Restaurant Rose serves authentic and tasty dishes.
YOU don”t have to fly to Sumatera in Indonesia to sample its famous nasi padang.
There is a makan place in the heart of the city centre called Restoran Rose in Jalan Raja Alang, near Kampung Baru, that offers this.
The place is managed by a family of naturalised Indonesians and opens daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I came to know about Restoran Rose through my regular eating buddy Zakri “Billy” Baharuddin.
“Samo, you are gonna love the nasi padang at this place because it is authentic.
“My parents love it and they will tah pau the dishes for my family,” said Zakri.
Recently, I went to the restaurant with my cycling kaki Mohd Radzi Mohd Noor after riding in the OCBC Cycle Malaysia 2014 event.
The belut salai or smoked eels is similar to the one sampled by the writer in Sumatera.
We rode from Dataran Merdeka after completing the ride. Parking our bikes at this eatery was no issue at all.
And when the topic of the day was authentic Indonesian food, the men who man this restaurant took their culinary skills rather seriously.
The price of the ikan salai (smoked fish) and belut salai goreng (fried smoked eels) at RM3.50 a serving reminded me of my visit to Sumatera some years ago.
Highly recommended are the gulai urat (beef tendon) and daging cincang (minced beef).
And sometimes, if you are lucky, there is the really unique gulai lemak kulit lembu (braised buffalo hide).
I love beef tendon and gulai urat at this makan place as it literally melts in your mouth!
To the nasi padang lover, no experience would be complete without the sambal cili merah and hijau (red and green chilli gravy).
At Restoran Rose, this is done to perfection.
The writer’s lunch comprising pucuk ubi rebus, tempe, daging cincang and gulai lemak urat lembu.
As far as price is concerned, it’s pretty decent.
A meal with a piece of beef rendang and two vegetables costs RM5.90.
For a big eater like me, my rice with beef tendon and minced beef came up to RM11.50.
On the Samo-scale, I would rate this place 7 out of 10.
Restoran Rose (N 03 09. 818, E 101 42.117) has another surprise: satay padang, which is served only after 7pm and is worth checking out.
