We're going places (Part 3) - The food

There was one thing that I had exceeds the number I took bath during the whole stay;). It is called Alpokat. Hubby wondered what that was and ordered one and I was hooked. We had 3 Indonesians with us, the driver, a staff from the car rental company and a professor (but he is now Malaysian permenant resident). They explained about the fruit but we were a bit confused. For a while we thought it was apricot until the professor pointed out that the Indonesian has local avocado, I told him it tasted exactly like avocado.

The fruit also looks exactly like avocado except it has smooth skin, not the crocodile type. It is either blended to give the thick texture like milk-shakes (but it tastes better than any milk shakes I had) or scooped and served with blended ice, both come with milk and melted chocolate. I love the latter more. I had it for every meal after our second lunch when hubby saw the menu. Even while watching sunset at Teluk Bayor in our last evening there. Planned to buy the fruit to bring home but could not find the time, remember that was a business trip not a holiday;). Must have it again in Danau Toba, and will most probably make my own at home.



I have been to a few Padang restaurents here but it was never like the real Nasi Padang. Well, the type of food is similar but not the presentation. A huge selection on your table, we got overwhelmed to first time.

There are Ikan and Ayam Percik that tasted exactly like we have here. And there Masak Cili, and Masak Lemak. In Bukittinggi, they serve a lot of beef, all part of a cow;) and the famous one is the Kikil or tendon. We saw a hospital there, specifically for patients with stroke. The driver said it was because of the diet of the people, not very sure if he was just joking.

The kids love the chicken, they are Ayam Kampung, the meat is just lean and nice. See how Bea3 feeds herself, and lefthanded Bea2 still needs practise to use her rightie. Alhamdulillah, he girls were ok with the food. They had a little digestion problem, but I think it was more due to having some junk food that they had once at a stop.

People say everything is just cheap in Indonesia, we are careful in choosing the place we ate so we ended up in a more posh ones. But still, it is cheaper compared to here. One meal of all of us, 5 adults and 3 kids normally cost RM40 in Bukittinggi, but in Padang where seafood is abundant, it cost slightly higher.

What I also love is these restaurants have clean toilets, and prayer rooms. We also found Kuih Kapit that was made of Pulut Hitam, so it is dark purple. And also remember a snack from groundnuts and sesame seeds in caramelised sugar, cut in rectangular shape, we found one with grinded nuts, which tasted better. Both were gone in minutes, so no pics taken;). We didn't really venture much on food yet, since again that was a business trip. But I'm just grateful that the kids were ok, they are always easy with food anyway. On our last day, we just stared at that many choices of lauk pauk before us, and concluded we just had enough and settled for something light.
That's Bea3 exhausted and fall asleep during a lunchbreak.