Besides having a wide variety of attractive tourist sites, West Sumatra could be said to be a heaven for people whi like to try new, exciting cuisine. In Bukittinggi alone, there is nasi kapau (rice and spicy condiments) – which has become famous all over the Indonesian archipelago.
The Bukitiinggi administration has especially provided space for the sellers of this specific rice menu from the Kapau region. This space is known as los lambuang and is located in Pasar Teleng. Other dishes such as sate (meat skewered on a stick) and ketupat sayur, a specific dish from the Pitalah area, can be found all over West Sumatra.Besides these foods, a number of tasty snacks have made their places of origin famous. Among these are kalamai (rice and fruit taffy) from Payakumbuh; kerupuk sanjai (cassava chips) from Sanjai, Bukittinggi; and sala lauak (fish fritters) from Pariaman
In the entire there are over 300 restaurants, besides the thousands of roadside food stands anda coffee stalls. Restaurants serving Mingangkabau cuisine are widely known, both in West Sumatra and throughout the archipelago, as Rumah Makan Padang.
These restaurants have a unique style of management as well as a specific way of serving and presenting food to guests. The management system of these Minangkabau restaurants is such that the people working in them feel as if they own a part of the enterprise. This is because they have contributed a segment of the capital ( in line with their role in the restaurant) needed to run the business.. This system is known as itungan mato.