Botak Cun Khas Medan
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Location : Batam Center, opposite main entrance of Royal Grande estate. Google map : Search for "Dhillon Sport" or "Rumah Makan Makassar" . They are along the short row of shophouses together with Botak Cun.
Operating hours : 0730-2100. Closed on Mondays
Speciality :
Authentic Medan food
Food : 4.2/5 (using duck egg) , 3.9/5 (using chicken egg)
Value : 4.2/5 for such quality, taste, cleanliness
Conclusion : At time of this post - the *BEST* (chop,stamp,100% saliva) noodle Medan cuisine, in Batam. All their noodles and rice are flown from Medan. Satay and ifun mie binjai are **awesome**. Their beehoon - bouncy "Q" ! Their Bakmie noodle
can fight with MOMO! There's really an aroma & texture difference between using duck egg and chicken egg in their dishes - as on Day1 - using duck egg, Day 2 - using chicken egg.
Strongly Recommended Dishes : Satay, I Fun Mie BinJai, Beehoon Goreng, Nasi Goreng, Bakmie. Best use duck egg in the goreng dishes.
Dinner Disadvantage : By 1930pm - no tables. Full. So it's either arrive before 1900hrs, or after 2030hrs - but expect ingredients to run out like longtong, kangkong, petai, etc. Otherwise, as observed - join the standing queue to dabao instead of having dinner there.
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19th Dec (sat). Went Momo for brunch. As I frequent Momo - regular familiar faces showed up as its a weekend - one of them - a 60s couple - batak from Medan. So we chat about food and we all come to conclusion that Medan is the food capital of Indonesia. We then talked about dinner together - and I mentioned Rony, Amei.
The outspoken Ibu said : "XXXX ???". Started talking about this "Botak Cun" best , best and best. Her husband - who owns a milling factory - doesn't talk much but kept nodding his head at me whenever I gazed at him (for validation). I swear on my toes, the more she described about the dishes, the textures, tastes and his ingredients, the more my mind was going food-crazy. That's really
not a good thing - bcz she indirectly set a high expectation of this place in me - due to the fact she's from the food-capital and has been in Batam for 30+ years. In other words, my mind is skewed to "it's the best (Medan cuisine in Batam)".
Day 1 - 2000hrs.
5 of us managed to grab the last free table (on the road). Botak's niece started taking our order. Ibu ordered close to 7 dishes for sharing. She said "telor bebek", and the niece explained to me that using duck egg - the food would taste and smell more delicious. Ok.
Whilst waiting for the food, I took photos
Boss - Ah Cun (He's bald, hence Botak Cun)
Open "Kitchen" - clean, sanitary
Dishes queuing up for cooking. No houseflies due to that candle
My anticipation was *bursting*. We waited 40mins. I do not know what to expect - but my bar was high thanks to Ibu's "sales-talk" lol. The dishes came :
Satay
**DISTINCTION**
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Side profile of the satay~~~
This *is* the
BEST satay I have ever eaten in Batam & SG (days of the satay club at shenton way, and at newton circus , 18 years ago). The satay is chunky/meaty/juicy and downright chewy. The peanut + dunnowhat gravy - was aromatic and non-spicy. (for those who like spicy gravy - add green chili puree). Unfortunately - there was no more longtong. But it didn't dent my thoughts about the satay at all. This is the satay winner ! (gawd , I'm drooling as I write and thinking about it in my mouth).... At RP5K/stick - can't say it is cheap compared to roadside stalls of dubious ingredient quality, but for the delightful texture/tastes Live-2-Eat viewpoint - it is definitely not expensive. Strongly Recommended.
I Fun Mie BinJai
**DISTINCTION** & KweTiau Goreng (Good)
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THAT I Fun Mie (pronounced ee-foon-mee) Binjai...... Deep fried crispy I-Fun noodles.... coupled with that thick ultra-sick gravy (I dun call it sauce/soup!) with duck egg .... it is pharrrrrrking WICKED..... ppppphhhaaarrrkkk.. I tell you how I reacted ... I was exactly like that silly female judge when she tasted Stephen Chow's char siew rice in God of Crockery movie ... "why .. Why ! WHYYYYyyyyy !!!!" PHAAAAaaaaarrkkkkkkkk~~~!!!
The aroma from the duck egg , with the texture of the some part crispy & some part soft of the noodle (since it is absorbing the gravy), and that gravy...... AIYOOOOOO - KILL me LAAAA ...
KNN Laaaaaa!! My partner didn't make any comment - she, for the first time, finished her portion faster than any of us and scooped 2nd helpings.
A MUST TRY.
The Kwetiau Goreng, was nice. Truly it was . But I need to say my mind was blown away by the I Fun Mie Binjai - and the Kwetiau Goreng just pales in-comparison. My rating of this dish has become bias. I'm sorry I am not able to make proper judgement. I'll take Ibu's word for it - that it is delicious.
CheeCheongFun (CCF) Goreng & I Fun Mie (IFM) Goreng (Good)
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The CCF Goreng wasn't too flavorful. I told the niece is because CCF is essentially rice - so seasoning, condiments need to add more (just like eating strong flavor food with nasih putih).
IFM Goreng was good. It's primarily because the noodle texture and taste was good to begin with (airflown from medan).
BakMie **MANTAP**
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Anyone who likes Momo's noodles, solid quality noodles, and Bakchor mee type of food , GO FOR IT. Dun think 2x liao. Period. The noodles are "Q" and bouncy. I was already very full. Yet, I finished that bowl of Bakmie (partner took afew mouthfuls to give me her opinions as well). Recommended.
Nasi Goreng (No photo)
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Using hey-bee-hiam (prawn paste) + hey-bee + other spices, this dish is popular (as I can tell all tables have nasi goreng). Maybe I was just too full. I took one mouthful and noted the strong spicy seasoning and the prawn paste. Was it good ? For me, not so bcs I am not able to taste anything else in the nasi goreng (the egg aroma, the pork, the salt, the condiments, etc) - as the spiciness killed my (sensitive) tastebuds. I can't rate this dish - but it is popular.
After dinner, we chatted and discussed more about food. Because the niece said that cooked with duck egg is more aromatic and tasty then using chicken egg, and I wanted to confirm what she said as well as try other dishes - we book a table at 7pm the next day.
Continue to Day 2