Indonesian A La Carte Dinner Buffet
Suntec City Mall, Singapore
A Comprehensive Gastronomic Review
Overall Verdict
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5) | Value: ★★★★★ (5/5) | Authenticity: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Chopstix & Rice’s inaugural Indonesian A La Carte Dinner Buffet is a compelling proposition for anyone seeking to explore the archipelago’s rich culinary heritage without boarding a flight to Jakarta. Priced at $35.90 per person — a figure that drops to a remarkable $28.72 with eligible bank card discounts — this buffet positions itself at the intersection of accessibility and ambition. Across 25 dishes, the kitchen telegraphs a confident command of the Padang culinary tradition: bold, unapologetically spiced, coconut-laden, and rooted in the culinary customs of West Sumatra. This is not a sanitised, crowd-pleasing adaptation. It is, in the truest sense of the phrase, nasi Padang elevated.
Ambience & Setting
Nestled within the labyrinthine corridors of Suntec City Mall’s Basement 1 — a short, air-conditioned five-minute stroll from either Esplanade or Promenade MRT stations — Chopstix & Rice occupies a retail-adjacent space that manages to transcend the typical food court aesthetic without entirely abandoning its mall-dining roots.
Upon entry, the olfactory landscape immediately announces the kitchen’s intentions. The pervasive, heady perfume of galangal, lemongrass, and toasted candlenuts drifts through the space — an aromatic preamble that functions almost as a menu in itself. The warm amber and terracotta tones of the interior nod loosely toward the earthy colour palette of Minangkabau architecture, though the space is ultimately modern and functional, designed for throughput rather than immersion.
Lighting is warm and flattering — a detail that proves particularly fortuitous when the dishes arrive, as the deep ochres of the rendang, the vivid crimson of the sambal belado, and the verdant greens of the sayur lodeh all photograph magnificently. Tables are spaced with reasonable generosity for a mall setting, and the buffet counter itself is organised with an intuitive logic: proteins first, followed by vegetables, condiments, and finally the free-flow beverage station.
Service is attentive without being overbearing. Staff replenish dishes with admirable promptness during peak hours, and the halal certification — prominently displayed — reassures diners across the religious spectrum. The ambient noise level sits at a companionable medium; loud enough to feel lively, quiet enough to sustain conversation.
The Meal: A Course-by-Course Journey
The buffet dispenses with any conventional notion of courses — this is, after all, the Padang way, where everything arrives simultaneously in a glorious, communal display. Nevertheless, one naturally gravitates through the spread in a loose progression from heavier proteins to lighter vegetables, with rice as the omnipresent, essential foundation.
Beef Rendang — The Centrepiece
The award-winning Beef Rendang is, without question, the dish around which this entire buffet orbits. It arrives as a mahogany-dark, densely-spiced slow braise: chunks of beef that have been coaxed, over many hours, through the three canonical phases of rendang cooking — the kuah (wet, soupy) phase, the kalio (semi-dry) phase, and finally the rendang (fully dry, almost caramelised) phase. The result is a dish of extraordinary depth.
Colour & Visual Profile
The beef presents in a spectrum from deep umber to near-black at its most caramelised edges, with flecks of gold from the kerisik (toasted, grated coconut) that cling to the surface. The sauce — what little remains after the slow reduction — is the colour of dark molasses, glossy and deeply saturated.
Texture
The meat yields with only the gentlest persuasion — fork-tender at its core, with a slightly firmer, almost bark-like exterior where the paste has set and caramelised. The connective tissue has entirely dissolved, lending the mouthful a yielding, almost silken quality beneath the textured crust. There is no gaminess whatsoever; the aggressive spice paste has done its aromatic work thoroughly.
Flavour Architecture
The initial impression is a warm, fragrant lemongrass note — bright and citrusy, cutting through the richness. This is rapidly followed by waves of galangal (earthier and more medicinal than ginger), turmeric, and dried chilli. The mid-palate is dominated by a profound, almost smoky coconut richness from the kerisik, while the finish is long and warming, with a gentle heat that builds gradually rather than striking abruptly. This is a rendang of patience and precision.
Ayam Goreng Belado — Fire & Crunch
Where the rendang courts patience, the Ayam Goreng Belado announces itself with immediate, unabashed drama. Pieces of chicken — fried to a deep golden-bronze with shatteringly crisp skin — are lavishly coated in sambal belado, the house-made chilli paste that is simultaneously the dish’s crowning glory and its most divisive feature.
Colour & Visual Profile
A vivid, arterial red — the kind of crimson that reads as a warning and an invitation simultaneously. The sambal glistens under the warm buffet lighting, its slick surface punctuated by visible shards of red chilli, translucent slivers of shallot, and the occasional flash of lime leaf. Against the burnished gold of the fried chicken, the visual contrast is genuinely arresting.
