Original Padang Food

Kiko just returned from trip to Padang, West Sumatra. Along with her is various Padang Food, very famous and versatile food available almost anywhere in Indonesia. It is a special one, originally made in Padang, and probably by Padang people as well, with original spice.

The jerky meat (known locally as dendeng) is always my favorite. Padang has so many type of jerky meat, the thin crispy one with red chili called dendeng balado and the soft brown one with green chilli known as dendeng batokok is easily available here. Kiko bought the later, and another one that I've never seen before: dendeng baracik, served with raw tomato and slice of shallots.


But that's not all. There are a piece of duck, dipped in green pepper, called Itiak Lado Ijo in local language. Although look spicy, the taste was just nice, not as spiy as it look.

And finally, the one I asked her to bought: Pale Bada. Bada is some kind of fish, wrapped with shredded coconut and cassava leaves. Finally it is wrapped with banana leaves before being steamed until cooked. It is sweet and spicy, perfect complement for the cassava leaves.

Don't forget to eat all of them with a hot, just-cooked rice, with your hands. It will be your perfect dining experience

@ Sumber Hidangan, Bandung

"Was it a factory before?" The old lady behind the counter grin. "This building has been a bakery shop since 1929." She then look to the man beside me. "And I've been working here since 1964. " Forty five years working in the same place, selling the same stuff. And the shop is another amazement by itself, having survived the test of time for 80 years.

The sun shine brightly outside, scorching the town of Bandung, despite of cool breeze of wind. But once insideSumber Hidangan, all the hot weather is replaced by cool air, thanks to the high ceiling. The building has a narrow 2nd floor, which I originally used by the landlord to watch over the worker, and made me thought that this was a factory. "That was only to help cleaning the ceiling", the old lady said. She is friendly indeed, and will happily explain all the cookies if you asked.

Two glass of Ice Cream were served before us, perfect for such hot weather: Cafe Glace and Chocolate, both topped with crushed peanut and canned peach. The Ice Cream is not so special, with rough texture and slightly less sweet, but combined with the peanut, they are perfect! We can see people come and go while eating, some buy the classic cookies (such as Speculaas, Jan Hagel), other ordered a bowl of chicken noodle, and eat by himself, while probably drifting back through time.

We were reluctant to leave this cozy place. Besides, the evening sun makes this place even nicer, with the only light source coming from the front door. I soon ordered a piece of cake, and glass of coffee. My Speculaas is packed, so I took one as a company for the coffee. We spend another 1 hour just to talk about few unimportant thing, while watching people come and go.

And still afterwards, it is with hesitant that we pay the bill and leave, promising that one day we'll be back, for a piece of mind.......