Rendang's birthplace — West Sumatra Minangkabau food, the best in the world
Padang is the capital of West Sumatra and the name the world gave to one of Asia's greatest culinary traditions. Nasi Padang — steamed rice surrounded by dozens of small dishes of rendang, gulai, sambal, and green curry — was voted the world's most delicious food by CNN in 2011, and every version you eat in a restaurant outside Sumatra is a copy of what you find here. The city sits between the Indian Ocean and the dramatic Anai Valley cliffs.
Padang was established as a Dutch VOC trading port in 1663 and became the colonial capital of West Sumatra. The Minangkabau people — whose traditional territory surrounds Padang — are one of the world's largest matrilineal societies, where property passes through the female line and men traditionally leave to seek their fortune (merantau). This tradition of migration explains why Padang restaurants appear in every city in Indonesia and across Southeast Asia, all descending from West Sumatra.