Texture
The fried chicken exterior provides an initial satisfying crunch before yielding to moist, well-seasoned meat beneath. The sambal itself is generously applied — thick enough to coat rather than merely glaze, with a slightly jammy, almost preserve-like body from the caramelised shallots and reduced tomato.
The flavour profile opens with a sweet-tangy burst — tamarind and a suspicion of palm sugar — before the chilli heat arrives in earnest. This is not the hollow, throat-searing heat of capsaicin alone; it is a complex, layered warmth with a distinct fruity quality from the red chillies, underscored by the savouriness of shrimp paste.
Sayur Lodeh — The Unsung Champion
If the rendang is the headline act, the award-winning Sayur Lodeh is its quieter, more contemplative supporting artist — one that, upon reflection, may linger longest in the memory. This mixed vegetable curry in coconut broth is a masterclass in the use of rempah (spice paste) to elevate humble ingredients.
Colour & Visual Profile
The broth is a pale, milky ivory — the natural colour of coconut milk tempered with turmeric — through which vegetables of contrasting hues are suspended: the deep forest green of long beans and spinach, the ivory of young jackfruit, the orange-blush of carrot, and the creamy white of tempeh. It is a gentle, pastoral palette compared to the aggressive reds elsewhere on the counter.
Texture & Flavour
The vegetables retain a pleasing, restrained bite — cooked through but not dissolved into submission. The broth is the revelation: rich and unctuous with coconut fat, fragrant with galangal, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaf, and possessed of a gentle heat from bird’s eye chilli. The tempeh absorbs the broth beautifully, its inherent nuttiness amplified by the spiced coconut. This dish cools, restores, and provides essential balance to the bolder proteins.
Assam Pedas Ikan Pari — Sour, Hot, Elemental
The Assam Pedas — literally ‘sour and spicy’ — is a dish with deep roots in the Malay-Indonesian cooking tradition. Here, stingray (ikan pari) is simmered in a fiercely sour tamarind broth spiked with bird’s eye chillies, torch ginger flower (bunga kantan), and lady’s fingers. The dish is a study in contrasts: the acidity of tamarind against the richness of the fish, the tender flesh against the slightly slimy-in-the-best-sense okra.
The broth is a deep terracotta-red, tart enough to make one’s salivary glands react involuntarily. Tomatoes contribute both acidity and body, while the torch ginger flower adds a floral, almost perfumed note that distinguishes assam pedas from a mere chilli soup. The stingray flesh — gelatinous around the cartilage, firmer toward the edges — takes the heat beautifully, its natural sweetness providing counterpoint to the surrounding acid.
Eggplant Belado — Soft Luxury
The Eggplant Belado is a dish that demonstrates what happens when a vegetable with inherent neutrality meets an aggressive sauce. The brinjal — sliced and fried until soft and collapsing, almost translucent at its centres — absorbs the sambal belado like a sponge, each cube a delivery mechanism for the chilli paste. The contrast between the cushion-soft, slightly yielding eggplant and the bold, tangy sambal creates one of the buffet’s most harmonious pairings. The deep purple skin provides the only visual resistance, crinkling and darkening beautifully against the red sauce.
Signature Recipe: Beef Rendang Padang
The following recipe is an authoritative home rendition of the traditional Beef Rendang as served in the Padang tradition. This recipe yields approximately 6 servings and requires a minimum of 3–4 hours of active-passive cooking.
Ingredients
Primary Ingredients
1 kg beef chuck or brisket, cut into 5 cm cubes
800 ml full-fat coconut milk (2 cans)
200 ml thin coconut milk or water
4 stalks lemongrass, bruised
6 kaffir lime leaves, torn
4 turmeric leaves (daun kunyit), torn — substitute with extra kaffir lime if unavailable
2 tbsp palm sugar (gula Melaka), grated
1½ tsp fine sea salt, to taste
Rempah (Spice Paste)
12 dried red chillies, soaked in hot water 20 minutes, drained
8 fresh red chillies (or 5 if heat-sensitive)
10 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic
3 cm fresh galangal (lengkuas), sliced
3 cm fresh ginger, sliced
2 cm fresh turmeric (or 1 tsp ground turmeric)
4 candlenuts (buah keras) — substitute with macadamia or raw cashew
1 tsp coriander seeds, toasted and ground
Kerisik (Toasted Coconut)
150 g freshly grated coconut (or unsweetened desiccated coconut, moistened slightly)
Toast in a dry wok over medium heat, stirring constantly, until deep golden-brown (12–15 minutes)
Cooking Instructions
Step 1: Prepare the Rempah
Combine all rempah ingredients in a blender or food processor with 3–4 tablespoons of water. Process to a smooth, cohesive paste, scraping down the sides repeatedly. The paste should be homogeneous and deeply coloured — a vivid orange-red from the chillies and turmeric. Set aside.
