Where to eat in Koh Samui

Honestly, one of my greatest pleasures on holiday is eating lovely food in a great setting. For dinner, we like to research in advance where we’d like to eat so that we can make a reservation as there’s nothing worse than hearing they have no tables. For lunch we’re often a bit more spontaneous and don’t tend to make plans. Koh Samui has some amazing restaurants and I wish we’d had more nights on the island to try more of them. Here’s my recommendations of where to eat in Koh Samui.

Pak Tai

Pak Tai is the highest rated restaurant in Koh Samui on Tripadvisor (at the time of writing) with 5 stars from over 500 reviews. And lucky for us it happened to be one of the restaurants at our hotel, the Ritz Carlton Koh Samui!

The setting is really lovely, as it’s centered around a pond, and each table is completely private. I loved that, although sometimes it was difficult to get attention if you needed it. Our table happened to be near the kitchen so we could see the chefs working. The lighting is fairly low, which makes for a great ambiance but not great photos…

The food at Pak Tai was really delicious and their Massaman curry was my husband’s favourite of the holiday – and trust me, he’d had loads (as you will find out when you read the other restaurant recommendations)! The menu focuses on Southern Thai cuisine and they use local ingredients and support local farmers.

They have set menus if you can’t decide what to eat and want to try different dishes. We went for the à la carte menu and had the Yum woon sen bo-ran, a traditional glass noodle salad with shrimp and the Thod beua, deep fried shrimp cakes to start. I love a glass noodle! And the dish was pretty as a picture.

For mains we shared the Gang Massaman Nue, which is a 6 hour slow cooked Wagyu beef cheek – absolutely melted in your mouth – and the Tom Yum tofu. For dessert we opted for the mango sticky rice – which was so beautifully presented. It looked like a dragon’s tail on the plate! We also had the I-Tim Kati which is a dessert made with white bread, peanut, sweet corn, young coconut, sticky rice and coconut ice-cream.

We had a fantastic meal at Pak Tai and would definitely recommend it. The food was delicious and beautifully presented. We also had dinner one night at The View, which is another restaurant in the hotel. Whilst it was good, it felt really over-priced which is why I’ve decided not to include it in this blog post.

Supattra Thai Dining

We first spotted Supattra Thai Dining on the drive from the airport to our hotel and thought it looked really cute so we looked it up to discover it’s highly rated. It’s named after the chef and owner, Supattra, and you’ll see her cooking in the restaurant’s open kitchen.

The menu changes almost daily so you won’t find printed menus. Instead, a big blackboard is positioned in front of your table and your server will talk you through the dishes. One thing about Supattra Thai Dining is that you won’t find all the usual Thai dishes you’d find in other restaurants, instead chef Supattra cooks dishes she remembers from her childhood, using fresh ingredients from the local markets.

Supattra Thai Dining is more of a fine dining experience but without a hefty price tag. We were even served a lovely little amuse-bouche by the chef. For starters, we chose the ‘funny balls’ which were crab meat and chicken with crispy wonton. They looked really pretty and tasted great! We also went for the crispy squid, which were yummy.

If you haven’t noticed already, from the other restaurants mentioned, my husband absolutely loves a Massaman curry so he opted for the lamb tenderloin with Massaman sauce as his main. It definitely looked ‘fine dining’! I chose the whole fried fish, which was beautifully cooked but the sauce was a bit too spicy for me.

For dessert we had to go for the mango sticky rice but we also tried Bua Lai, which are rice flower balls in coconut milk. Both desserts were fabulous and a great way to round off a lovely evening.

The setting and ambiance at Supattra Thai Dining is great. All the tables are outside, although covered by a roof so there’s no issue if it rains. The service was excellent and it was lovely to have Thai food that was not so familiar to us. The restaurant is fairly small so I highly recommend booking a table if you want to eat here.

Salefino

Because my husband is Italian and we eat a lot of Italian food, when we’re in Asia we tend to not opt for Italian food (unsurprisingly). However, we’d seen reviews of Salefino as well as pictures and it looked really good so we thought we’d give it a try. Whilst we adore Thai food, sometimes you just want something a bit different for one meal.

