3 Best Restaurants in Indonesia

Traditional kelongs (floating platforms built on stilts used for fishing) were once off limits to women but those that remain have mostly discarded the superstition. This one at Nirwana Gardens was transformed into a seafood restaurant and now serves fresh catches in a rustic setting overlooking the ocean. Order the black-pepper crab, sea snails (otherwise known as gong gong), butter prawns, or whatever the fresh catch of the day is. Take note that many dishes are sold by weight.

Widely considered one of the top seafood places in Surabaya, it's worth making a reservation to ensure you get a table—this casual eatery is popular with the locals. Though there's not much atmosphere to speak of, you're here for the food. Savor freshly prepared specialties like salted egg soft-shell crab, black pepper prawns, clams with black bean sauce, and steamed fresh fish, which you select from a tank at the entrance to the restaurant. There is also a second location at Jalan Raya Bukit Mas 109.

Barbecued seafood at sunset on Jimbaran Bay is a Bali tradition, and Menega is the grill of your dreams. Pick raw seafood from tanks or trays of ice, have them weighed (you pay by gram), and watch them heat up on the coconut-husk inferno. Menega stands out for barbecue sauce that puts the snap in snapper, clams grilled on the half-shell, and cumi (squid, pronounced "chew-me") cut into strips and skewered. Meals include a basket of rice, stir-fry kangkung (water spinach), and four sauces—sweet to moderately spicy—served at tables on the sand. Come early to swim and build an appetite.