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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...from previous post - Day 1
Day 2 (20th Dec) :
Same 5 people arrived at 1900hrs. By 1930hrs - it was full house. Walk-in customers (families) turned away when they saw full house. And a standing tabao queue had already begun forming.
We ordered 2 portions of I Fun Mie (IFM) Binjai and Satay each for sure - except that I wanted the IFM Binjai to be served last bcs that dish makes other dishes pale in-comparison and affected my judgement last night (just like my first review of Kez, where the wagyu beef totally overshadowed the chicken dish - although the chicken was solid). And told the niece - all dishes which contains egg - to use chicken egg, not duck egg.
Right timing - we waited less than 10mins for the first dish to come - perhaps thanks to table reservation.
Satay
**DISTINCTION**
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The satay HAHAHAHHAHA - yaAAAahhhhhhhh....... texture and taste consistent with my experience in the previous day
- LOVE IT. This time got longtong - it had pandan/lavender essence infused and it didn't taste flat or tasteless (like the "normal" longtong) - had a very slight subtle aroma and ever-so-slight "sweetness" to it.
I agreed with Ibu - she was right. This IS the best tasting/texture satay in Batam. Period.
I was curious how they make it, and went over to the satay station.
No smoke (means no oil/juice dripping onto the charcoal). glowing hot charcoal, lightly/no fanning.
It was BBQed over glowing red charcoal and very lightly fanning it. At no time was there fire in the charcoal, nor was there any noticeable smoke. Their's was more time consuming than the brisk way where one would see fire in the charcoal, alot of smoke, and/or the guy fanning hard at the satay/charcoal. Their method, as a result, had juices sealed in and no significant charring to the meats. I truly give thumbs-up.
Beehoon Goreng **MANTAP**
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The beehoon itself ! Is fat(ter) and therefore "munchier", and "Q" - unlike the thin beehoon many are accustomed to. And it's because of this medan beehoon's texture - that Angrek Sari's beehoon goreng is no longer a contender. Recommended.
Now this is where I start to notice that "missing something which was there yesterday". There was just something missing from my yesterday's experience. It was delicious but just not as "delicious" as dishes yesterday.
Bakmie Goreng
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Yesterday I had the superb Bakmie (bakchor mee style). This time it's the goreng version. If I didn't eat the Bakmie, I would have said this goreng was good. Not really a fair judgement. Yet bcs I can compare both versions - I will say - to stick to the bakmie version. The goreng version changed the texture of the mie - softer, less "Q". The Bakmie (bak chor mee style) is outright "better".
Again, I noted that "something-missing" in the dish.
KweTiau Goreng KangKong Belacan - Wet version (Good)
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Ibu insisted to order the wet version for this dish. And I realised why. Kangkong stems are hollow - so in the wet version - it traps the gravy inside the stems. When I chewed on the kangkong (with the trapped gravy) with the kwetiau, with each chew - the kangkong "released" the gravy into my mouth - "juicy", flavourful, tasty + the "Q" (from the kwetiau) and crunchy (from the kangkong). It was DELICIOUS for the first several mouthfuls. But later on, the kangkong naturally became soft and didn't trap the gravy anymore. In otherwords, finish it while piping hot and kangkong crunchy. LOL.
The last dish came . 2 portions of it. After we signaled for it to be cooked.
I Fun Mee Binjai (using chicken egg, not duck egg) **MANTAP**
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Same consistency as yesterday. Same thick ultra-sick gravy. Same texture of part-crispy-part-soft noodles in the gravy. We finished those 2 portions clean.
But there was a real noticeable "something missing" . Using duck egg really contributes significantly to aroma and "deliciousness". It's just different. Dun get me wrong - it is superb, but I couldn't enjoy this dish as much as yesterday. I just wasn't over the moon and going silly like yesterday because my mind kept thinking "where is that oommph ? where is it ?? where ???"
After dinner, I asked the niece to write out the prices of each item, so that I may share with people how seriously awesome Botak Cun is - a kwetiau goreng khas medan seriously worth spreading word of mouth.
Prices are based on using chicken egg. Add RP5K if use duck egg.
No longer will I go Rony. Or Tommy. Or AMei. Botak Cun is my go-to place for medan economy food.
Afternote : As we had 2 days of Botak Cun's at-least-60%-dishes-in-menu food - my partner had swollen gums and I had blood in my stools (internal piles). A sign of strong heatiness. But to put in perspective - no one would naturally order that many and eat that much - as it's typically 1 person to one dish (which is alot already).
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Next Stop : Punggur (this coming Saturday evening , 26th Dec)
While chatting away, I brought up seafood restos. As Marine Live seems no longer serving live prawns (my partner can only take healthy, live prawns) - I suggested Tg Piayu, and if too far - perhaps Rezeki.
The outspoken Ibu said : "XXXXXX ?? YYYYYY ???" . Started talking about a particular seafood resto in punggur being the best, best and best. The crab , the prawn, the clams, the prices.
Again her hubby, nodded in quiet agreement whenever I looked at him (for validation).
And again, she has indirectly set high expectations in myself (and my partner) about this resto.
We SHALL SEE !!
EEEENNNNNNJOOOOYYYYYYYY ~~~~~~ !!!!!!