What is really great about eating  in Koh Samui is that no matter what your budget you can still enjoy great food.

The cheapest way to eat in Koh Samui is to enjoy the local food, there are some fantastic Thai restaurants in Koh Samui where you can enjoy local dishes for as little as 50 baht a dish.

Thai people understand taht we are not as used to food as spicy as they have it and most will ask you how hot you you like your food, so you can be as adventurous as you like. No matter how basic the Thai restaurants in Koh Samui look you can guarantee they will be serving fresh food.

Another great cheap eat tip is to go and enjoy one of the 109 baht all you can eat BBQ’s. These hot pot restaurants are scattered around the island, I personally thing that the best one is in Maenam on the north shore. Once you sit down a small BBQ will be brought over to your table . You will be provided with some stock to pour into the  moat around the BBQ itself., and you cook your meed in the middle. You will find unlimited vegetables in the buffet area to put into your broth as well as garlic, chilli, spices and seasoning. The buffet offers a huge selection of different meats and fish to BBQ and you will also find a salad bar, French fries, Spring Rolls, fried rice and other tempting treats to feast on. The 109 baht all you can eat BBQ’s in Koh Samui also include tea, coffee, cakes, fruit and ice cream that make it one of the best value meal deals on Koh Samui. Alcoholic drinks and non alcoholic drinks are available but they are not as cheap as the food!

Another great place to try something new and for only a few baht is at the Thai temple fairs and markets. Many of the local markets do amazing fried chicken for around 25 baht a piece that comes with sticky rice and sweet chili sauce. There is a walking street market in Meanam on Thursday nights and one in Bophut Fisherman’s village on Fridays, both have some great food stalls with all sorts of some of the most deliciously cheap eats in Koh Samui. Temple parties are good fun and also offer lots of wonderful foods, sounds, sights and smells of Thailand. 

No visit to Koh Samui is complete without trying something new. There are lots of street vendors who all offer clean and fresh food as well as noodle soup shops that offer delicious noodle soup for as little as forty baht.

The Abracadabra Koh Samui Dining Guide can help you in several ways.                                                   

If you are a visitor to Koh Samui
Finding the best places to eat and drink in a new place can be difficult and nine times out of ten you end up finding the place you have most enjoyed on the last night when you have run out of time to go back.
We aim to take the guesswork out of finding the best places to eat in Koh Samui but finding them all for you and then providing easy to read full accounts of each restaurant and providing pictures of the venue and the food

 Get involved in promoting your favorite  restaurants in Koh Samui
If you have found a restaurant that you have enjoyed and think other people would too, please drop us a line. We are always on the look out for really good restaurants on Koh Samui. If you have found a great place to eat Thai, Western, Indian, Italian here on Koh Samui then use or contacts page and we will feature it on our site if the owner is agreeable. 

Finding the sort of places you enjoy eating in Koh Samui
We aim to fill our site with the sort of places you want to eat. Shortly our guide to eating on Koh Samui will include a price guide to help you make informed choices. Our reviews will always feature special offers so it is worth popping back from time to time to see what your favorite restaurant on Koh Samui is offering. We do our best to include information such as if venues are suitable for children, large groups and smokers to help you find the best restaurants on Koh Samui for you.

If you are a restaurant owner
By having your restaurant featured on our Koh Samui restaurant review site you can be sure that it will get noticed. We constantly update our information so unlike island paper publications we can update your details daily. If you change your phone number, opening ours, day off or specials just drop us an email. All updates to your Koh Samui restaurant review will be updated within 24 hours at no cost to you.

Why choose a review site?
Whether you are a resident or holiday maker looking for a great place to eat or a restaurant owner looking for a great place to be found a review site will always be better than a listing. A restaurant review will give far more information than a listing and gives the reader a real insight as to what your restaurant in Koh Samui is offering. Our Koh Samui restaurant reviews give an honest appraisal of what you are offering so you can find the ideal restaurant to eat in or find customers that will enjoy what you are offering here in Koh Samui

We hope you enjoy our where to eat in Koh Samui guide and look forward to receiving your feed back that you can either email to us click here for our contact page or if you would like to make your comments public on our Koh Samui Restaurant Review Forum

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Chinese Shop Nathon

Koh Samui is Thailand second largest island and has an area of 228.7 km2. The island is 21 kilometers wide at its narrowest point and 25 km at it’s longest and has a population of approximately 60,000.

Koh Samui sits among 60 or so other islands that make up the Ang Thong Marine Park.

Koh Samui is divided into 7 subdistricts, Ang Thong, Liap Noi, Taling Ngam, Na Mueang, Maret, Bophut and Meanam.

The middle of Samui consists of rugged jungle and is largely uninhabited. The lowland towns are connected by the Samui ring road that has recently been partially tarmaced.

The name Samui is thought to have come from either an extended version of the native tree ‘mui’ or possibly from the word Saboey that means ‘safe haven’ in Chinese. The word Koh or Ko simply means island in Thai.

It is thought the island was first inhabited 15 centuries ago by fishermen from the Malay Peninsula and Southern China.

Up until the late 20^th century Samui had little to do with the mainland and had no roads right up until around 1970. It could take up to a day to get from one end of the island to the other in those days and involved trekking over rugged mountain tracks.

Samui’s income is based mainly on tourism as well as the export of coconuts.

Samui can now be reached by boat or plane, it has its own privately owned international airport and resident from literally all over the world.  

Koh Samui attracts visitors from all over the world. When it comes to dining on Koh Samui just about every need is catered for. When you want to eat on Koh Samui you can choose from street vendors offering traditional fayre at rock bottom prices to five star restaurants with internationally recognized chefs and literally everything in between.

You will find plenty of Koh Samui dining guides online, some updated frequently, some horribly out of date. Many websites offer a few dining suggestions among many other topics and the information you are looking for is hard to find.

The Abracadabra Koh Samui Dining Guide aims to bring you up to date ‘where to eat on Koh Samui’ information with details of promotions, opening hours, prices and reviews that you can trust.

We welcome your input and your suggestions of places you have found that you would like to see featured on this site so please feel free to contact us via our contacts page

About the Abracadabra Koh Samui Dining Guide

Created by Suzanne Buchanan, an expat that has been living on Koh Samui for 12 years, and has been reviewing Koh Samui Restaurants for various newspapers, magazines and publications for 8 years, Abracadabra Koh Samui Dining has been designed with you, rather than the advertiser in mind. Many publications on the island use restaurant reviews as an incentive to encourage local restaurants to advertise, and are therefore present often falsely positive reviews.

This website aims to bring you a true representation of the well known local restaurants as well as bringing you information about the lesser known places to eat on Koh Samui and those hidden gems that visitors to the island simply never find out about. Suzanne and her team have been eating on Koh Samui for over a decade and hope that you will enjoy, as they have, some of the most enjoyable food Koh Samui has to offer.

We hope you enjoy our Koh Samui Dining Guide and look forward to receiving your suggestions and feedback.

Bon Appétit