Freshly caught seafood at inexpensive prices is the main appeal of Batam. Dining options here   are amazingly varied. Moreover, there’s fine dining, seafood, fast food, local specialties, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other nationalities and even vegetarian restaurants – you name it, and it can likely be found. Most of the upscale restaurants, particularly international ones, are usually found in the starred hotels.

At Nongsa you can eat in a "kelong," a restaurant built over the sea on stilts.  In Nagoya visitors and locals mingle at the night markets or the Pujasera Nagoya food center for traditional Indonesian food. At the Harbour Bay you can eat your favourite food in the open air along the sea front.   

Popular offerings include chilli crabs, king prawns, steamed or barbecued fish, and the unique gong-gong sea snails, which can only be found in the waters of the Riau Islands. Best eaten steamed, the meat is fished out from the shell using a toothpick and dipped in ‘sambal’ (locally-made chilli sauce).