Garuda Indonesian Restaurant

the green and red chillies typically seen at any indonesian padang restaurant

i was craving a little indonesian food one day so i decided to visit this restaurant that i previously spotted when i was around the area. it was a padang restaurant. for those who are unfamiliar, padang cuisine is sort of like chinese cooked food cuisine except that alot of times the dishes are already on display. so you walk in and there is a whole array of food that you can choose from. you just simply point to what you want and they'll dish it out into a small dish for you.

its a little different in indonesia there you just sit down and tell them what you want and they'll come back with your food immediately. of course you're free to look at what they have but no one really does that. and over there you have to get the chocolate avocado juice drink (cool eh?) goes perfectly well with the thick and bold flavors of the food.

so anyway i walk in and lo and behold what a array of memories that come flooding back to me from indo. hahaha.. in fact the actual name garuda in itself represents a chain of indonesian padang restaurants. there's a little trivia for you.

so off i go to order my food and soon it arrives. here they are:

first lets start of with this. its not really a dish per se but its green and red chillies grounded i believe. its superrr spicy and damn tasty. i love the green ones. don't think of the green chilli's that you eat in sg cause they're totally different. just eat them and you'll understand.

beef rendang 8/10

next over here we have some rendang. i'm sure some of you must have had some variation of this dish before. basically its beef that has been cooked in coconut milk and lots of yummy spices. the meat then soaks up all that goodness until little or no liquid remains. so what you have left is some tasty-ass beef.

stir fried kailan 6/10

over here we have some stir fried kailan. nothing much here. its just the usual stuff that you get in chinese food stalls.

fresh grilled prawns 8/10

next up we have the grilled prawns. they grill these up for you the moment you order them so they're fresh when you get it. very succulent and juicy. i really liked this one. in jkt sometimes you can get prawns up to twice this size. they're called big head prawns i think. super HUGE.

ayam gulei 10/10

over here we have ayam gulei. now this is my personal favorite dish. i can come to a padang restaurant and eat nothing but this, rice and chilli. basically its chicken coconut milk and some spices. just super good. the gravy is the best part.

tofu with beans 6/10

this is just some long beans and tofu. pretty good but nothing to rave about.

tapioca leaves 9/10

now this is interesting. tapioca leaves cooked in coconut milk and other things. yeah you'll notice that practically everything is cooked with coconut milk. so its very peranakan-ish. but anyway, these are deceivingly yummy. the texture of the leaves make it mildly chewy and very flavorful. they go very well with all the other meats. its reallyyy good.

fried potato mash 7/10

lastly we have this thingy here called prekadel. i'm not sure if its spelt that way but basically its fried potato mash.

so basically thats the end of our meal. if you're interested drop by the restaurant for some interesting food that you might not try otherwise. its located on the right side of paragon. its the old building there.

Garuda Restaurant - Opposite Paragon

prices are about $5-10 per dish