Step 2: Toast the Kerisik
In a dry wok over medium-low heat, toast the grated coconut, stirring constantly with a spatula. The coconut will first release moisture, then begin to dry and colour. Continue stirring — do not walk away, as it burns rapidly — until the coconut is a uniform deep golden-brown (the colour of caramelised hazelnuts). Transfer immediately to a mortar and pound to a coarse, oily paste while still warm. The kerisik should clump slightly when pressed. Reserve.
Step 3: Fry the Rempah
Heat 4 tablespoons of neutral oil (or coconut oil for authenticity) in a large, heavy-based wok or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the rempah paste and fry, stirring frequently, for 10–15 minutes until the paste has darkened several shades, become fragrant, and the oil has visibly separated from the paste (pecah minyak). This step is critical: insufficient frying produces a raw-tasting, watery rendang. Add the bruised lemongrass stalks, torn kaffir lime leaves, and turmeric leaves, and fry for a further 2–3 minutes.
Step 4: Add the Beef
Add the beef cubes to the pot and stir vigorously to coat every surface with the spice paste. Cook over medium-high heat for 5–6 minutes, turning the beef until it is seared on all sides. The exterior should show some colour — a deepening from the raw pink-red of fresh beef to a browned, spice-stained surface.
Step 5: The Long Simmer — Phase One (Kuah)
Pour in the thick coconut milk and thin coconut milk. Add the grated palm sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a vigorous simmer. Cook uncovered for 45–60 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the coconut milk has reduced by approximately half and the liquid is beginning to thicken. This is the kuah phase: the rendang is still quite soupy and the colour a creamy orange-red.
Step 6: The Long Simmer — Phase Two (Kalio)
Continue cooking over a steady medium-low heat, stirring more frequently as the liquid reduces. Add the kerisik at this stage and stir to incorporate. The sauce will darken considerably, transitioning through copper and bronze toward a deep mahogany. This phase takes another 45–60 minutes. The rendang is now at the kalio stage — thick, saucy, and deeply flavoured, but not yet fully dry.
Step 7: The Final Phase (Rendang Proper)
Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring almost constantly now, for a further 30–45 minutes until the coconut milk solids have fully reduced and the mixture is nearly dry. The beef will now be coated in a dark, fragrant, almost caramelised paste rather than a sauce. There should be some visible fat — this is the coconut oil that has separated and partially recombined with the spices, contributing a glossy, unctuous finish. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Step 8: Rest and Serve
Remove from heat and allow the rendang to rest, covered, for 15–20 minutes before serving. This resting period allows the residual heat to continue working on the meat while the flavours consolidate. Serve atop steamed white rice, garnished with sliced red chilli and crispy fried shallots. Rendang improves dramatically on the second day: the flavours deepen, mellow, and integrate overnight.
A Note on Colour and Textural Progression
One of the most instructive aspects of cooking rendang is observing its chromatic journey. The rempah begins as a vivid, almost violent orange-red — the colour of a sunset caught in a rainstorm. As it fries, it deepens through copper, bronze, and rust. When the coconut milk is added, the colour softens temporarily to a creamy terracotta. Through the kuah and kalio phases, the reduction concentrates and darkens: amber, then sienna, then deep umber. In the final rendang phase, the colour is near-black at the pot’s edges where caramelisation occurs, with the centre maintaining a deep chestnut-brown.
Texturally, the beef undergoes an equally dramatic transformation. Raw, it is firm and slightly springy. After the first hour, it is tender but still holding its shape. By the kalio stage, it yields readily to pressure. In the final rendang phase, the exterior develops a slight crust from the caramelised coconut and spice paste, while the interior remains yielding, almost gelatinous with dissolved collagen — a simultaneous experience of crust and cushion that is one of the defining textural pleasures of great rendang.
Final Assessment
Chopstix & Rice’s Indonesian Dinner Buffet succeeds on the terms that matter most: authenticity, flavour integrity, and value. At $28.72 with eligible card discounts, it offers one of the most compelling nasi Padang experiences currently available in Singapore’s competitive dining landscape. The Beef Rendang alone — awarded, acclaimed, and deserving of both — justifies the visit.
The ambience, while firmly situated within the pragmatic reality of mall dining, is warm and welcoming. The service is efficient. The food — spiced with conviction, cooked with care, and presented without apology — speaks for itself.
Come hungry. Come with a group. And come ready to be reminded that great cooking is, at its core, about patience, spice, and the willingness to let time do its work.
Chopstix & Rice | #B1-100/101, Suntec City Mall | Mon–Fri 11am–9:30pm | Sat–Sun 11am
