Ban Suan Lung Khai — Restaurant in Surat Thani Province

Came here after our grab driver mentioned that this is his uncle's business. He mentioned that this restaurant is in the Michelin Guide. Told him to book a table for us on the day itself for the 700 baht menu for 2. He shared the booking details with us.

Upon arrival, the staff could not speak a word of English and was struggling to find our booking and it appeared as if she did not want to serve us. I had to call my grab driver to speak to her in Thai to assist with getting a table. After a frustrating few minutes, she allowed us in and afford us a table.

Ambiance is amazing to say the least, rustic feel, with good vibes and music. Table set up was splendid. Felt premium. We were served speedily, with the entrees coming in one after the other, slightly spooked by how quick they prepared it to be honest.

Food looks amazing, taste is good. For a table of 2, we received 2 grilled flower crab and 4 grilled prawns. That was spectacular, served with their spicy green chilli sauce. The next was a fried fish, with roe served with an amazing honey fish sauce, which became the dip for many of our dishes. The squid and the sauce it was in, tasted out of this world, coming from an Asian who has tried many such dishes and it was elevated. The last thing that arrived was the mussels in coconut curry. The coconut curry was a little too thick that it was hard to enjoy to be brutally honest.

We took our time with the meal - savoured every last bit (except the curry). During the meal, I asked for additional soft drinks to supplement the meal with (30 baht a drink), was saddened that despite pointing out the drink that I wanted at the fridge, I was served a bottle of beer instead. I told them that I did not want it and went up to the fridge to take the drink out myself.

The meal ended off with an amazing local dessert, glutinous balls with palm sugar inside in coconut milk with yam. Me and my wife had multiple servings of it.

All in all, I would say, I'm impressed by the food. Saddened by the staff who were unable to unlock their fullest potential by attempting to converse to us in English or even attempt to, and that the ambience of the meal was a little stunted by the presence of flies attempting to share the meal with us (they provided us with food covers to prevent the flies from sharing).

Would I come back here again, sure to experience it again with my family and perhaps to hope that everything could...

Indeed a destination in itself when coming for delectable southern Thai fare on Koh Samui. Having dined here, it becomes a no wonder why this place is so highly spoken of, including commendation from the Michelin guide - one of the restaurant recommendations that I agreed happily with.

The menus here are fantastic and sumptuously served. Friends and myself opted for Set 3 and though we tried our best to enjoy each and every dishes but simply we were filled. The steamed crabs are on refill, provided that the plate is entirely finished - and the same applies with their fresh Surat Thani oysters. The steamed crabs are naturally a favourite and I made a feast of it. Beyond the crabs and oysters were the prawn skewers; Southern style fried fish with two coloured fragrant rice with slight hints of coconut milk; boiled squids in sweet sauce; the southern orange curry with fish heads; crabs in coconut milk soup; and the marinated crabs in fish sauce - all very nicely and freshly prepared. The green mochi-like jelly filled with golden raw palm sugar natural in salted coconut milk for dessert is a refreshingly superb closure.

As a popular establishment the service maybe a little slow and staff may seem forgetful or struggle to understand requests here and there; but the problem wasn't at all significant. They still deliver the food and drinks adequately.

What I really like too was the overall laidback yet natural ambiance of the restaurant, a location that is tucked in a garden setting - with sights of coconut palms and the greenery. The structure of the restaurant is largely wooden and thatched roof, giving it a true feel of enjoying Southern Thai food open air. I also especially like the how the restaurant is home to multiple domestic and rural small animals as pets.

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PS, more photos of the lovely dishes.

This place is such a gem. A truly marvelous experience of Southern Thai flavours...

The concept is good but the service lets it down big time. There are 3 choices, either one of these will include fresh fish and also some other dishes. It follows that there are several dishes included in whichever menu you choose. The big let down is that all the dishes arrive pretty much at once so you end up with a table full of dishes going cold as you negotiate the crab and the prawns which need time to get into and eat. The Tiger prawns are not deveined which is a disappointment because they clearly needed to be. We asked for the dishes to be staggered a bit and not all arrive at the same time, but this had the opposite effect as it no time our table was full to overflowing with food going nicely cold and us having to swat the flies away. The server in touch was not particularly nice, non communicative and frankly, unlike other Thai people, could not bring herself to smile not for a nanosecond, the same unhappy expression stayed with her throughout. At some point we run our of water and needed some more, but nobody around to do so. I could see them all, some sitting in the kitchen, some sitting in a side room but all poking on their phones as if life depended on it, perhaps waiting for us to leave. Had to get up and walk up to the kitchen to get someone's attention and order some water. The food, apart from the prawns was good, but seriously it is all damped on the table in a matter of minutes and then you are forgotten until you ask for the bill, which by the way if you are paying with credit card will incur and annoying 3%. We will not be...