Batam, Indonesia - Pork Dishes and San Francisco Bridge

Masakan Karo (Karo Cuisine) is a North Sumatera cuisine. I had a chance to eat it served by the Chinese in Batam. I am not an expert but so it seems and stand corrected. They also have BBQ pork "char siew". The curry pork was exceptional. Lots of lemongrass and lime leaves (daun limau purut) and coconut milk (santan). I would have ordered 2nd and 3rd helpings but for the sake of decorum I restrained myself.

This eatery is in a temporary structure and tucked in a spacious open land with lots of trees off a dual carriageway. Many Chinese were actually having their lunch there. Another good thing was their juices/smoothies. Its was not diluted. I had a local fruit (did not get the name) smoothie which was purplish/red in colour.

The soup on the side (free) with a chunk of trotter but mostly used for the broth.

I had "char siew" with some finely chopped greens. Not sure what it is but the aftermath of the next day's output was coloured green.

This Dry Tangy Pork Curry was really good. Tangy with a compendium of herbs and spices with very strong aroma of limau purut (Lime leaves) and serai (lemon grass).Dry Fish CurryCondiment

I was taken on a tour to their "San Francisco Bridge". They said you have not been to Batam unless one had stepped onto the bridge. The ancient bridge in the USA was red in colour the last I visited it in 1996. This was concrete grey as it was left unpainted which was normal. There were many local tourists enjoying the sight and taking in the breeze as the weather in Batam was as hot as it is in KL.

With a population of 1 million this island was developed to rival and siphon off some the riches of Singapore. Ex-President Habibie actually had a series of six bridges built linking Batam southwards to bind the 7 islands together. The journey from Batam to the other end will take 2 hours I was told but I did not venture out due to time constraint.

From the Google's satellite picture one can see the dual carriageway and the 6 bridges. It basically doubled Batam's landmass and also increased the seabed/shoreline many fold. This is synergy!

Barelang Bridge aka San Francisco Bridge is 644m in length.

View from the bridge.