Traveling to a new country can be a challenge in itself, especially if you have a special food preference. Your travel can be a little bit underwhelming without experiencing the taste of the local cuisines. However, you don't have to worry about that if you're planning to visit Bintan Island. Blessed with the rich Indonesian culinary variety, Bintan Island offers you a wide choice of dishes that will fulfill your preference. In this article, we are going to give you our five vegetarian foo recommendations that you can find on Bintan Island.

Bakwan

( Source of photo by https://www.kompas.com/food/read/2021/02/05/092123275/resep-bakwan-sayur-renyah-gorengan-murah-dan-enak )

Vegetables or corn fritters. Bakwan is deep-fried, doughy, fritters, which usually consists of vegetables, corn, or other ingredients. There are many variants of bakwan, but mostly made with vegetables; usually, beansprouts, shredded cabbages, and carrots battered and deep-fried in cooking oil. You can eat them as it is with chili sauce or cayenne pepper on the side or you can also eat them with rice.

Gado-Gado

( Source of photo by https://www.masakapahariini.com/resep/resep-gado-gado-khas-padang/ )

You can easily find Gado-Gado in almost every part of Indonesia, including Bintan Island. Gado-Gado is a salad of slightly boiled, blanched, or steamed vegetables and hard-boiled eggs, boiled potato, fried tofu, and tempeh, and lontong (rice wrapped in a banana leaf), served with a peanut sauce dressing, though every area has its own version of it. 

Gado-gado in Indonesian literally means "mix-mix" since it is made of a rich mixture of vegetables such as potatoes, long beans, bean sprouts, spinach, chayote, bitter gourd, corn, and cabbage, with tofu, tempeh, and hard-boiled eggs, all mixed in peanut sauce dressing, sometimes also topped with krupuk and sprinkles of fried shallots.

Sego Tahu

Sego Tahu is a dish that originated from the eastern part of Java. The name means "Rice and Tofu", and as the name suggests, it consists of two main ingredients: rice and sliced fried tofu added with spicy soy sauce, fried peanuts, bean sprout, and celery on top. Most Sego Tahu is served with slightly boiled vegetables. But there are also variants of Sego Tahu served with raw vegetables.

Sayur Lodeh

Sayur lodeh is a vegetable soup prepared from vegetables in coconut milk. Sayur lodeh usually consists of young unripe jackfruit, eggplant, chayote, melinjo beans and leaves, long beans, green chili pepper, tofu, and tempeh, cooked in a coconut milk broth. Just like other dishes in this list, Sayur lodeh has many variants depending on the area. There are two main variants of sayur lodeh soup based on its color; the white and yellow lodeh. The greenish-white sayur lodeh is made without turmeric, while the golden yellow one has turmeric in it. Sometimes green stink beans are added. The ones you can find on Bintan Island will have the yellowish broth. 

Rujak

Rujak or Rojak is a vegetable or fruit salad dish that can be found in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Rujak is available everywhere across Indonesia, and there are rich variations within the country. Indonesian rujak usually consists of fresh fruits and/or vegetables. Most of the fruits used has a tangy and crispy characteristic. The typical Indonesian fruit rujak consists of slices of assorted tropical fruits such as jambu air (water apple), pineapple, unripe mangoes, bengkoang (jicama), cucumber, kedondong, and raw red ubi jalar (sweet potato). Combined with the sweet, hot, and spicy dressing made from ground chili, palm sugar, and peanuts.

You can savor the exotic taste of fruit rujak with fresh ingredients harvested straight from the farm at the end of the Safari Lagoi Eco Farm Tour after you spend the day seeing a wide variety of conserved animals and tropical crops. Click here to know more about the tour package.

Aside from the breathtaking white sandy beach and numerous cultural destinations, Bintan Island has a wide variety of culinary experiences that you can explore no matter what your food preference is.

Check the rest of our amazingly prepared tour packages by clicking here. With a 60-minute ferry ride from Singapore, Bintan Island offers a great combination of picturesque landscapes and exciting activities for you to enjoy. See you on Bintan Island!