The Lankan engagement with Indonesian cuisine is paradoxical. On the one hand, nasi goreng, mee goreng, and satays (authentic or otherwise) find their way onto the menus of so many of our restaurants, but beyond that, we know next to nothing about Indonesian food. 

Sumatran Spice at the Food Studio offers a solution to this – an opportunity to explore Indonesian cuisine in an informal food court setting. Specialising in Sumatra’s signature  Padang cuisine, the kitchen at Sumatran Spice is led by Nani de Silva, who first started out introducing Lankans to authentic Indonesian food at the Good Market. 

The Sunday Morning Brunch recently visited the Food Studio, sitting down with Nani to try some of Sumatran Spice’s more unusual signature dishes. Nani, who is Indonesian, has made her home in Sri Lanka for over 35 years and has worked with food for over 10 years. 

Sumatran Spice is something that Nani has literally put together using her passion for the flavours of her homeland. She manages Sumatran Spice with an open but firm hand, checking on quality and making sure that each dish is as authentic as it could possibly be. 

All the spice and curry pastes used in Sumatran Spice’s food are her own recipe. Incidentally, some of these pastes are available for purchase at Sumatran Spice under Nani’s own label Far East. These mixes include sambals made from green and red chillies (these sambals have different purposes: the green chilli sambal – sambal cabe ijo – works very well as a dip and the red chilli sambal – sambal oulek – works better in marinades, for example), peanut paste, and of course, curry mixes like the famous rendang curry paste and gulai paste – the pastes you need to make a great Indonesian seafood curry. 

The only imported ingredient Sumatran Spice uses is kecap manis, the sweet soy sauce used to complete dishes like nasi goreng. This sauce is difficult to make locally and so is imported. 

Now on to the food. On previous (undocumented) visits, Brunch has had the chance to sample Sumatran Spice’s mainstream dishes like nasi goreng, mee goreng, and satays. Each of these dishes has impressed us with their flavours. The Sumatran Spice nasi goreng is a far cry from the sickly sweet oil-soaked rendition of nasi goreng you find on most restaurant menus. Instead, what you get is a subtly flavoured fried rice with a hit of sweet and spice; combined with all the sides offered, it makes for a very satisfying meal. 

Our most recent visit, however, focused on two of Sumatran Spice’s unsung dishes – the beef rendang and seafood laksa. 

The seafood laksa is a symphony for the taste buds. Laksa, by definition, is a spicy, fragrant noodle soup found across Southeast Asia. It is most popular in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It consists of noodles (the Sumatran Spice laksa comes with egg noodles, but other renditions of the dish can include different kinds of noodles including vermicelli or rice noodles) cooked in a thick broth made with spices, fresh aromatics, shrimp paste, and coconut milk.

To us, laksa is peak comfort food and the Sumatran Spice laksa was indeed comforting. The spice and coconut milk can make it feel like you’re eating a flavourful curry, but pushing past that initial culture clash, you will likely find that this dish becomes a firm favourite in the soup department. 

We then moved on to the beef rendang – the Indonesian answer to rice and curry, though we must note that the Indonesian foodscape is incredibly diverse (it has over 300 ethnic influences) and this is not the only Indonesian rice and curry dish. The beef rendang is marinated in a signature mix of species and then slow-cooked for about six hours so that all those flavours can sink in and the beef can become as tender as possible. 

The flavours of the beef rendang are very subtle. You don’t have the chilli hit that you do with Sri Lankan beef curry, but the sides that come with the beef rendang more than make up for this lack of fiery spice. The dish comes with two kinds of sambal and spicy Indonesian potatoes (this form of preparation is called belado and can be used on a variety of ingredients such as eggplant and green beans). 

Personally, we didn’t think the sambals were necessary, but we’re not huge fans of chilli, so we recommend trying the rendang on its own first to appreciate its flavours before going to town with the sambals. 

Another dish of note is the chicken opor – a deceptively simple looking chicken and rice type of dish, that also comes with sides similar to the beef rendang. The chicken is cooked in turmeric, coconut milk, and chilli powder and is also definitely worth the try. 

Sumatran Spice gives you a taste of the complex but hearty cuisine of Indonesia. As the Food Studio is a mix between a food court and eatery, it also gives you the chance to take this gastronomical adventure in a casual setting. Its less-known dishes are most certainly worth taking a chance on. After all, what is life if not an adventure?