All sorts

Batam is great for seafood and it's a real blessing down in Pulau Galang as this is where most of Batam's fresh catch comes ashore​.

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Eating around Batam

There's a great cultural mix of ethnic groups in Batam. Every Indonesia flavour is available alongside Western and Chinese cuisine. But when in Rome...

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Street fare in Batam is just as good as the restaurants albeit in a more authentic setting! Many specialities that have long disappeared from the scene in other parts of Southeast Asia are still available in and around Batam.

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"I was over the moon to rediscover Kueh Putu from a little stall on a street corner in Tiban Centre! I first tasted this some 30 years ago 'on a little street in Singapore'! But like many things, th etraditional way had to make way for progress in Singapore and it disappeared! Now here it is"... Ed.

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Good local food is easy to find in the urban areas of Nagoya, Batam Center and Kepri. The mega-malls, the hotels have it and it spills over to the streets! But what happens when you jump on your bike and head down the highway?..

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Eat your way south 
First of all, after Bridge 1 it becomes further apart and will get more basic the further south you go. so here's our "Highway Guide".

 

Bridge 1. Corn, corn, corn! Corn, corn, corn!
Every stall along the bridge road sells - corn! It is grown in the farms further south so it's fresh and very good not to mention cheap. At about IDR 8000 ($0.80 cents) it's a bargain.

Just on the approach to the bridge on the western side you will see a big sign Barelang Resort. Head down this road and you will find the Barelang Seafood Restaurant. This is very good. Tasty treats with black pepper crab being highly recommended. Visit here in the afternoon and you will have a splendid view of Bridge One in the afternoon sun.

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Bridge 2. Also corn, corn, corn and our pick of the bunch is the stall right at the southwest trunk of the bridge. This stall has a nice place to sit and admire the view out towards Sumatra.
Highly recommend the sweet corn but the best choice is to mix 'sweet' with the 'chilly' flavour.

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Just south of Bridge Two, is the Nipah Island Resort. Yes it is an island although it won't feel like it but that is what the bridge is all about!
A big statue of a fish and a prawn herald The Golden Fish. Nipah Island Resort is the most modern of resorts down in the Barelang Region. Here you can find very good food and especially the seafood!

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Lady cyclists please note: this will be your last chance at a nice toilet for the next 50kms'!

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About 1km after Nipah Island Resort you will see a sign on the right side "Kelong Seafood" this is also very good and you do sit on a floating Kelong (fish farm).

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 Things thin out from here... Until ,

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Bridge 5. This is in our view, the most picturesque area from the Trans-Barelang Highway. On the southwestern side of the bridge is Lucky Seafood. Here you can sit in an authentic restaurant setting while gazing at the arch of bridge five.

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Then it really thins out...

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There's the Mirota Minimart about 6km's south of Bridge 5. Here you can get most items from a well stocked sundry shop. Everything from hardware to cold drinks and loads of Indo-mee!

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Bridge 6, the last of the Barelang Bridges. About 20km's after the ex-Vietnam Refugee Camp, you can find a good Warung selling Ayam Penyet (fried chicken with rice). This stall is very popular with the biking fraternity of Batam. 

The Ayam Penyet is very good and the sambal is spicy. You will have to eat with your fingers as that is the local style of things. Prices are a knock out... You can feed four for IDR 120,000! (Approximately ($12). 

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Round-about.

70km's of great highway come to... An abrupt round-about! Most cyclists just circle the round-about and head north again. But if  you go straight through the round-about and onto the dirt road when you come to the very end of the road you will be as far south as you can posiibly go. There's a park at Galang Bahru where you can get fresh kupang (shellfish) otherwise the food at the park is just instant noodles!

 

The resorts along the way such as Galang Anchorage, Kelong Almira and Mirota Beach have meals available but need to be organised beforehand. 

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