Quality over quantity at Warong Nasi Pariaman, Singapore’s oldest nasi padang restaurant

In an age when eateries open and close in Singapore at a rapid clip, a handful of heritage restaurants have kept the lights on for decades — some of them older than independent Singapore.

In the lead-up to National Day, we speak to the people behind three heritage restaurants here, and ask them what’s kept them successful over the years, how things have changed, and about their hopes and plans.

For our first and second instalment, we spoke with the third-generation guardians of Ananda Bhavan and Ka-Soh respectively. In this third instalment, we visit Warong Nasi Pariaman, said to be Singapore’s oldest nasi padang restaurant.

As I sit down with chef Jumrin Isrin at the restaurant which sits along North Bridge Road, it’s clear he’s extremely passionate about the store’s nasi padang.

The 68-year-old, who has worked at the eatery for more than three decades, tells me a few times during our interview: “You must try our food!”

Jumrin’s late parents founded the restaurant, which specialises in nasi padang, in 1948 after coming from Pariaman in West Sumatra, Indonesia.

Not much has changed since, Jumrin tells us, save an expansion of its shop space to occupy the unit next door.

The 20 or so dishes that the restaurant serves daily are made with recipes passed down from Jumrin’s parents, which have stayed the same since day one.

“We go for quality. We don’t go for quantity,” he says. “That’s why you see we cater only for lunchtime. We cook limited dishes. We finish, we go.”

Jumrin says he was lucky to have entered the business when his parents were still alive, so they could pass down the recipes to him. He joined them in his 30s after working in hospitality, as his parents were getting older and needed someone to step up to cook.

Thankfully, Jumrin enjoyed cooking.

The heritage restaurant’s signature dishes that Jumrin cooks daily include beef rendang and ayam bakar (grilled chicken), both of which are still made traditionally using a charcoal stove.

“Our beef rendang is one of the best,” he tells me confidently.

Jumrin worries about finding a replacement for his stove, known as an anglo, but remains firm that the restaurant uses traditional cooking methods to bring out the “right taste”. This is despite others having advised him to use a combi oven to speed things up.

Budgets are also tight. So improvements in the shop are kept to a minimum, with the main digitisation effort so far being its payment system.

There’s a constant stream of customers as we chat.

“If you give them good food, give them quality food… they will remember you,” Jumrin says. Its customer base appears to be largely older, but I also spot occasional young patrons. Jumrin says it’s likely their parents introduced them to the eatery.

The sprightly chef reaches the restaurant at about 5 every morning — except on Wednesdays when the restaurant is closed.

I ask what keeps him going. “When you tell me the food is good, I feel good. All tiredness is lost,” he replies with a smile.