Baan Maying restaurant — Restaurant in Krabi Province

One unique lunch experience that required taking a boat to the restaurant. This place is located on a landmass that is surrounded by marsh waterways. No bridges across, and therefore the only mode of transport is over water. To get here, you first must park your car at Kong Ka Pier (ท่าเทียบเรือคงคา). Next don’t be alarmed to be approached by touts of boat operators offering their services to get you to… anywhere I guess. That’s when you must tell them you need a return boat ride to Baan Maying. They will know this restaurant, because they are folks of the land. If they don’t … then probably you be conned to taking expensive boat ride to some other unknown restaurant. Anyways, the boat ride cost THB200 with return and they will wait out for you to finish your meal and bring you back to the pier.

Baan Maying is part restaurant part kelong (kelong is a Singapore word for floating fish farm, I don’t know what they call it in Thailand). So, what you order will be straight out of the net. You will witness your food being dragged out of the water and headed for its impending doom in the kitchen, and then into your mouth. The fried snapper we had was so crispy. The white meat moist and fresh it flaks off easy. The clams were huge and juicy. We had it steamed with lemon grass and the clear broth was full of rich sweetness. The clams were straight out of their nets too. It tasted so fresh, any fresher the clams would have been swimming in the bowl. We also had giant tiger prawns, but unfortunately, they were not live and fresh from the farm. Some big dinner group the day before had procured their entire stock of prawns. They told us this happens from time to time, where big groups can reserve and buy up their entire stock of this or that.

Coming here was truly fascinating. Not only was the boat ride the fun bit, but while waiting for our dishes to be served, we were entertained by their sharpshooter fish. The staff placed clam meat high on the wooden railings, the fish shot water at it and the meat fell into the water. The fish ate the meat…. smart. It was a nice and lazy Monday afternoon with only another 2 tables occupied by local folks. Every dish we had was excellent. 3 seafood dishes plus a fried rice. Priced at restaurant level, tasted better than many top restaurants, the unique boat ride to and back, totally worth...

Experience wise, I'd say this place is a 10/10.

Getting here was a bit of a challenge but worth it. Although they have a website where you can make a booking, the best way to get a booking is via a simple phone call!

We were told to go to Chao Fa Pier and look for a gentleman by the name of senick? Who gave us a ride to the restaurant. If you didn't call the restaurant to give them a heads up of your arrival, you can pay one of the many other long tail boat captains for a quick ride.

Upon reaching the place, we were greeted with smiles and were also given a short tour of the place. They showed us huge groupers, tiny tiger fishes and even a jelly fish!

The food was decent, albeit slightly expensive but Id say the experience as a whole made it a...

Super delicious, super fresh seafood and super local experience! You can only access this restaurant by boat which you can catch from Chao Fah pier. It takes about 5 mins for normal route and 15 mins for scenic (boat will take you through the mangroves tunnel). Seafood is caught right in front of the restaurant so it's very fresh. Our favorite menus are clams (หอยชักตีน) and fried fish in fish sauce (they fry it with fish scales on, very crispy). Service is good and the place is quite clean. Highly recommended for a local exotic...