Makanan

Nasi Padang

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The array of the dishes of Nasi Padang window display in a Padang restaurant

The waiter stacking plates of dishes in his hand prior to hidang serve in a Padang restaurant

Nasi Padang is a Padang steamed rice served with various choices of pre-cooked dishes originated from Indonesia. It is known across Indonesia as Nasi Padang, after the city of Padang the capital of West Sumatra province. Nasi Padang (Padang-style rice) is a miniature banquet of meats, fish, vegetables, and spicy sambals eaten with plain white rice, it is Sumatra's most famous export and the Minangkabau people's great contribution to Indonesian cuisine.^[1]

A Padang restaurant is usually easily distinguishable with their Rumah Gadang style facade and their typical window display. Nasi Padang window display in front of restaurant usually consists of stages and rows of carefully arranged stacked bowls and plates, constructed and filled with various dishes. A Padang restaurant, especially small-to-medium ones, will also usually bear names in Minang language.

Nasi Padang is a vital part of Indonesian workers' lunch break in urban areas; when Nasi Padang prices in the Greater Jakarta area were raised in 2016, Jakarta municipal civil servants demanded the uang lauk pauk (food allowance, as a component of civil servant's salary) to be raised as well.^[2]

Nasi Padang served in Padang restaurants are easily found in various Indonesian cities in Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, and Papua, to neighboring countries Malaysia and Singapore,^[3] and Australia because of Minangkabau merantau (migrating) tradition contributed to the dispersion of Minang diaspora outside their traditional homeland in West Sumatra. Based on CNN Travel, Nasi Padang is listed as one of 40 food that Singaporeans cannot live without.