Padang Food

Padang food comes from the Minangkabau highlands of West Sumatra and is built on coconut milk, chilli, turmeric, galangal and lemongrass, cooked long and served at room temperature. The service is the part people remember. You sit down and a stack of small plates arrives, a dozen or more, covering the table, and you eat only what you take and pay for those alone. Rendang, beef simmered in coconut milk until the liquid goes and the meat darkens, is the best known dish, but the range takes in gulai curries, jackfruit, green chilli sauce and offal. Rice is refilled without asking, and hands are the normal utensil.

What you actually see

• The plate stack - a dozen small dishes set out on the table, paid for only if touched.
• Rendang - beef cooked down in coconut milk until dark and almost dry.
• Gulai - the yellow coconut curries, made with fish, offal or young jackfruit.
• Green chilli sambal - the crushed raw relish that arrives with everything.

When to go

Lunch is the main event. Dishes are cooked in the morning and the best of the choice is gone by mid-afternoon, with evening service much thinner. In West Sumatra itself the food is hotter and less sweet than the versions sold in Java. Ramadan changes opening hours substantially in a strongly Muslim province.

Honest expectations

The chilli level is high even by Indonesian standards and there is no mild option. Dishes stand at room temperature for hours, which is normal here but hard on unaccustomed stomachs. Bills are worked out from what has been touched, so a fingerprint on a plate you did not want still costs. Vegetarians find little beyond jackfruit and cassava leaves.

Nearby

The Minangkabau highlands around Bukittinggi are the source of most of these dishes.