Places to eat in Ko Samui

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Big John is a perfect location to dine and watch the sunset.It prides itself on serving some of the finest seafood dishes on Koh Samui.Much of it is locally cought and bought fresh from the market daily.Big John's menu is also "big" so it is easier to ask the waiter what cookin'.The restaurant is a few steps from the beach and it also has a nice play area for kids which makes it's perfect for families.

Favorite Dish: The fish with chillies ,Tom-yum seafood, the shrimp cakes (tod mun) ,best seafood platter
and not to forget the big jugs of Margarittas....

Head to The Cliff if you want abit of class,a fantastic sea view,good food,comfortable bar with good chill out tunes.The restaurant has a large selection of New World Wines and a fantastic Mediterranean menu with lots of specials. The staff told us it really gets funky on Fri- Sat nights.
.The matchbox says "the only place to spend your afternoon". I don't disagree.

Favorite Dish: The Portugese Piri Piri Chicken was nice and spicy and the Australian T-bone steak is as good as the ones in Aus.

An excellent Italian restaurant that serves great food in a great atmosphere with great service.
Its all good here....when you feel like a break from Thai food, heres your place.

Favorite Dish: It all looked good and tasted good.

I love restaurants and cafes where "your every-day-Joe" eats... so after asking the diving instructor, our taxi driver, the lady in the internet café, the hairdresser, and the man selling fresh pineapple on the street for a nice place for a big, hearty, cheap breakfast they all recommended the same: WILL WAIT'S!

Unfortunately, I was so pre-occupied with chowing down a huge breakfast (3 days in a row) that I didn't take any pictures. But from what I remember two branches in central Chaweng, and we went to the "original" Will Wait's: open to the road with space to accommodate around 30 people, white plastic chairs and tables, and a few Buddhist deity pictures on the walls.

Favorite Dish: This place is noted as being one of the most popular places for breakfast on the island. They also serve a complete menu of Asian and Western food all day, but I cannot comment on the lunch or dinner menu as we only ever came here for breakfast.
Home made fresh breads are also available, but my favourite were still the very thick and very crispy slices of white toast. Their scrambled egg seemed to be made creamier and thicker by adding some condensed milk. It might sound weird, but it tasted really nice. And the tea is fantastic...

I believe we paid around 4 US$ for a huge breakfast.

While we had breakfast, we saw delivery-drivers stopping by to quickly pick-up some sweet breakfast cakes or pancakes, and the ladies from the nearby beauty salon came in to get a take-away pot of hot tea.

Sitting here, you can somewhat distance yourself from the tourist-hype of Ko Samui, at least in the early morning for an hour or two, enables you to escape the images from the travel brochure and instead catch a glimpse of "normal" life along the Chaweng beach road.

We loved this place and it was a lovely way to start the day.

Opening Hours: 07:00am - 01:00am daily.

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This restaurant has, in my opinion, one of the best locations on the planet. You cannot ask for a seat better than one a few feet off of a sandy tropical beach, surrounded by palm trees and the Gulf of Thailand. It is simply astonishing. This restaurant has its own little corner of beach, tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the main drag of Ko Samui. The pretty little tables give a great view.

Favorite Dish: Olivio's menu specializes in Italian-seafood fare. Appetizers run the course of spinach-ricotta ravioli, duck risotto, and unlimited bread sticks with garlic/pesto sauces. Main course: pepper-green tea encrusted salmon, sea bass with red pepper sauce. Rich yet light. Delicious through and through. There are both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, but hands-down the best is a fresh coconut, cut open right there and served up fresh.

Actually, this isn't really a restaurant tip, but rather a bar tip.
Instead of going to one of the bars in the main tourist street of Chaweng, try one of the bars directly at the beach for once. If you walk along the beach, you'll pass several of those bars. Many of them have comfortable deck chairs to sit or lie on.

Favorite Dish: Most bars have a large choice of delicious cocktails.

The Sri Nuan restaurants (1 & 2) in Lamai used to be the Sri Nuan Family Restaurant in the Lamai Food center of a few years ago, where everyone went for great food at reasonable prices. This is still very much a family restaurant. The food is the best, don't know of any dish that I have ordered there that was not delicious (if you don't want too spicy, check with the waiter before ordering). I have been going there for years and have never been disappointed.

Favorite Dish: Green curry with coconut milk with fish (or anything else)---the best.
Fried rice with Shrimp
Sweet and Sour fish
Fried Mixed Vegetables
I could go on, but those are my favorite.

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We came across this simple local road-side eatery on our way to the snake farm near the south west tip of the island. The food is absolutely delicious - mom's home cooking quality as the name says it- and the owner offers great smiles to go with it.

Real Ko Samui.

Favorite Dish: See attached!!!!