Batu Pahat District is a district in the state of Johor, Malaysia. It lies southeast of Muar, southwest of Kluang, northwest of Pontian, south of Segamat and Tangkak District. The capital of the district is Bandar Penggaram. Renowned for its salted fish in the past, Batu Pahat was formerly known as Bandar Penggaram, which means “Town of Salt-Makers”. Today, Bandar Penggaram, Batu Pahat is growing rapidly and has now developed to become the second major town in Johor state after Johor Bahru. The district of Batu Pahat has a population of about 398,014 local residents. The Malays are the majority (51%), while the Chinese (46%) and the Indian (3%). The major religions are Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, Hinduism, and Confucianism.

          Batu Pahat is a heaven for local Malaysian food. The best way to enjoy local Malaysian food is to savor it with a cup of coffee brewed from locally grown coffee beans. Traditionally, in Malaysia coffee is served in a porcelain cup and saucer, with a small porcelain spoon used to stir your coffee. This has now been replaced in many parts of Malaysia by glasses and plastic spoons, which take away so much of the whole kopi culture. However, in Batu Pahat many eateries, referred to as “Kopitiam”, carry on this traditional way of serving coffee.

          Batu Pahat is also famous for its nasi bariani. This is a south Indian dish that has long been adopted by local people and now became a signature dish here. The bariani rice is served with either mutton, beef or chicken. Some places also sell vegetarian option.

         Batu Pahat is also famous for asam pedas dishes. These are slightly different from the ones served in Malacca. Famous asam pedas outlet is at Jalan Rahmat where there are about 5-6 restaurants all serving asam pedas with a different variety in term of opening hours, type of fish and side dishes. The hot-selling fish is a stingray, red snapper, sembilang (a variety of brackish water catfish). One can also have a fish head asam pedas (red snapper). While usually eaten with plain white rice, there is a variety of side dishes like bean sprouts, telur masin (salted egg), telur dadar (Malaysian-style omelette), winged bean, or tempeh, all cooked in sambal-like servings. To bring the spiciness into the next level, this food can be eaten with a complimentary sambal belacan.

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