Gastromania Feast @ Far East Square: Garuda Padang Cuisine

This post is part of the Gastromania Feast @ Far East Square organised by Omy.Sg that quite a few bloggers and I indulged in a food marathon on 9 July 2011.

You can read more about Gastromania Feast @ Far East Square at http://blog.omy.sg/let-the-feast-begin  Visit the site too if you want to win youself a $50 voucher.

Gastromania Feast @ Far East Square Stop 3: 
Garuda Padang Cuisine




I have never stepped into Garuda Padang Cuisine!

I usually go to the Padang Cuisine that I am more familiar with. I might be back soon! Just because I want to try out all their deliciously looking dishes here!



The array of dishes on the bain-marie counter. I want to try them all! I noticed all their items were priced accordingly, so you know exactly how much you will pay for your meal!




For the stop here at Garuda, we were to try their "Ayam Goreng Garuda" (Fried Chicken with Blue Ginger Floss).

The above shows a double portion. You can get them as set meals at $7 with sayur lodeh, a side dish and rice or roti prata. Check out the offers at their restaurant.



We were quite thankful we only had tasting portions. We need to pace ourselves as we have many places to visit!



The piece of Ayam Goreng Garuda I had. It has a turmeric and galangal (blue ginger) base. We asked how long is the marination, and we were told at least 5 hours. It takes around 15 minutes to fry it, but if you are there during lunch or dinner peak hour, don't worry. They know when the crowds come.

I like the blue ginger floss, as we did not have it with rice that day, it was a tad salty. The chicken was nice too. It's hard to resist a piece of nicely fried, golden brown chicken!

Nasi Padang is the cuisine of the Minangkabau ethnic group. I remember studying in school long ago that the Minangkabau people are a matrilineal society. That means the land and houses are inherited through the female lineage.

Here's a trivia for you.
Did you know that the first President of Singapore Yusof Bin Ishak and also the composer of the Singapore National Anthem, Majulah Singapura were both of Minangkabau descent?


Garuda Padang Cuisine
7-8 Amoy Street
#01-01 Far East Square
Singapore 049949

Tel: 6536 4111
Web: www.garudapadang.com


Gastromania Feast @ Far East Square: Stop 1, Stop 2, Stop 3, Stop 4, Stop 5, Stop 6, Stop 7, Stop 8

Resto Surabaya @ Far East Plaza

I accompanied sis for some urgent shopping at Far East Plaza. When we reached there, we were so hungry and had to eat before we could shop. We walked around and saw Resto Surabaya. What prompted us to go in was the Sunday Times cutting on the glass wall. It was Posh Nosh recommendation of cheap eats.

We ordered the Ayam Bakar. $6
Portions initially looked small, but it was actually enough for the two of us to share. It was really fragrant and the sauce is really Indonesian style sweet. (if you want to put it nicely, very well caramelized sauce LOL) We really like it!




We also had the Ayam Penyet. $6.
I think the marinate is gingery which is something we like. For once, we had Ayam Penyet that is really 'bashed' till the meat separates from the bones. Yums! The chilli that came with it was had freshly pounded tomatoes. 




The rice is 60 cents a serving.




We wanted a 'vegetable dish'. The recommendation was deep fried brinjals, but sis said, 'something non fried please'. So the service staff said, try gado gado, 'not deep fried'.

This is the Gado Gado $5. Keropokman do not like the keropok on it! "Lao Hong liao!"
But overall it's edible. The sauce is not as thick but it has an unique taste though.  A bit sweet as well.




For the drinks, I decided to try the 'Juice Sehat'. $3
If you translate it, it means 'healthy juice'. I wanted to find out what it is, so I ordered it! It's apple juice!




This shop is a branch of the main one at Far East Shopping Centre.
Now I know why people keep saying I should try the one at Far East Shopping Centre for Ayam Penyet. (Sis and I think the Ayam Bakar is nicer though)


Resto Surabaya
14 Scotts Road
Far East Plaza #05-26/26A
Singapore 228213

Tel: 6738 4369

Wasabi Tei @ Far East Plaza

Hmm today's post has no food pictures. Why? Because where we went for lunch today, no one dares to take photos!

One colleague is treating us lunch and off we went. He die die want to eat here. Why?
Because we like to be served generous and fresh servings of food by a chef with an attitude!



Really, the couple at the shop got this 'attitude' one, he will serve food by putting plates not gently but very hard on the table. You can't book the place, only a full party is allowed to enter. You just got to go there. Colleagues loves the sashimi here.

We wanted to say Nazi, but not really nazi lah, we call him the chef with an attitude. haha..

Mumtaz Mahal @ Far East Plaza

Colleagues and I, we were suppose to have Jap food in Far East Plaza but it was so full and had a long wait. We decided to go elsewhere. A colleague's nose brought us here. He smell from the kitchen earlier while walking in from the carpark that the naan was heavenly!

So we decided to venture into this shop. It's called Mumtaz Mahal. The place is very dimly lighted and I did not want to use flash much, so the pictures are a bit dark and grainy here.



We ordered the set meals. I had the Quantas Set, while the rest had Tandoori Chicken Set.

We were served this. Think it is called Lacha Pratha. Tandoori bread made of wheat and wholemeal flour.



It comes with this container of 4 things. The one behind is some chopped onions plus something mix. The one of the left is mint. The one on the right is something very very sweet, its some kind of jam we think. The front one was bitterish something.



We ordered Indian Tea Tarik. We thought we would want to try something different.
We were served empty cups on our table. Huh? We thought. How are they going to tarik the tea? (tried to upload a video of the guy coming with a pot of tea and tarik the tea in front of us using the new blogger tool, but it failed. aiya)



My Quantas Set arrived. We found out that it's actually the same thing as the what my colleagues ordered! haha.. Except mine came in individual portions. Here's the tandoori. We all think it is absolutely delicious. It is very moist and not dry at all and full of taste.



This is the Nasi Briyani. Very good too.



This is the mutton curry. We finished every drop of the curry.



This is some yogurt thingy. For this, I only had a few scoop. Such a big bowl. Help!



This is some dahl thingy that was very tasty too. The other set did not have this, only the Quantas set.



This is curry veg, it's very frozen mix veg tasting. haha... Coz it was carrots, peas, etc...



This was how it appeared in front of me, with my chicken being nibbled already.



If you ordered the Tandoori set, it's almost similar, but served in a metal container, what we call hostel style. hehe..



Yup, it came with this naan that was delicious. Those bits are garlic and for garlic lovers, it is yummmmmm... How did the various curry and sauces finished? It was wiped off with this naan.



This was served after they empty our tables. Another set of metal containers with 3 things. In front is sugar coated cumin seeds, the left it is cardamon seeds and the third one rock sugar.

We were taught how to eat the cardamom, we are suppose to peel off the husk and eat the black seeds inside. Both the cardamom and cumin taste so good! Our mouth did not smell of curry after!



After that mango ice cream came. I ate the cumin with the ice cream in my mouth. Good combi!



The damage? See for yourself hehe...



Damaged was picked up by this senior colleague. He said it is his treat. Thanks Mr T.
One thing we laughed at was the bottom of the receipt. It told us to exercise regularly!