Ikan Bakar Din @ Kepala Batas, Seberang Perai

Price Range : Budget

Cuisine : Malay

Recommended For : Diet off-days

Catphobia-Friendly? : Not really (there are always a few fish-craving cats on standby)

If you’ve got a hankering for some ikan bakar and you happen to be in Seberang Perai, we only have three words for you: IKAN BAKAR DIN! To be completely honest though, it’s worth going to even if you’re all the way in Kuala Lumpur and just felt like having some good, succulent grilled fish (not necessarily practical, but not necessarily illogical either. Well...in our books, anyway! =P).

The place is open from about 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and we would suggest coming as early as possible to get seats as it gets REALLY crowded by 12, especially on weekends. The moment you get here, you’ll be greeted by warm smiles from the men handling the grills, proudly offering their masterpieces: piles and piles of scrumptious-looking grilled fish, squids, prawns and the like!

The mad crowd

A plate of pari 

Our favourite! 

There is a wide selection of fish on offer here, including pari, siakap, merah, terubuk, jenahak and keli. The keli here is the epitome of what a flavourful, fatty freshwater fish should be and if you, like us, are a fan of catfish, then this would be your natural choice. That awesome moment when you pinch a piece of the fish and you can see the its natural oil oozing out, just waiting for you to pop the piece in your mouth... Heaven!

And that’s just the fish section. They also have big, huge juicy prawns waiting to be lapped up; some serious squids and crabs; and, for the seafood-intolerant who got dragged here, grilled chicken as well.

On the left corner of the grilled items shelf you will find a sign that says Rimau Menangis. Now this is what makes Ikan Bakar Din such a hit! This dish is a must-have: chewy, grilled beef strips with an almost jerky-like texture. The interlacing pieces of fat and its sweet-smoky taste are really what makes this so irresistible! The Malay version of bacon strips, perhaps?

There is also an abundance of ulam here, with the usual suspects taking the limelight: ulam raja, jantung pisang, and petai. They do have pucuk janggus here too, though, which is not all that easy to find back in Kuala Lumpur. Accompanying all these super nutritious veges are big tubs of sambal belacan! And we mean, BIG! Accompanying the big tub of sambal is a BIG tub of tempoyak! Oh yeahhh! 

They’ve even got sambal machang, which is the first time we’ve ever seen it being sold anywhere. Machang is a fruit quite similar to kuinin, except it’s a lot more fibrous than the sweeter, smoother kuinin.

Some side dishes

Some days, they also serve Gulai Telur Ikan, with fish roes the size of marbles! 

They've got Sup Gearbox too! 

Seriously amazing stuff! 

The pricing here is ridiculous! Usually our meals, which includes a LOT of types of grilled fish and copious amounts of rimau menangis, hardly ever comes up to more than RM10 per person, drinks included. Pure madness! If only KL’s pricing were this kind on our wallets...

Ikan Bakar Din

No. 6735, Jalan Butterworth

Kepala Batas

13200 Seberang Perai Utara

Pulau Pinang

Opening Hours:

11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Closed on Fridays

GPS:

5.509929, 100.401649

Parking:

Parking spaces are available across the road from the restaurant.