🐟 Fish & seafood

Ban Tai's seafood house — fresh catch and the island's most talked-about chips

The white snapper comes as a curry here, with ceviche alongside it, crab off the grill and prawns as fresh as any on the island. Not every plate is equally impressive, but the cocktails are good — and the chips are a story of their own.

ℹ Worth checking it's open before you head over

Pick your fish at the counter, grilled every evening facing the sea

You pick the fish yourself: a waiter walks you to the counter, everything is fresh, and the price is by weight. The evening grill also turns out excellent seafood and calamari, and the fried fish is good as well. With roasted vegetables and a side of potatoes it is a full meal.

ℹ Worth booking a table ahead

Curried fish bun and ceviche — the fish kitchen of Thong Sala market

Fish in every form: white fish ceviche that changes with the day, tuna tartare over pineapple, shrimp ceviche, and seared fish served with green salad in a tart dressing. Above all of them — fish stewed in curry and coconut milk, tucked into a bun and turned into the island's sandwich.

A run of stalls — falafel, shawarma, a fish counter and stuffed challah

The fish stall right by the entrance justifies the trip on its own: the fish is handled precisely in every preparation, from the fish and chips to the fish cakes, and even the potatoes beside it get their due. Just remember that this stall closes for Shabbat.

ℹ Some of the stalls are closed on Saturdays

Seared sea bass and calamari, right on the sand at Secret Beach

The whole seared sea bass is where you start, and the calamari is a worthy rival; there's also a fish taco and a Burmese salad if you want variety. You eat all of it on the sand itself, steps from the water — fish and sea in one sitting.

Thai seafood on the sand — fish in Thai herbs and crab curry

The crab curry is the peak of the menu, and the fried fish in Thai herbs can also be had in a larb version. Lobster appears from time to time, and when it does it is among the best on the island.

ℹ Quality swings from one day to the next

Sea bass fried with garlic and pepper, out on the Chaloklum pier

The sea bass fried with garlic and pepper is eaten here at a table standing on the pier, out over the water — a local Thai place in Chaloklum, and this is its dish. At midday, when the sea around it is full of colour, the fish and the pier come together into one meal.

Sunset, cocktails and fish tacos — a kitchen leaning on fish and seafood

The sharp end of the menu comes from the sea: fish tacos, ceviche and shrimp salad, and the fish on the salad earns its place on the table too. All of it is best timed for the sunset hour, when the cocktails join the picture.

ℹ adults only, and sometimes closed even in season

A fixed-price tasting menu, set by that day's catch

A choice for an evening you want to be an experience — a birthday, a date, an occasion — rather than just another meal. The restaurant appears in the Michelin guide, without a star but with a mention, which is not an everyday matter here. Say in advance what you don't eat, and bear in mind that the tasting menu isn't available every evening.

⚠ By advance booking; opinions are divided

Fish on the Chaloklum pier — barracuda, sea bass and a view hard to beat

A warm family business, with service you remember no less than the food. The sea bass comes fried and steeped in garlic and pepper — a dish that shows the direction worth holding to across the whole order. For a fish dinner on the north of the island, this is the obvious address.

ℹ the fish are the strength — the tom yum less so

French in Haad Salad — the fish and the burrata salad justify the drive

The fish is the order the whole meal is built around at this French place, and it doesn't disappoint even those who came especially for it. The seafood side also has fried calamari, but the hierarchy is clear: the fish first, everything else afterwards.