Bamboo Nasi Rendang⁣

Cooking rice in bamboo pole is not uncommon in South-East Asia and amongst certain minority ethnic groups in China Yunnan Province. In most places, sticky or glutinous rice is used just like the popular Malay festive lemang that uses glutinous rice and coconut milk.

Lately, we heard about this new stall in Chinatown market selling Nasi Rendang cooked in bamboo and decided to check it out. We pre-ordered the Bamboo Nasi Rendang few days in advance as advised by the owner. True enough, the “Sold Out” sign was up even before the stall started operation when we arrived. Here, lemak basmati rice instead of glutinous rice is used. In fact, it is the same rice that they serve in their nasi lemak dishes. The rice, together with their signature rendang meat (chicken, beef, lamb shank and prawn), is wrapped in aromatic leaf called daun lerek and steamed in bamboo poles for 3 hours.

The rendang meat is tender and has a good depth and complexity of flavour. Each plate of the bamboo nasi rendang is served with a small bowl of gravy that goes well with the basmati rice. We also tried the normal nasi rendang (without cooking in bamboo) and I enjoyed the rendang just as much and the rice fluffier.

The star here is definitely the rendang. The interesting cooking method in bamboo is a novelty but, in my opinion, it does not enhance the flavour and aroma of the nasi rendang further by a big margin. In fact, I find the rice a bit too moist after steaming for 3 hours.

I will come back again for their Nasi Lemak and Nasi Rendang, it does not have to be the bamboo version.

Bamboo Nasi Rendang⁣
Chinatown Complex Foodcourt
#02-154 (Red Section)⁣
11am - 6pm⁣
Call 9898 2001⁣ to pre-order.