Medan Baru — Restaurant in Jakarta

This is one of the legendary restaurant serving Padang style cuisine where after being seated guests are served an assortment of dishes placed on the table.

For newbies, this is not a sampler, tasting session. You are charged according to the dish that you eat, so tasting just a teeny weeny bit of each dish will ring up the tab for all dishes eaten. Just eat the dishes that you want, otherwise leave the ones that are not interesting alone.

Their specialty is the Fish Head cooked in spicy coconut milk gravy and the fried pigeons stuffed with spices. You have to specially order these 2 dishes as they are not usually placed on your table by default like the other dishes. Fish head comes in small or large size, and I usually order a large sized one as smaller heads are less meaty. Large size is good for 3-5 pax.

Restaurant is usually very crowded during lunchtime and street parking is a hassle. The restaurant is presently quite large compared to 20 years ago when you have to queue for a table, waiting time now is minimal for a small party. Service is prompt and you can see the owner doing his rounds during busy lunch hour.

It's has been fond memories for me every time I visit this restaurant. The prices for the food are higher compared to other regular Padang style restaurants. Expect to pay about Rp.120k-150k per person if ordering a large fish head and fried pigeons...

I have been craving for snapper's head gulai for quite sometime and just my luck that my office decided to have breakfasting meal here.

As we thought that the place would be crowded, we booked for a table for 12 four days before. But surprisingly there were lots of seat available. However, since we reserve the table, we got a very private table in a glass room. Isolated from the other guests and at least on waiter is on stand by to take our additional requests.

This place is quite famous for its Melayu Cuisines and of course the snapper's head gulai is one of their favorite menu. We ordered the big size head and it's enough to feed me for the night. Its taste is a bit sweet with thick coconut milk broth. If a lil bit more spicy is to be added, it would be better.

Another famous dish which is served here is the fried quail. Yes, it tastes good but I just can't eat the poor thing as it's a new experience for me. So i only tasted one only.

The services is very satisfying. Price wise, you of course has to pay more when dining in such legendary place. The place is quite clean but acceptably clean.

Payment can be made with hard cash, debit cards and I think with credit cards as well. I must double check as my office pays...

I’m a big fan of Nasi Padang and will indulge whenever I’m in Jakarta. Having gone through the gamut of all the top outlets I thought I’d give this one a shot when suggested by a friend. He swing around on Sunday to pick me up and frankly, Sunday is a good day to avoid the North Jakarta traffic.

Dishes have to be ordered and not laid out in front of you when you like the other Padang restaurants. They bing in sample dishes for you to choose from. We settled on 3 types of chicken, vegetables, 3 types of sambal, tempeh and salted fish and of course the fish head drenched in thick gulai gravy.

Although it lacks variety, I must say that the food is decent enough. The fried chicken was very different from other outlets. Juicier and you can taste the turmeric lingering in your palate. The fish head was ok. Tasty as was the sambal and Tempe. I won’t say it’s the best but it’s not that bad.

Personally. I prefer to have a wider variety to choose from. I was told that it’s Probowo’s fav joint and that surprised me. Heading now to Pagi Sore for my...