I didn’t expect a lot local food when planning my trip to Koh Samui. I’ve been here twice before (about 8-10 years ago) and back then it was all about edge-of-the-cliff restaurants, buying cheapy tshirts and drinking in Chaweng. Since then, I realised the view is pitch black if you’re having dinner, I never ended up wearing the Chang beer tshirts and I don’t really drink anymore. So this time we steered clear of Chaweng, except for the Tesco (likely a sign of aging…).

10 years ago, we toured around the whole island but it was generally uneventful outside of our hotel and Chaweng. But lots have changed on the island since… And one of my favourite newer spots is the “Walking Street” in Fisherman’s Village, Bo Phut, populated with stalls on Friday and Monday nights (6pm ish onwards). The line up of food and shopping stalls were endless – despite perseverance, I was exhausted and wanted to go back to the hotel by the time we realised we had only covered about 3/4 of it (in almost 2 hours).

You can find most of the food in the street close by The Wharf – a new and pretty hip shopping spot (which I found not cheap enough) built by the same peeps behind Asiatique in Bangkok – such as…

Cockles – THB50 per 1/2 kg

These cockles were so cheap! All that on the plate for just HK$11? I was hovering over this stall for a long time before I finally decided to give it a try. To reassure you or perhaps convince you to eat seafood off the streets, I didn’t get a stomach ache.

Pad Thai – THB50

It wasn’t the best pad thai I’ve had, but since it was freshly cooked, it was still pretty good.

Chicken Satay – THB50

Chicken Kebab Skewers – THB50

Considering the huge chunks of breast-y meat on the stick, these were super tasty and worth it.

Grilled Corn – THB40

Banana maple syrup & nutella crepe – THB50

The stall was called “The Best Pancake” and I could not dispute its claim. We ordered one filled with banana and maple syrup and topped with nutella and it was sort of deep fried til super crispy – a must try!

Must visit for Foodies

All in all, we loved this area! It was lively and filled with generally really good food. There was so much variety too.

The only downside was that it was pretty far from our hotel. We stayed in Banyan Tree which is in the Lamai area, so it took close to 30 mins on a cab (or THB550… but cabs are just expensive on the island).