This is my first trip of visiting Batam. I often hear negative stories about Batam thus I kept procrastinating about my trip till I cannot hold it out any longer….
Well, whether those negative stories are true or not, I muster up all my courage and travel there. Being a traveller or backpacker, everywhere and anywhere can be DANGEROUS. I will follow the safest way/route and the rest I leave it to fate, be tawakal, insya-Allah all is well.
Furthermore I wasnt really satisfied with my last tanjung pinang trip and thus I decided to give Indonesia a second try.
On my last trip to Tanjung Pinang, I wanted to taste the street food but instead was ushered to those “tourist traps”…so I got some unfinished “mission” to complete.
Took penguin ferry +holiday inn hotel package 1 night stay (wanted HARRIS but read reviews that the hotel is old and small. The only tempting thing is its wooden baked PIZZA)
And so I immedately walked out of the shopping centre to its neighbouring food centres and street. There we went to a local nasi padang stall. Wanted to go to the packed one, it is so crowded. And so we decided to go to the non-crowded nasi padang. Okay..the food a bit saltish…okeylah…still not satisfied because there is no rendang.
But i tried their famous APOKAT JUICE .It is avocado juice mixed with chocolate syrup. I was hesitant to try it at first because I tasted avocado juice at Bugis flea market and found it to be “jerlak”/muak . But strangely, this is refreshingly GOOD! No signs of jerlak..probably the chocolate syrup is the answer. Or perhaps they add some lime juice…I dunno, I just guessed.
I went to the next door popular nasi padang stall and tapow back some food. I ordered kerikil lemak (tendon in coconut gravy), daun singkong is finished (popular indonesian tapioca leaves), rendang is long gone! So I ordered only the kerikil and tripe.
The nasi padang stall is on the left side (click to enlarge pic)
Kerikil is soft ,chewy and yummy.(In Singapore , u can find it at Garuda restaurant)
A close u of the kerikil. It looked like a sotong. A friend told me that Kerikil could be seafood. I done my research and conclude that it is beef tendon. But this close up makes me think twice…
Tripe was tender
Beside this packed nasi padang stall, there is a popular bakso stall. I see the orders kept coming in and the locals kept eating.
Yummy robust broth with springy meat balls! SPicy and shiok!
Keropokman
Cobbler on the move….
Fizzy sweet coconut juice anyone?RP1000 only=20cents.
Tried its fried fritters (mostly tahu and tempeh, tasted so good!), mee bakso (singapore mee bakso tasted like maggi mee broth, mild tasteless but this one is the real thang!), grilled bananas with chocolate and cheese toppings (weird but good!), many types of pempek (fish cake mixed with flour and has many types of fillings and fried/steamed eaten with vinegar soya sauce)
Grilled bananas with cheese and chocolate rice toppings (RP5000)
Pempek is fish cake of all types of fishes and there are some with quail eggs or chicken eggs in it. Some people called it “kapal selam” /submarine but in Batam, its known as pempek.
Biggest pempek is the special one which has whole chicken egg in it.
Wanted to try their satay but wasnt ready yet.(Indonesian satay , I think they poured the gravy over its bbq satay meat and rice cakes because that was what I had 8 years ago in Tg Pinang..satay in a bowl)
I think at night, Nagoya would be a blast because this place is famous for its entertainment and pasar malam of food. But also heard of its “notorious” tales too. So I decided to follow the shuttle bus back to hotel which is about 6pm.
If u think, Singapore is hot, here it is burning hot! Still searching for the indonesian rendang, we passed by an eatery many times but because it was covered in bamboo blinds thus I thought it was closed until one of us decided to buy a drink there. Then I saw the rendang. So black..so thick and it has those tiny potatoes too! I bet this must be very YUMMY!! 2 pieces cost only RP2500 about 50cents?So cheap…if in the shopping centre, expect the price to be 3 or 4X more..Indeed the rendang is so shiok like the ones I tapow from tanjung pinang. Very similar , very yummy!Once u taste this rendang, the local rendang will never enchant u again…
Directions: Once u exit Nagoya (shopping centre is at ur back), walk straight to end of street then turn right. The nasi padang has a bamboo blinds and it is small.
And to cool those blistering heat and to quench our thirst, we had the award winning (state in its signage) ES TELER- a sweet ice dessert (not shaven ice but crushed ice) with shredded coconut, mango and avocado. It is very sweet so u need to let the ice melts a little first before u consumed. Very refreshing… I wonder whether the local ES TELER has similar dessert?Hmm…
Sambal goreng (tahu+tempeh+gizzard)
Kerikil masak gulai (beef tendon)
I love this ikan bakar!!! I dont really fancy small fishes with bones but this one I ate 2!
Green chilies are a MUST HAVE in all padang restaurants
chicken rendang
This one has a unique name sounded like chinese (forgotten its name) but the taste is similar to gado-gado only sweeter. (ordered separately)
Mutton curry
Egg curry
This rendang is a bit dry…Overall the food is good.
continue to Part 3…
salam putri,
I read on your interesting blog on batam. Me will be gg to batam with my family(first timer) next week…. just to enquire about the halal food there. How can we know that the restaurants there are halal? Do they carry a Halal certs??
Many Thanks,
minniemom
normally in batam the will carry halal certs for hallal restauran
wsalam wr.wb.
Hmm..HALAL cert? I did not see but I did enquire and ask the staff whether it is HALAL or its Muslim-owned.Of course, u also need to trust ur heart, if u dont feel good, leave it, k? Hope u have a yummilicious trip there!
the food name that sounded like chinese is siomai
I enjoyed lot in Batam. We had a great dinner in the open street food where lot of array food shops will be there and the young girls will come to ask us what food we need. Please let me know what's the place called.
Do you have any Indonesia recipes? I miss them badly.
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Thanks,
Rajee
Salam pu3
Wow sedap gila nampak sampai air liur meleleh. Tak sabau nak makan. Hehehe Batam here I come.
Terima kasih many many for the info.
Remy Wijaya
yummy looking food!
same as you, i resist going to batam becoz of negative stories. but plan to for a day trip to savor delicious indonesia food.
may i know what time the sate stall opens for business? thks!