Arni's Kitchen, Minang Cuisine Food Truck in DC

I had never heard of Minang Cuisine either.

It's the cuisine of West Sumatra in Indonesia, aka Padang (not to be confused with Penang in Malaysia).

This dark brown and unassuming food truck was parked on 7th St on the Mall, in between Air and Space and the Hirshhorn. It was a solitary outpost across the street from a row of hot dogs/burgers/philly cheesesteak food trucks with garish look-alike signs and blaring music. Due to the cold weather and museum closures, there were very few people out and nobody crossing the street for this truck.

I went for the batagor (which, again, was new to me). Fish and tofu dumplings. Tofu is slathered with a fish paste and wrapped with a wonton with scallions and then deep fried. Served with a very thick peanut sauce spiked with fried onions and hoisin. Don't expect any fish flavor, each fritter is a very large fritter, all crispy and oily, and the sauce provides the flavor. Other options include rendang, satays, nasi goreng, and mie goreng, I was pleased to find this, in a sea of junk alternatives.