Where We Ate
After arriving from the airport and getting checked in, we wandered around a bit, then ducked into Siggi’s Beach Bar (at the Shangri-La) when it started raining. I had a glass of rose wine, Eric had a lime juice and we split a samosa / spring roll appetizer.
For dinner, we walked about 15 minutes past the night market stalls to Living Room Cafe. I had read about the fish (red snapper) curry on Tripadvisor so even though that would not have been my usual choice, I ordered it. I was not disappointed! Eric had his best lime juice of the trip with a good version of beef rendang.
typical neon street scenes
The following day we started with a decent buffet breakfast at the hotel. Around 2p I was starting to get peckish so we walked five minutes across the street to Andrew’s Kampung. Eric wasn’t that hungry so he ordered the chicken satay (which came fried for some reason?!?). I opted for the crispy squid bites with chili sauce and a specialty beef curry with jasmine rice. Inexpensive but not especially memorable.
For our last meal in town, we decided on Indian – Enca Restaurant. We Ubered over there but decided to walk back through the night market as it wasn’t really that far. We ordered the Chicken Masala and Chicken Tandori and I had a banana milkshake while Eric had to get a pineapple juice since lime was unavailable. The meal was cheap and perfectly fine but again not memorable.
Tropical Spice Garden
Our main outing was to the Tropical Spice Garden, about 5km west along the coast from the main beach resort area. We spent about three hours exploring the grounds and the entrance price includes an audio tour which we found helpful as the signage was minimal. The front desk staff generously offers bug spray and I recommend you accept! I still got a few bites even after slathering myself. For less than $6 USD per person it’s a good way to spend a few hours.
The night market was just okay compared to other SE Asian cities we have visited, with lots of imitation handbags and other cheap stuff.
After our experiences we decided that you really don’t have to stay out here in Batu Ferrenghi – catching an Uber to/from Georgetown was easy and inexpensive. In fact, the free transfer shuttle to the E&O only had two departure times at 10:30am and 2:30pm – even though checkout at noon – so we opted for Uber instead. Next time we would base ourselves in Georgetown, and only come out to Batu Ferrenghi for a day by the beach.