Makan Kakis Trip to Batam

What do you do when you're off from work on a Saturday?? In the spirit of good fun, I joined the Makan Kakis, to Batam, in search for good food. Yeah all the way to Batam! This group of people are young, hip, cool and happening! I definitely didnt feel out of place hanging out with them.

The group met at #02-29 Harbourfront as early as 9.00 am.

I was greeted by some familiar faces I met during the Darul Ihsan outing, and some of the not familiar ones. So being the people person (uhuk ..) I introduced myself to those whom I havent met.

After getting our boarding passes, checking in and 45 min ferry ride later, we arrived in Batam.


Upon arrival, we were met by our tour guide, Ibu Wati. By then hunger pangs had struck most of us as we had skipped breakfast so we wasted no time and hit out first stop.

All of us boarded the chartered minibus and and headed to Stamina Ocu. Name kinda corny eh - I was like thinking - we go to Stamina Ocu to build/get stamina to last us the whole trip. The tour guide suggested 30 mins there but we wanted more time to savour our Padang Food.

We were served a whole selection of Padang Food with warm white rice! We thoroughly enjoyed the food - different dishes of fish, meat, chicken and vegetable. The grilled food was for me the nicest. The grilled aroma really lifted one's appetite! They were simply yum!

That's us tucking in ..


That's Hana still enjoying her fish when most have given up!

I especially love the fried fermented soya and soya beancurd (tahu tempe) and polished off the whole plate which were kinda left untouched (this kids dont know how to enjoy the goodness of tahu tempe lah .. LOL)

Believe it or not, being famished, we managed to finish eating in less than half an hour .. so much for asking more time to eat at Stamina Ocu .. haha!

After the tummies filled, we made our way to the Barelang Bridge. Wikepedia mentioned that "the bridge is an icon of the local area and is a popular tourism site."


The view from this bridge was simply breathtaking.



There's nothing like having the wind blowing on your face and messing up the hair too.

Some of us enjoying the scenery.

Some of the babes.

Me and the girl who has been secretly admiring me, Hana.

That's the man enjoying the view.

We could haved stay on that bridge longer if not for a fight which broke between two food pedlers. Our safety comes first eh so we boarded the minibus and headed for our next stop.

We spent about an hour at BCS Mall where I bought some cookbooks (what else!) for myself and a top and dress for my angels.

Next was to the Polo shop.

I wasnt really into it. What I was more interested in was the chips and preserved fruits which were being sold outside the Polo shop.


After we were done sightseeing and shopping, we headed for our next makan stop, Golden Prawn 555 for our Seafood Lunch.


We had Gong-gong .. having to use a pick and digging out the treasure out of the shells was a whole lotta fun ..

Sweet and Sour Fish

Chilli Crab .. I will definitely enjoy this more if my dad was there coz he's such an expert at peeling the crabmeat out of its shell .. hehe

Cereal Prawn .. they were not big prawns and I even commented to Hak who was seated next to me that we could literally eat the whole thing .. which I did .. really crunchy stuff ..

Fried Calamari .. I am a calamari fan .. so I enjoyed this one very much ..

Sambal Kangkong

And yah, I have been longing to drink Alpukat so I asked the waitress to bring me one ..

Yum yum .. could have been yummier if it was more concentrated but still I was satisfied coz at long last I got to drink this!

Being full doesnt stop us from taking our jump shots .. It is a MUST shot at all the Makan Kakis outing. It was crazy, we couldnt get a good shot, we laughed most of the time and I almost puke from having to jump and jump.

Last stop for the day was Megamall .. J.Co Donuts and Coffee Here The Makan Kakis Come!!

We had pre-ordered 60 boxes of J.Co Donuts which equates to 720 pieces altogether .. yeah a grand total of 60 BOXES. While the rest of the group, had their drinks and glazzies at J.Co (we had tables reserved for us eh), I went to meet sis and mum who went there separately at A&W. Then I rushed to the supermarket to do a little shopping then back to J.Co to meet the guys again.

I only had a minute with the J.Co crew and boy were they ultra friendly (never fail to smile) and helpful .. really!! First impression definitely counts! Well, packing 60 dozens of donuts was by no mean easy. But the guys at J.Co were awesome!! How not to love them .. you tell me! .. hehe

At 6.30 Batam time, we left Batam for Singapore, each of us carrying bags of J.Co. It was definitely a sight .. people looked at us, but who cares, we got what we went there for .. IT was in the agenda!

While at the Singapore immigration, I had this Japanese fella who asked "What is that?", "Is it nice?", "Where can I get them?". If I had carried my own boxes of J.Co, I would have offered him some .. seriously.

All in all, I had a GREAT time being in the company of the Makan Kakis - Shaz, Aidil, Eja, Faddy, Haq, Hana, her mummy dearest, Aqi, her hubby, NH, Tuty, Liza and Rikka. All of us just clicked even though it was the first makan outing for some of us!

We will be having the next one in November, after Ramadhan and Eid. So watch out the Event space on the right column for more details on that!

To Kak Lily, Izz and Mila - Hope you guys enjoyed the donuts I got you!
To Zoul and wifey - It was nice meeting you guys! Im sure you guys enjoyed them a great deal!

Oh ya .. to those who wish to try J.Co but havent got the chance yet .. no worries aite coz J.Co Donuts and Coffee is J.Coing soon to Singapore!