Khun Ying's Kitchen and Bar — Restaurant in Surat Thani Province

We have been to Thailand at least 20 times and therefore consider ourselves aficionados of the Thai restaurant scene. It’s fair to say that Thai food in Thailand in EVERY type of restaurant, from roadside shack through to upmarket restaurants, is always better than what's served in Europe. The permanently sunny weather and correspondingly tastier ingredients make that inevitable. But only occasionally is a restaurant in Thailand a huge cut above the rest. And Khun Ying is one of them.

The menu contains all regular Thai food staples, but the other 50% of the menu comprises dishes that we'd never seen (or eaten) on the menu of any European Thai restaurant. Not because their special dishes are so obscure as to make them unappetising, but because they’re the original, inventive culinary creations of a chef deep inside their craft.

An even bigger surprise is that Khun Ying is no more expensive than any typical restaurant that one would find in Koh Samui. The vibe is relaxed, and the panoramic views over the bay are stunning. Everything is truly taken care of. This is a must-visit if you are on the island.

The best Thai restaurant we’ve ever been to...

HORRIBLE restaurant in every aspect.

1. EXTREMELY BAD SERVICE- we ordered four dishes and waited for more than half an hour without anything being served. We tried to ask the waitress but they kept ignoring us. Finally one staff told us they have huge amount of takeaway orders coming from another two customers. It is so ridiculous that the restaurant put the blames on other customers. After some more waiting, we got informed they havent started cooking our order at all so we asked for cancellation. Then the waitress yelled at the kitchen in Thai and replied us that now our order was taken care of. We ended up waiting for at least 40 minutes for first dish with NO apologies from anyone at the restaurant.
2. CRAZY PRICES of each dish that does not worth it - Prices listed on the menu do NOT include 7% tax and 5% service charge.
3. Juices are strongly NOT recommended. It tastes just like concentrated juice at super high price and tastes weird (the passion fruit juice tastes more like mango mixing...

Not sure why this place is getting 5 stars, very very average Thai food, setting is nice but seriously : the food is bland as hell (maybe people don't know what real Thai food is 🙄) . The masaman beef cheeks was probably the only reasonable dish, beef was nice but the masaman sauce lacked omph. The egg pork was mainly pork-belly lumps of fat - hardly any meat. (I have made way better at home}. The chicken cashew was terrible - one priece of chicken wasn't even cooked through,and absolutely bland. Wife said her squid was alright so at least they got that right. My martini was awful - pretty sure they used cheapest GIN they could find lol. Was supposed to be a treat for our anniversary but total let down. We ate at hole-in-the-wall mom's place the night before and that was 1/3 price and twice better food (real local food!) If you like real Thai food... Don't go there. Yes the photos look good......