Usually, when
people talk about eating Padang food, I believe what comes into your mind is a
simple depot with natural air conditioner (read: No AC) located by the side of
the road, where you'll sweat a lot while enjoying your dishes. Or something
better might be a restaurant, where all the dishes will be displayed on your
table, then you can immediately choose which one to have. But still, the
restaurant must be the one having very simple design, where people merely care
about what they eat, instead of the ambiance.
Dining in Marco,
you will surely get a totally new experience in enjoying Padang cuisines. Marco
try to create a breakthrough by letting the guests enjoying luscious Padang
dishes in a first-class ambiance. Offering Padang Peranakan cuisines, the
spacious venue brings out classic and elegant design. Looking by the restaurant
only, you might even not notice that it’s a Padang restaurant. Not to mention
the service, which is highly pleasant as well. All the waiters and waitresses
deliver very warm greetings and are highly responsive to any of the guests’
requests (including taking quite many
pictures of my foodie friends and I :P ). Thanks to the waitress as well
for all the recommended dishes she informed to us and here were the ones served
on our table.
Rice is definitely
a must every time you have Padang dishes. This time, we ordered Nasi Sayo or
commonly known as Nasi Ramas. Some of
you might have been familiar with those two names, while some might have not
yet. So basically, it’s rice coming from Solok with Padang’s sauces and chilis.
As what you have been familiar with, when you dine in any Padang restaurants,
you will get many sauces poured on your rice in order to give you richer taste
to be enjoyed. The same exactly went to this one. I loved all the sauces mixed
on the plate. I could even say that I had been very happy though I was only given
this to eat.
However, you
needn’t worry as my friends and I did not only eat that Nasi Sayo without
adding any other dishes as the ‘toppings’. So the first additional dish we
ordered was basically the veggie element, Gado-gado Padang. Mixing tofu and
boiled egg with various veggies including cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, and bean
sprouts; and then pouring peanut sauce on top of it, I personally think there’s
no much difference between Padang’s Gado-gado with Jakarta’s one. Since I’m
indeed a fan of this traditional dish, I really enjoyed this one. Just one
thing, I wished they could give more peanut sauce so it would be even more
delicious.
I often eat eel
but it used to be only in Japanese restaurant, which is Unagi. I’m really mad
of it as I admire both the texture and the taste. However, I’ve never tried eel
in Indonesian version. So this was my first time and unexpectedly, I fell in
love at the first try with Indonesian’s eel. Having it cooked with traditional
recipe from Bukittinggi, which was using green chili sauce, this eel version
has successfully blown my mind away. The texture of the eel was indulgingly
crispy and the sauce was a perfect balance of savoury and spicy taste.
Randang! The
beef-based dish, which I’ve never missed in every single time I dine in Padang restaurant.
I extremely adore it and therefore, I also wanted to try Marco’s version of it.
Guess what happened? Marco made me get addicted to Randang even more! The beef
was flawlessly cooked as it was so tender and juicy. Moreover, hands down to
the sauce! It did pamper my taste bud until I could not stop eating the sauce
though the beef’s already gone.
Looking at the
picture, you might wonder whether I’ve mistakenly written the dish name. No, I’m
not. This was indeed Marco’s version of Ayam Pop. Appearance and taste wise,
for me this was more suitable to be called as fried chicken instead of Ayam
Pop. However, since the taste was succulent as it was well-seasoned; who cares
about the name, or whether it’s similar to the common Ayam Pop or not.
Another
not-to-be-missed one was this Soto Padang. For me, this was certainly a very
rich blend of spices. Though I couldn’t name all the ingredients used for the
broth, I could assure you that this dish would cause you an addiction. Besides,
the presentation was awesome as well and I believe you’ve never seen such
appearance for Soto Padang in your entire life. Please note, don’t forget to
mix it with the lime and chili sauce to get the heavenly taste!
Finally, the
award winner of all the dishes I’ve tried at Marco, Dendeng Batokok! One word
for this traditional recipe from Kerinci, I.M.P.R.E.S.S.I.V.E! For all of you
who plan to dine soon in Marco, trust me, you will surely regret if you don’t
order this one. As the beef was thinly sliced, the texture became appetizingly
crispy. Most importantly, the scrumptious sauce, which was basically made of
sweet soy sauce, red onion, and various spices. Together, they have created the
best Dendeng Batokok ever!
At first, I felt
quite reluctant to dine in Marco as I thought why bother I should pay that much
just for Padang dishes. However, my mind turned 180 degree upon trying their dishes.
Though it was quite pricey and the portion was indeed tiny, Marco did deserve a
try from any Padang dish lover. It was doubtlessly a delightful dining
experience!
Taste: 9/10
Place: 9.5/10
Service: 9/10
Price: 8/10
Thanks
for Reading! :)
MARCO
PADANG GRILL
Address:
Lotte Shopping Avenue, 3rd Floor
Other
Location: Setiabudi 1, 1st Floor
Phone:
(021) 2988 9377
Operating Hours: Mon - Sun 10am - 10pm
Find me on:
Inputs & comments: jessicagaby@ymail.com
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