We're back for another round of Padang before we head back to Kuala Lumpur. We end up staying in the same area close by to our first hotel, this time at Brigitte's House. It's one of those strange arrangements where the room you book isn't in the building you thought you would be in. As you check in you get told you are in their 'other building' and you get walked across a block or so to a quiet, almost private home. It feels wrong at first, but we soon get to like the empty house.
Best of all we are close to a few rumah makan stalls we didn't try on the first time around.
Marta was on JL Nipah, a newish nasi campur place complete with tables of old Chinese-Indo men meeting up for lunch and a chat. The selections here include a beef and green chilli dish where the chillis were shiny, slightly pickled and not too hot. Additional sambal here of fresh beans or peanuts, not super soft but retaining some crunch after cooking and a belado egg.
Chicken ayam goreng, a little bit crunchy and coated in fluffy bumbu fry up. Side dish for both was a stewed jackfruit curry and coconut sambal.
The end of JL Nipah meets the ocean, turn left at the round about and cross the road to a food court.
Most of the stalls were closed and as soon as we stepped inside we were called and cajoled to eat at various places.
The pathway along the beachfront was fine for a while...
...until we got blocked from walking by food stalls covering up the footpath.
Rizky business.
We ended up at a shopping mall for an air con break. We love these shopping malls, especially where they have ascending levels of weirdness. A good grocery store can easily consume a couple of hours of supermarkets of mystery shopping.
Indonesian tea, Teh Cap Botol. These small paper packs of tea were popped into the shopping trolley. We wish we'd bought a few more as the green tea in particular was excellent, rough cut and a little raw.
Back toward the main city centre, the local bus stop.
Another mall, another pit stop. This time at J.Co Coffee, kind of a Starbucks and Krispy Kreme mash up. Our ice teas came with free glazed donuts, bonus!
Afternoon and heading home.
Many of the shops that advertised beer didn't have any sign of anything cold and frosty. Perhaps another time.
Walking back to our rooms we detoured around by the river and Chinatown.
The fresh market was closed for the rest of the day.
Nothing to see here.
Away from the town centre the style of houses changes to larger blocks and family compounds.
Our last dinner we head back up to Jl Cokroaminoto and then Jl Pondok to Pagi Sore. The streets are buzzing with street stalls and restaurants, some well established and other heading towards a cleaner, could be anywhere international style.
Pagi Sore has our heart.
The selections in the window before they hit our table.
Our feast for two people. What we don't eat, we don't pay for.
The most magnificent flat lay ever. Cabbage and green beans and chilli, cassava leaves, prawns in creamy curry, or belado, stinky beans, crisp crackling madeform cow skin, cucumber, chicken in coconut cream gulai, rendang, perkedel, stinky beans in sambal, larger jenkol beans, chicken giblets and bits and a fiery sambal. And they're just the dishes we had a go at.
The thing we travelled all the way to Padang for, dark and deep rendang. No other rendang will ever be the same.
The meat shredded beautifully and cleanly, the sauce outside a thick layer that coats the pieces.
The beef and potato rissole, or perkedel, becomes another one of our favourites. It's thick and hearty and pieces of it mix in beautifully with the different curry sauces.
No shortage of street food stalls.
We followed up dinner with another go at the frozen durian hop shop.
Durian and chocolate, you're an ungodly match but we adore you.
The next morning the stall at the end of the street we hoped to get breakfast from is empty.
So we stroll back into Chinatown. Could these have been the inspiration for suburban Pizza Hut buildings back in the 70's?
In Chinatown we seek out Nan Yo, a cafe serving bubur ayam or chicken porridge, coffee and mie goreng, since 1932.
Glorious interior.
A dangerous situation develops. This plate of cakes is left on our table. Resistance is useless.
This lady spies us close to the front door and wrangles a couple of cakes off us. We don't mind donating a couple of sweets.
Bubur ayam. The mix of soft rice porridge, chicken pieces, bread stick slices and a spoonful of chilli sauce is magical.
Old lady cake favourite.
Warung Kopi Nan Yo is on Jalan Nipah at 22A.
We've only got a morning before we have to leave for the airport, so we head back to the market area at the back of Chinatown.
This time it's jumping.
This lady was grinding up chilli sambal, loads of fresh chillis, garlic and shallots. With bare hands! What an absolute magnificent grinding bowl she was using as well, as big as her grin.
Our street in Padang was in a quiet community area that we came to like better in the end than staying in a hostel.
A couple of doors down was Shawn's dream hydroponic garden, beautiful fresh greens growing in someones front area. We wonder if they supplied some of the fancier hotels with greenery.
Tiny cat or Golem?
This neighbourhood was partially enclosed, with what seemed to be only one entrance for cars. It made it quiet to walk through, kids played outside and the pussycats roamed freely.
Along Jl Nipah was South East Asia's only example of a walkable footpath.
For some reason this fellow had to have our photo. So we took his.
Back to Marta for one last Padang lunch.
Fried chicken with belado, the chilli sambal that coats everything in West Sumatra.
More fried chicken and a perkedel (potato rissole).
Fish in a green chilli sauce, the same slightly pickled sauce we had with the beef the day before. So good.
Beng-beng for dessert.
On the way back to the airport we passed some new structures along the beach. This was the fish market, the sellers could bring their catch in and lay it out on the tables undercover.
Along the top of the shops across the road from the beach were upstairs areas to eat and drink and watch the sunset. We would stay up this end of town next time.
The beach goes right along the road back to the airport. There's a few big hotels up this end and most of the good eating spots looked like local stalls.
Waiting for sunset.
We love Padang.
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Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)
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