d'Nest Bar & Grill

d'Nest Bar & Grill sits on the balcony of Crown Vista Hotel, a boutique hotel perched on a hilltop off Jalan Gajah Mada, and it has one of the best vantage points on the island: an open-air terrace looking out over the lights of Batam Centre and Nagoya. It bills itself as the first microbrewery in Batam, and the claim rests on Crown Craft Beer, a small nanobrewery operated within the hotel that supplies the bar's taps directly.

The house range runs to around six beers, brewed on site in small batches, which makes d'Nest one of the very few places in Batam where you can drink beer made on the premises. Styles rotate, and quality and availability can vary from visit to visit, so it is worth asking what is pouring before settling in. The kitchen covers bar-and-grill staples, with pizza a regular favourite in reviews, plus Asian dishes and sharing plates.

The setting is the main event: swing seats and sofas along the balcony rail, a circular bar, and live bands on weekend evenings, typically Thursday to Saturday. The bar opens in the evening only, and the terrace is at its best after dark when the city view comes into its own. Service reviews are mixed, but for a house-brewed beer with a view, d'Nest is a genuinely distinctive stop and an easy one to combine with a stay at Crown Vista or a night out in Batam Centre.