Nasi Padang at Hajjah Maimunah

Hajjah Maimunah is one of the cornerstones of Nasi Padang in Singapore. I have featured Sabar Menanti as well as Rumah Minang...two of my favourites...today's post is on Hajjah Maimunah, just a stone's throw from Kandahar where the other two outlets are...in Lorong Pisang.

Five of us ate one lunch time...the restaurant, rather large with an upstairs and downstairs air conditioned seating area. We were lunching on our cycling trip, so we sat outside to watch over our bikes, parked along the shophouse across the road.

On to the food...first the beef rendang

The spices were rather nice...but I found the beef too tough.

Fish with kichap manis

The fish was ok...I found it to be a bit bland. The kichap manis was nice, but not enough to smother the fish...as this was a black prompfret (bawal hitam), the meat was a bit rough, and rather tasteless.

Pegedil

For me, this was the highlight of the meal. The cutlet was tasty, if a bit dry, but eaten with a generous helping of the curry, it was excellent. Great taste.

We had a helping of siput, a kind of sea snails...

Not my favourite either...very mild tasting...and um, so little meat. The lunch companion who requested we order this seemed to enjoy it very much, finishing almost the whole plate all by herself.

The vegetables were no better

The kangkong was a bit old...tending on being a bit tough...and being slightly undercooked did not help.

The ladies fingers were even more bland...

But it was a shame to serve peanuts which were a bit stale...no crunch, no crisp.

A famous nasi padang restaurant, but one which I did not find commensurate with its reputation.

Hajjah Maimunah Restaurant
11 & 15 Jalan Pisang
6294 8732
7am to 8pm

Nasi Padang: Rumah Minang

Nasi Padang...in Indonesia...its a visit to a eating place were they lay out their entire day's cooking on the table, and one eats whatever one wishes, leaves the rest, and pays for what one eats. But in Singapore, I guess we practice better hygine...we point and only order what we want. I will begin a tale of two nasi padangs in the same area...today is Rumah Minang.

A nice spread is available. All delivered at the same time, eat at will...unlike French where there is a definite order...nasi padang has none...I shall start with the sayur lodeh...shown flanked by the very nice sambal at picture top, and ladies fingers picture bottom.

Cabbage, long beans, in a fragrant coconut gravy with chilli and spices. With a piece of fried tofu. Quite nice as sayur lodeh go.

The beef rendang is excellent

Not as fat and done in a very dry style...the taste of the rempah (spices) is excellent. The meat is usually a lesser cut...tough, but rendered tender...not quite fork tender, but nice, slightly chewy, immense flavour from the beef itself and from the spices it absorbed during cooking. The additional spices I asked for was also superb.

The fried chicken with red spices is also quite nice

This was tender...the skin, being fried retained some of the smoky flavour and was slightly crisp. The meat was very tender. Nice. Again an abundence of flavour from the spices.

Sambal goreng...literally fried spices, but it typically means tofu deep fried and then fried with long beans and spices, sometimes with tempeh (fermented bean sticks)

One of my favourites. The flavours meld into one beautifyl harmonious taste experience. Very nice.

Overall, small corner coffee shop, serving excellent nasi padang. Bicycle friendly.

Rumah Minang
18 & 18A Kandahar Street
Website