Padang restaurants are available almost everywhere in Indonesia and loved by millions but this can mean that sometimes it’s a little bit hard to find authentic Padang restaurants.
Worry not, as these six simple tricks will help you identify the authentic ones among the sea of Padang restaurants across Indonesia.
Black tea
Most people in Indonesia order a drink before the meal, or during the preparation of the meal.
Therefore, an ice tea usually sits on your table before any dishes do.
The first way to identify an authentic Padang restaurant is by tasting the tea, because most authentic Padang restaurants use black tea instead of regular tea.
It’s darker, a little bitter but tastes stronger compared to regular teas.
The accent
The logic behind this point is basic, because if you are looking to eat authentic Padang dishes from an authentic Padang restaurant, you certainly want the dishes to be cooked by a Padang person.
Identifying the Padang accent is not too difficult either as is very distinctive, with many words ending in “-o” and sometimes a loud tonality.
Thick ‘gulai’
If you visit Padang restaurants regularly, maybe you have noticed that the gulai sauce served in some of the restaurants is thick.
The usage of different spices and coconut milk are certainly two of the factors behind the thickness of authentic Padang gulai.
Offal and its tenderness
Padang restaurants love to serve their meat at a perfect level of tenderness.
This is also another way to spot an authentic Padang restaurant: order a plate of offal, which is usually served with a thick gulai sauce as mentioned previously.
If it’s tender and melts inside your mouth, then there is a high chance you just had offal cooked in an authentic Padang restaurant.
Rendang characteristic
As the dish that brought Padang cuisine to stardom, rendang is an important element in every topic about Padang cuisine.
And in case you’re wondering, authentic rendang can be identified by several characteristics: it’s dry, tastes a little hot and spicy, also has a traditional smell of dried coconut milk, even though sometimes you may find rendang with a hint of sweetness and a watery sauce, which is not authentic at all.
‘Manatian piriang’
As soon as the waiters bring the food to your table, usually several plates at once, you can notice the style of plate-carrying used by authentic Padang restaurants waiters.
It’s called manatiang piriang and this style has always been entertaining.
