Six of the Best Restaurants on Koh Chang
Koh Chang still doesn’t have the variety of upmarket, fine European or Fusion dining experiences you’d find on Samui or Phuket but what it does have is a good selection of restaurants where you will find something to keep even the fussiest of diners satisfied. In fact, it is rare people have a truly bad meal here. Most visitors comment that finding good food for a good price isn’t that hard to do.
I’ve picked six restaurants, originally I planned for two for seafood, two for European food and two for Thai food, but I ditched the foreign ones as if you are coming all the way to Thailand you might as well try some of the food. Price isn’t really an issue in most restaurants as unless you are eating stodgy, Western meals in Westernised surroundings every day it’ll be far cheaper than eating the equivalent meal in your home country. Stick to cheaper places for lunch and splash out on a few cocktails and a more extravagant meal in the evening.
One rule of thumb though is to avoid drinking wine. Three main reasons for this. Firstly, the waiter’s knowledge of wine will be limited to it coming in two colours – red or white. Secondly, wine is usually kept standing up in the sun if it’s white or in a fridge if it is red. Thirdly, it’s very expensive in Thailand, due to a 300% tax. So if you are a wine drinker, stick a few bottles in your suitcase before you leave home or bring your own to restaurants – small places wont charge any corkage and it’ll only be 100 – 300 baht in fancier restaurants.
In addition to the restaurants mentioned here you might also want to try one of the ‘Korean BBQ’ restaurants which are increasingly popular as you can stuff your face cheaply. The idea is simple, you pay around 100 – 150 Baht/person and in return have your own little charcoal burner on your table and get fresh vegetables and cuts of raw meat that you cook and can then dunk in a spicy sauce. Some places run it as a buffet, others provide a set meal - usually for two people. Great if you want to avoid carbohydrates and fill up on meat at the end of a tiring day.
JE Restaurant, Klong Prao
This restaurant isn’t located by the sea and has no views to speak of. Go and Google it now and won’t find any reviews on sites such as Tripadvisor. When you’re on Koh Chang you won’t see any advertising for the restaurant in the local tourist magazines. Yet, drive past any night of the week in High Season, or any weekend in the middle of the rainy season and the roadside nearby will resemble that of the car park of a luxury hotel with Mercedes, SUVs and minivans bearing Bangkok registration plates parked up. JE Seafood is the place where discerning Thais will go for their seafood, so you should try it to. As you’d expect it’s a chaotic / informal place where you food will arrive in no particular order and bear in mind that all dishes are designed to be shared amongst everyone at the table rather than eaten individually. Great seafood at sensible prices and within 10 minutes drive of most resorts on main west coast beaches, so there’s no reason not to give it a go.
Ruen Thai Seafood, Bangbao
Bangbao is home to several popular seafood restaurants. All are good but some are more ‘touristy’ than others. I picked Ruen Thai for the always excellent, good value seafood. It’s where people in the know go. They don’t go there because it is nicely decorated, it isn’t, it is very simple with large wooden tables and no ornate decor of any kind except a few old posters for soft drinks. They don’t go there for the friendly staff, they’ll probably be too busy watching TV to even acknowledge your presence when you walk in and the quality of customer service you receive is related to how much the waitress was enjoying the TV show before you showed up. But for the food, the cooks make it as it should be made, meaning they won’t cut down on the chili or go steady on the peppercorns to suit palates that aren’t used to Thai strength seasoning.
Chumnan Restaurant, Klong Prao
Small, locally owned restaurant just south of the temple in Klong Prao. It’s one of those places that attracts everyone - tourists, expats and locals alike as you cant beat the prices and the food is consistently excellent. Don’t expect much in the way of presentation or service. It’s the kind of place where mismatched melamine plates are the order of the day and you just help yourself to drinks from the fridge. But after eating there you’ll probably why you should ever bother paying more for good Thai food again. Sure you might get something more salubrious than a blue plastic table and chair by the roadside but as far as value for money goes you cant really beat it.
Sassi at the Amari Emerald Cove, Klong Prao
There are rare occasions when a fine dining experience is called for and no matter how good the food, you require a little more in the way of service than you’re used to receiving at Nok’s Noodle Shop. If you find yourself in such a situation e.g celebrating an anniversary, birthday surprise, freak lottery win etc you’ll want to take some clothes to the laundry, pay a little extra to have them ironed as well as washed, check the limit on your credit card and head to Sassi.
