British beef Wellington undergoes spicy makeover with rendang at hip Arab St eatery
The Arab Street enclave’s latest addition to its increasingly cool collection of restaurants is The Padangton, a casual Muslim-owned eatery that serves nasi padang-inspired dishes with a contemporary twist. Their signature dish is the amusingly named Beef Padangton, a fresh take on the English beef Wellington using beef or lamb shank rendang as its stuffing.
The owners of The Padangton are four cousins brought together by their love for Padang (the capital city of West Sumatra Province in Indonesia that popularised nasi padang) dishes. Their fusion dishes are inspired by both Indonesian grub and other cuisines they’ve enjoyed on their travels, like beef Wellington and sushi.
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What’s a Padangton?
The classic beef Wellington is a communal dish starring beef tenderloin covered in a layer of pâté, minced mushrooms, sometimes ham, then wrapped in puff pastry and baked till golden-brown. According to the owners, their signature Beef Padangton features beef shin chunks braised in rendang gravy encrusted in a flaky pastry. The beef rendang comes from a family recipe via co-owner Mohammad Burhan Bin Khalip’s mother who’s of Padang descent. He dreamt up the idea of the Padangton and first hawked it at Ramadan bazaars along with his cousins before setting up this dine-in space.
Beef Padangton Taste Test, $14.50
While the traditional beef Wellington is commonly served in slices because of its large size, the Padangton is served whole as a petite personal portion. No pâté, mushrooms or ham are in this spicy version. Which means this looks like a mini beef Wellington, but is essentially a fancier curry puff/pie in spirit. We had one delivered to us and found the rempah in the rendang filling very punchy and fragrant with aromatics. While the marinade was shiok, the large shin beef chunks needed more time to soften as they were a bit chewy. And we wish the puff pastry enveloping the meat was more buttery — it had a somewhat sweet, processed flavour that we’ve encountered in some commercial brands of pastry.
Lamb Shank Rendang Padangton Taste Test, $27
This luxe lamb shank version looks adorable, with a smallish bone peeking out of the pastry. The shreds of meat within are fork-tender and more succulent than the beef, although the spice mix used here is milder and less addictive.
Fun decor
The cheery 25-seater is decked in tropical colours with neon yellow signage. The rendang-centric menu features a tight menu of seven dishes and drinks like teh tarik (skip this as it tastes more of condensed milk than tea).
Here are other items to try: 
Sushi Pulut Rendang Padang, $12.50 for eight pcs
Instead of vinegared rice and seafood, you get a “sushi roll” of beef rendang enveloped in pulut (glutinous rice with coconut milk and turmeric) and topped with serunding (grated coconut cooked with spices). It’s served with Padang sambal ijo (green chilli sambal) to represent wasabi.
Pulled Beef Rendang Fries, $9.50
Crinkle-cut fries topped with shredded beef rendang. A chicken rendang option is available too.
The Padangton is at 2 Jln Klapa, S199314. Open daily except Mon 10am-9pm. More info via their Website, Facebook & Instagram
Additional reporting by Florence Fong
Videos & Photos: Padangton & Florence Fong
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