The Gulf Coast Beaches Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in The Gulf Coast Beaches - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in The Gulf Coast Beaches - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
This place doesn't look like much—it's little more than a shack with plastic chairs and simple wooden tables—but many locals say this the best place for seafood on the island. Lek Noi is a little more than a kilometer (½ mile) out of town on the way to Chudhadhuj Palace.
Australian chef David Thompson is a legend of Thai cuisine, having helped raise its profile internationally at Nahm, his legendary venture in Bangkok. This, his debut on Koh Samui, is a more casual affair. Here he hones in on southern Thai flavors to outstanding effect. Expect creations with plenty of fire such as spicy yellow curry with prawns and local fish, or mellower dishes like five-spice duck eggs.
As if striving to please every last one of the island's international visitors, this fun restaurant serves entrées from around the world. The specialty, though, is grilled seafood, prepared with one of 12 sauces; select your fish and sauce, then enjoy the breeze from the ceiling fans while you await your food.
It's not all about the atmosphere at this lively venue: the kitchen is no slouch in the creativity department. Simplicity is key to your enjoyment, with choice cuts of meat and prime local produce getting top billing. Highlights include rotisserie chicken and wood-fired pizza. The nightly live music and array of beers on tap also help to provide uplift.
For a different side of Pattaya, head north of the city to this beautiful, romantic seafood restaurant that sits right on the waterfront. The almost exclusively Thai clientele enjoys hand-picked lobster, tiger prawns, crab, oysters, and fish amid shimmering pools, palm trees, and sweeping bay views.
At the southern end of Pattaya Beach Road is one of the city's best places for seafood. A huge array of freshly caught fish is laid out on blocks of ice at the entrance; point to what you want, explain how you'd like it cooked (most people prefer grilled), and ask for some fried rice on the side for a flawless meal.
The alluring scent of fresh baked goods immediately delights all who enter this funky place. The owner, who picked up his baking skills while living and working in Germany, opened Nira's in the mid-1980s, before the island even had electricity.
This restaurant's unapologetically Western menu attracts Americans and Europeans. Soft-shell crab on arugula and white snapper baked in a banana leaf provide a refreshing change of pace from Thai-centric fare.
The chefs at this Thai-French restaurant acknowledge its Asian influences while relying mainly on French technique. Prawns might come, for instance, Thai-style in a curry with fresh coriander in coconut milk or with echoes of France in a vermouth sauce.
The owners are a Thai-American couple, so it's not surprising that their eatery serves a mix of their native dishes. The best ones, among them spaghetti with a spicy seafood sauce, inventively combine the two influences. Ocean breezes cool the open-air dining area.
The steady stream of locals is one clue that the seafood here ranks among the town's best. Try the charcoal-grilled whole fish, large prawns, crab, and squid—all fresh and accompanied by a delicious chili sauce.
Lovers of Italian food are particularly well-served on the island, with several stellar options. One of the most memorable is where chef-proprietor Alessandro Paterno presides (usually with cigarette fixed to mouth) over a daily-changing selection of fish and seafood creations.
Popular with Thais (always a good sign), Saeng Thai serves everything from grilled prawns with bean noodles to fried grouper with chili and tamarind juice. Now in a new larger location that's a step up from its original ramshackle setting.
Sati Pot lays a strong claim to be Thailand’s finest Persian restaurant. Such is its reputation that it is often necessary to make a booking for a table. The food justifies the hype. Lamb shank is slow-cooked in saffron and yogurt sauce and served with aromatic rice mixed with crushed pistachio and almonds, caramelized onion, paprika, and raisins. Another highlight is bandari shrimp, a dish with origins in the coastal regions of southern Iran. Plump crustaceans are sauteed with ginger and garlic and nudged towards the stratosphere by a tangy green herb sauce.
The Hua Hin area, including Takiab, is famed for its fresh seafood, and there are literally dozens of great places to sample its marine bounty cooked Thai-style in an array of stir-fries, soups, and spicy salads. Among these venues, Sopa gets consistently good reviews, and the very reasonable prices add to its cache among the discerning local audience.
On the northern side of the Khao Takiab headland, this restaurant has outdoor seating with views of the nearby standing Buddha. Entrées are mainly seafood, such as prawn soup with a deep-fried green omelet, although other Thai dishes and vegetarian options are also available.
The view is definitely what you come here for—high up on a mountain, the restaurant juts out above the beach and the turquoise ocean—but the food is also memorable. Check the seafood tank as you walk in; you might spy something you can't resist.
At first glance this simple open-air eatery seems like it's nothing special, but pleasant surprises await those who sample its eclectic international fare. The portions are generous—order the Wiener schnitzel, and you'll be amazed it even fits on the plate—and the welcome even more so.
This sleek, modern restaurant overlooking the Dusit Thani resort's expansive pool and shimmering Pattaya Bay offers an "international skewers" concept with a wide variety of Chinese, Thai, and Western takes on grilled meat, seafood, and vegetables on skewers.
Halfway along the road from Chawaeng to Lamai, the Cliff perches on a big boulder overlooking the sea. You can have lunch or dinner inside a spartan dining room or out on a scenic terrace. The lunch menu includes sandwiches and hamburgers; among the dinner highlights are steaks and Mediterranean specialties.
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