Salefino is a waterfront restaurant that opened in 2017 so has a solid reputation on the island. The owner and head chef, Camilla, is from the south of Milan but she’s lived all over the world. The menu is authentic Italian, with a nod to Sicily. Most of the ingredients are sourced locally but of course there are Italian delicacies that you just won’t find in Thailand so they need to be imported.

We started with burrata and tomatoes and an artichoke dish. We were skeptical about the burrata but it was absolutely perfect – delicious and creamy! We ordered a bottle of Ferrari sparkling wine to enjoy with the meal, which was perfectly chilled and fabulous.

For our pasta courses my husband chose the linguine con vongole and I had the spaghetti with rock lobster and a shellfish bisque sauce. The linguine vongole was absolutely delicious, especially with the bottarga.

My spaghetti was so flavoursome! The shellfish bisque was utterly yummy. Both pastas exceeded our expectations.

For dessert I ordered the panna cotta with berries and my husband had a chocolate dessert with chocolate they import from Italy. Having ordered a panna cotta from another restaurant in Koh Samui that was more like a mousse, I was delighted that this panna cotta was the real deal! My husband really enjoyed his dessert too.

After our meal, chef Camilla came out to chat to us and was so lovely – she even gave me a hug! The front of house manager, Silvia, was brilliant too. Honestly, this was such a great meal! Highly recommend booking a table at Salefino.

Foxtrot Bistro

We came across Foxtrot Bistro when we were walking around one afternoon after visiting Big Buddha and went inside to have a look. It’s a seaside restaurant (basically next door to Salefino) which has a pretty large hidden garden, overlooking the beach. Most of the tables here are outside, rather than inside. The decor is really modern and the setting looked lovely so we booked a table for dinner (we had checked out the menu first too).

Not sure how we got so lucky but when we arrived for dinner we were led to the best (in our opinion) table in the restaurant! We like to eat dinner at around 8:30/9 pm so sadly we missed the sunset views but it was still lovely to look out and see the twinkling lights from Bophut and Fisherman’s Village.

The menu at Foxtrot Bistro is modern European with a hint of Asia. We started with some beetroot hummus, which was so vibrant and tasted delicious, and some croquettes (although I can’t remember what was in them!).

For mains my husband had (surprise, surprise) the lamb shank with Massaman sauce. The lamb was perfectly cooked and just fell off the bone.

For my main I opted for something I rarely have… surf and turf! It was a delicious fillet of steak served with spiced grilled prawns and a potato pave, which was divine. I asked for my steak to be medium rare, and that’s what I got so I was very happy.

We had a wonderful meal at Foxtrot Bistro. Delicious food, gorgeous setting, perfectly chilled wine and great service!

H Bistro Restaurant

We were having a swim at Bophut over lunchtime and fancied some sushi. We saw that H Bistro had sushi on their menu so we decided to give it a go. H Bistro is located at the Hansvar hotel in Bophut and has lovely outdoor tables overlooking Bophut Bay.

We ordered two different types of sushi, a vegetarian one with avocado and some California rolls. We also ordered a chicken katsu curry to share. It took a while for the food to arrive although that’s a good sign when it comes to sushi as you know it’s being made to order!

Both the sushi and the chicken katsu curry were delicious. The setting is really lovely too, overlooking the beautiful beach. Service was really friendly, even if a bit slow at times but we were in no rush so it was all good!

Moonrise Seafood and Beach Bar

By day, Moonrise Seafood and Beach Bar is pretty unassuming but it has an amazing view. Top tip is to ask for a table right at the front, even if you have to wait a little while. We had lunch here one of the days that we visited Chaweng beach and we had a fantastic view of the beautiful, crystal-clear water.

We ordered some fried shrimp cakes and wonton money bags for starters and both were delicious and really nicely presented. After our starters we shared a chicken Pad Thai with extra egg. The ‘extra egg’ was basically an egg cocoon over the Pad Thai, which made it look very pretty.

The food was great and reasonably priced. They also had a 2-4-1 drinks special but sadly it didn’t apply to our Aperol Spritz. Later, when we were leaving the beach, we saw them setting up for dinner. I can imagine having one of these tables right on the beach must be pretty special. And every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday they have a fire show right on the beach in front of these tables!

I hope these recommendations of where to eat in Koh Samui are helpful in planning your holiday to this stunning island. And if you need tips for top things to do in Koh Samui, I’ve got you covered.

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