteed with green chilies making it salty yet slightly spicy. Even children would love this dish. It is something that you could not stop munching. I would rate this dish at 9.4/10 .

Sambal

This is a super spicy dish that is only suitable to those that love chilies and extremely spicy sides. For spicy food lovers, it would go very well with white rice. I found this sambal heavenly. I would rate this at 9.5/10 .

Steamed Chicken in Clear Soup

This dish was slightly on the above average side. It would have been better if it was served with the soup as then the taste from the soup would have been able to be locked in for a longer time. Since it was served out of the soup, it tasted rather bland. I would rate this at only 6.5/10 .

Beef in Clear Soup

Since both of us do not eat beef, we had to pass this dish and hence I am not able to comment on it.

Fish Head Curry....Minangkabau Style

This is a specialty item at this restaurant and they are very famous for this. Their Fish Head was really huge and there was a good deal of meat attached to it. The Curry though it seems yellow in colour, was rich in fatty coconut milk which gave a slight sweet taste and yet still very spicy. I absolutely enjoyed this. I would rate this at 9.7/10 .

Fried Fish

This Fried Fish was quite decent but nothing marvelous. It was the usual fried fish except that it was fried to a very crisp level. Wort trying if you love fish. I would rate this at 7/10 .

Green Chili Sambal

This dish was another gastronomical treat for me. The Green Chili Sambal was absolutely delicious and I literally finished the whole plate myself. It was very delicious. I would rate this at 10/10 .

Fried Fish with Sambal

This was much better than the earlier fried fish as the sambal gave it a very exotic flavour. Do note that this is very spicy and if you cannot tolerate spicy food, then it is best to avoid this dish. Otherwise, it was very good. I would rate this at 8.8/10 .

Fish Curry

Once again, cooked in the same Minangkabau Curry like the earlier Fish Head, this tasted equally good. For those who do not like Fish Head, then this is a better alternative. I would rate this dish at 9.4/10 .

Chicken Curry

A non spicy dish that would suit everyone. The chicken was cooked to perfection and the curry was really good, except that it was slightly on the fatty side. May be a setback for those who are health conscious. Otherwise, a very nice dish. I would rate this dish at 8.5/10 .

Fish Egg Curry

Being a fish egg lover, this was absolutely delicious. That curry literally tasted like the Sri Lankan curry called Sothi which is sometimes found in Tamil Restaurants in Malaysia nowadays. Sothi is a curry that is prepared mainly using coconut milk. Imagine having fish egg in that curry, that was how this tasted and it was delicious. I would rate this at 10/10 .

Green Vegetables

This dish was nice but not excellent. I have tried this elsewhere where they also add peanuts and small anchovies in it which have greatly tasted better. Here, those were lacking and hence it tasted quite ordinary. I would rate this dish at 6/10 .

Spicy Anchovies

Another excellent dish! For this dish, the anchovies used were not too huge like the first dish and that played well in it's benefit. This was it was even more crispy and the sambal attached better to the fish thus giving a crispy, salty and spicy taste. I would rate this dish at 9.7/10 .

Ayam Pop

Ayam Pop is a common terminology used for Crispy Fried Chicken in Indonesia. I found the chicken here to be slightly on the dry side and it tasted just above average. Nothing exciting about this dish. I would rate this dish at 6/10 .

Me taking a break from eating

Most of the dishes were done

As I really love Minang food, I made sure that I tried all the dishes except for the beef dish. The bill for our meal today came to IDR 88,000 which is close to around RM 22.00 which is something that you would never get in Malaysia. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal here and I would definitely recommend this restaurant. 

Address: Jl. Veteran Raya No. 7B - C, Jakarta Pusat, Jakarta.

Telephone: (021) 344 7078 and 0813 9995 8038