The atmosphere is informal rather than stuffy and the knowledgeable waiting staff are happy to talk people like me who don’t know their ‘Pesce’ from their ‘Pollo’, through the menu. At Sassi, you’ll find sumptuous Italian food prepared using the freshest of ingredients and finest imported meats by chefs who understand that western food doesn’t always need extra sugar adding to it. You can dine outdoors under the stars, but as the balcony is located above the car park at the rear of the hotel you don’t gain much in terms of ambiance. A better option is to take a table outside the restaurant, by the swimming pool, and have the food served to you there. Or sit inside in airconditoned comfort and within finger clicking distance of the staff. Treat yourself or better still get someone else to. Note that during low season diners for ‘Sassi’ are seated downstairs in the ‘Just Thai’ restaurant, where they can choose from both menus.
Only two places left but I have three restaurants which really should be on everyone’s ‘To Eat At’ list when they visit Koh Chang, so it is now seven, not six, places to try.
The following all offer a different type of atmosphere but all serve up some of the best Thai food you’ll find anywhere., not just on Koh Chang but anywhere in the country. Guaranteed. All are also small places with less than ten tables. All have the owner or their family doing the cooking. All haven’t rushed to expand to try to cash in on their reputations and realise that bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better. And don’t expect super fast service at any of them either, as dishes are always prepared fresh from scratch, you won’t order a fish and have it on your table 10 minutes later like you will at a large restaurant. So, in no particular order the three are:
Kati Culinary, Klong Prao
Is it good? I’ve never met anyone who has eaten there and hasn’t gone back again. I know American restaurateurs who spend a week on Koh Chang every year and eat here every night as they want to be sure of eating great Thai food. I also know expats who have lived in the country 20 years and eaten in the best restaurants around Thailand and they rate the food at Kati as amongst the best they have had.
Kati is a small restaurant by the main road in Klong Prao village. It is run by a mother and daughter team with Mum, and her assistants, doing most of the cooking. Prices are of course a bit higher than the no frills eateries nearby but you get a friendly ambiance, wide choice of dishes – most of which can be prepared with your choice of pork/chicken/prawn/beef/squid etc or as a vegetarian dish.
Saffron on the Sea, Pearl Beach
I like to take people to Saffron when they think they’ve already tried pretty much all the good dishes that Thai cuisine has to offer and they don’t expect to be surprised by new taste combinations. The current menu is quite small but it is all unbelievably good and includes dishes that you won’t find elsewhere or which are just done so much better than you might be used to, not just the cooking itself but in terms of presentation too. For the coming 2010-11 season the menu is being expanded.
It’s the most expensive of the three restaurants, but not by much and it is the only one by the sea. If you want a quiet, romantic place for a meal then this is ideal. I cant think of anywhere else that comes close. The restaurant is set in a tropical garden by the sea. The only sound is that of the waves on the rocky shoreline a few metres away. The kitchen is open and you’re welcome to wander over and watch your food being prepared.
Strawberry Moons, Chai Chet
Appearances can be deceptive as it doesn’t stand out from any of the multitude of small roadside bars and restaurants, so it’s the type of place that is easy to overlook. But the combination of jovial mateyness from Englishman Ross plus the excellent cooking and cocktail creating skills of his wife Ratt is definitely a winner. How good is it? Well, it’s the top rated restaurant of any kind in ALL of Thailand, based on Tripadvisor reviews. Located by the roadside, opposite Coconut Beach Resort at the far north end of Klong Prao beach the owners run the family friendly restaurant with the help of just one staff member so things can get a bit hectic at times. It’s the kind of place where diners are immediately made to feel at ease, and Ross will be happy to tell you what you really should be ordering if you are a Thai food novice or if he gets the impression you don’t know what you are doing.
You might notice that the island’s busiest beach – White Sand beach – isn’t represented. There are a lot of good places to eat here and if you want to sit out on the sand in the evening and enjoy a good value meal then you can’t go wrong at places such as Bamboo Resort, Mac Resort or Cookies. Likewise if you need a good western meal Buffalo Bill’s serves up great burgers and big portions of food whilst Texas Steakhouse has the best ribs you’ll find and some wonderful cocktails. But there isn’t really anything that stands out as being in a class of it’s own.
Likewise, nothing on Kai Bae beach which has some pretty good places to eat too, including two of my favourite cheapies, the ‘no name’ restaurant by the telephone box, about 50 metres south of the northernmost 7-eleven and Kai Bae Hut Noodle Shop which is always busy. Plus good western food at Kai Bae Marina and if you are French and missing the tastes of home you’ll probably want to eat at Fredo’s which has been on the same site for over a decade.
And if you are passing through Pearl Beach the small ‘Hungry Elephant‘ serves very good European food and also seafood prepared in a more authentic Mediterranean manner than you might expect given the very reasonable prices.
Restaurant Map (Use the controls to zoom in for exact location of each restaurant)
