The Naomi Maes Testimonial Dinner.
In honour of our wayward Sumatran Correspondent, Naomi Maes, we had our Sumatran meal in a Padang-style restaurant – the so-called MacDonalds of Indonesia. (To find out more about our Sumatran Correspondent’s adventures see her blog http://superteachy.blogspot.com/)
Sumatra is infamous for its many, and varied, natural disasters…this meal was a man-made one… The culture shock measured a 6 on the Richter scale; the chili burned liked a Sumatran forest fire; and smuggling Western expectations into this restaurant could be a death sentence.
Minang Indonesian CuisinePadang Food
242 Swanston Street, Melbourne City.
Relocating to:
Shop 3, 306 Flinders Lane, Melbourne City
(in September 2006)
Minang is what you would call a "no frills" takeaway. From the utilitarian table settings to the grimey mirrors to the steaming bain-marie, it was clearly designed to feed people with a minimum of fuss and luxury. The overpowering smell of chili in the room gave a clear indication of what we could expect from the food. But we still didn't expect to be served lung...
This week our intrepid culinary globetrotters were Nick, Paul, Deb, Caroline, Rami, Marty, Amy and Helen. Minang is a halal restaurant, so our kosher contributor didn’t have to worry about pork products, and there were vegetarian options for our carnivorously-challanged member.
As the there was no set menu, we decided, as a group, to give everything in the bain-marie a go.
Palatable:
Chili Eggs
Chili Potatoes
Chili Fish
Chili Tofu
Vegetables and Beanshoots
Beef Rendang
Sweet and Sour Chicken Wings
Chicken Pieces (with skin) in mild curry sauce
Less-Than-Palatable:
Beef Lung
Chicken Giblets
Chili Eggs were decent enough, although the surprising crunch of egg shell made for an interesting addition to the dish for one of our diners. On the whole, the chili was done very well, though not for the faint of heart. The fish dish was a mixture of sardines and slices of larger fish in a fiery sauce - not bad if you don't mind the general fishy mess of bones, skin etc - and if you like chili of course. Beef Rendang was tender and held its own. Tehbotol, an Indonesian boxed ice tea drink was enjoyed by several of the diners.
Beef Lung tastes like charred jerky, if you were wondering, with a lingering aftertaste.
The Chicken Giblets were served in a satay sauce – although one of the team who had eaten giblets before said that she “had had worse”. Nevertheless, they were still giblets.
The service was very friendly and accompanied with a genuine smile – the true highlight of the evening! Although at one point, another diner was required to translate for us.
According to our Sumatran correspondent our meal appears to be like authentic Padang-style food, bain-marie and all!
Overall:
Not a place for a first date…or a second or third for that matter! The dingy food hall ambience and varied choice of "cuts" were challenging. Still at $7.20 a plate no one's promising luxury, and if you want the real deal without the airfare, this is definitely it.
PS – we concluded our evening with dessert at Max Brenner. Waffles smothered in chocolate, chocolate soufflés and hot chocolate milk helped us to regain our Western sensibilities.
PPS – don’t we just sound like a bunch of unsophisticated backpackers?
5 comments:
Although the sumatran satayed giblets were ok, i much prefered the Max Brenner 'Giblets with Italian white chocolate' . The quote on giblets (direct from wikipedia): "Giblets are the edible offal of a fowl, typically including the heart, gizzard, liver, and other visceral organs. The term is culinary usage only; zoologists do not refer to the 'giblets' of a bird." Aparently the giblets can also include the floppy neck part.
LOL! You think I meant the bein-marie was authentic?! That's luxury. In Padang, if you are uncomfortable eating from bowls that have been sitting uncovered in the store window/ warung top, you had better go eat at KFC (although I bet they have uncovered bowls behind the counter too...). For the record, the only time I have felt sick here was after I ate french fries.
I have eaten heart and liver (deep fried and served on a kebab), but turned down pork intestines. Ew.
Last night I tried 'banana pancakes', as the Lonely PLanet calls them. That is, a banana baked, then squashed to pancake thinness and covered in chocolate sprinkles and, bizarrely, grated cheese. It was pretty good :)
I demand a visit back to Minang in October, please... I'll translate for you all.
If this is an animal innards eating competition, I deserve the gold medal! I once had the pleasure of dining at my defacto uncle-in-law's house where he served... well you could call it veal in a manner of speaking!!
The family is Lao/Vietnamese but I believe this dish was a Lao delicacy. They slaughter a pregnant cow, cut out the uterus out with unborn calf still inside, plop the uterus into a bowl, slash the side of the uterus-sack and: presto! That's your calf-fetus soup. It just needs to be warmed up with some added ginger and other herbs for flavour and it's done!
The meat was very tender and quite tasty when they weren't telling me which bit I was eating. Later on in the meal there was a lot of 'try some kidney', 'here's some brain, oh there's a bit of spleen on that spoonful too'.
Well, in Tokyo I was presented the appetising question: "Do you want to eat that before or after I tell you what it is?"
A: After
meal is consumed
A: Raw horse
Guys, Sign me up for Saturday 30 September...
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