RICE THAT SHINES

Curried crab...the gravy's rich and tasty

Are you drooling already at the sight of the above curried crab pix? I'm happy to say it tasted as good as it looked. Besides this delicious delicacy, we also had several other simple but superbly yummy lauk - main dishes to go with some plain rice at this humble, no-frills and no name nasi Padang shop in Tanjung Malim.

Nasi Padang is a speciality of Padang, an Indonesian town in the island of Sumatra. Renowned for its rice meal, plain white rice is eaten with assorted savoury dishes of meat, fish, seafood, vegetable (usually in the form of curries or simmered in spice and coconut based-gravy) and spicy dipping sauces known as sambal.

View of the glass display cabinet where the assorted lauk-pauk were displayed

It was brought over early migrants from the Indonesian archipelago who settled in the peninsular. Now this popular delight can be found at countless roadside stalls and simpler restaurants in nooks and crannies throughout the country.

When we stumbled upon this eatery via our GPS, lunch was already in full swing and the place was filled to the brim. We managed to snag a table and noticed that all the diners were relishing their food with gusto, oblivious to their surroundings.

The old-school setting made lunch even more memorable

This crispy fried fish fired up our tastebuds with its piquant, roughly pounded chilli paste

Since most of the tables had fried chicken, we ordered a portion from the cook too. One bite of the skinless, lean ayam kampung (village bred free range chicken) with strands of sweet sliced onion made us realised why it was such a hot seller here; we literally picked the bones clean!

Chicken licking good!

We also selected some crispy fried fish that came with some coarsely pounded chilli, fried brinjal with chilli paste, chicken rendang and red sambal to complement our plates of white rice.

Aromatic spices and rich coconut milk give this chicken rendang its bold, deep-seated and complex flavour

Soft but creamy, the brinjal comes slathered in pounded garlic and chilli

More freshly pounded sambal to perk up our meal

I can't recall the exact amount we paid but it was a ridiculously affordable price that left us heartily satisfied and grinning from ear to ear.