Time: 1pm.
Weather: Cold, rainy, miserably grey.
State of tummy: Totally empty, furiously growling (due to skipping breakfast).
Rice with bergedil and stirfried beansprouts.
Prescription: Nasi padang.
To start with, nasi (rice) with the prerequisite veggie and must-order-at-every-nasi-padang-meal bergedil. No earth-shattering moment here. Just your classic fried potato ball done the way it should be.
Sambal sotong.
What’s that I spy on every table? Ok, let’s have the same.
Take a big, fat squid, snip it into rings, and douse with ketchup-y sambal. Soft sotong with just a sufficient touch of chewiness. Thick, sweet, and not-too-spicy sauce. Mmm…so addictive.
Kari ayam.
Let’s have something to warm that cold, empty tummy. How about some good ol’ chicken curry?
A whole chicken leg, thoughtfully snipped into three manageable pieces. Such fresh and tender meat. And the curry? Not too spicy, not too thick, very fragrant, very smooth, and tasty with a hint of tanginess. In short, perfect.
Nasi Padang River Valley
55, Zion Road
Singapore 247780
Tel: 6734 3383
Open: 11am – 9pm (earlier if food sells out)
Closed on Mondays & public holidays
Hear Julia on radio every Thursday 12:15pm as she shares a Foodie Lunch Pick on 938LIVE's F-Cube with hosts Eugene Loh and Levisha Kumar. 
i like the complimentary curry that comes with the rice. really full of spices and not too hot. very nice. but my squid that day was rather “raw”… still, good place for nasi padang, me thinks.
i like the sambal satong picture! I think my friend was telling me about this nasi padang too, at zion road one! haha
hey nic,
totally agree with you about the curry. too bad about the slightly raw sotong, guess they were erring on the side of not overcooking the squid. occasional hiccup aside, most of the time, the nasi padang here is generally very good.
hey brad, we should make a date for nasi padang outing one of these days!