Srithanu

The island's best burekas, a knockout vegan breakfast and legendary halva

An institution for Israeli-style breakfasts, with unusual breads, smoothies and cookies that keep a regular crowd coming back. The vegan breakfast is really an 'omelette' built on lentil or chickpea flour with mushrooms and greens — worth the trip on its own. There's also a set menu that changes, and this is the natural address for a morning that feels indulgent and a little different.

ℹ Whole cakes to order in advance

Home-style Mediterranean, a different special each day, and hummus on another level

The place you go when you miss your mother's cooking — Moroccan fish on Friday, jachnun on Saturday, and midweek stews like roast chicken over crispy rice. You can also take schnitzels home to fry yourself, seasoned and breaded and sold by the kilo. There's delivery through the app, and gluten-free options too.

ℹ The special changes daily, and it's worth ordering ahead

Certified kosher kitchen — challah, Jerusalem salad and Shabbat meals delivered

Plenty of people come here for the shelves rather than the table — this is the island's stop for spelt flour, silan, bulgur and Bamba. The challah is best caught hot from the oven, and anyone staying at a hotel can order Shabbat food in advance, with delivery that will even come by taxi.

⚠ The regular menu is uneven; no deliveries on Shabbat itself

Israeli breakfast on the sand — shakshuka, fresh challah, fish cigars

Shakshuka with fresh challah in the morning, chicken thigh skewers with roasted vegetables and tahini at midday, whole grilled fish towards evening — a menu that covers the whole day. Aim for early evening and the sunset comes with the table.

ℹ Pool entry costs extra

Ramen on chicken or pork broth, gyoza, poke and sushi-grade fish

Beyond the ramen the menu runs deep: beef fillet or ribeye skewers, the Umami salad with yakitori skewers for a lighter meal, and some of the best poke on the island. Come early — the door closes on the early side for an evening spot.

ℹ Closes early

Coffee roasted on site, and breakfast led by courgette fritters and French toast

This roastery has two branches, and the one here is the better liked of them. Past the morning coffee and croissant the menu runs a long way — buckwheat with mushrooms, parmesan and a poached egg, courgette fritters with a side of sautéed greens — and you leave with ground coffee and granola for home.

ℹ The menu is less suited to kids

Some of the island's best fried fish, with massaman and pomelo salad right behind

The phone is part of the experience here: hours shift with the owners' mood, Saturday is usually closed, and there's sometimes a break between five and six — so call before you set out. When it's open, order the herb-fried fish, the massaman and the green curry, with pomelo or avocado salad alongside.

ℹ Opening hours vary — call before you go

Some of the island's best açaí bowls, vegan sandwiches, cold tomato gazpacho

An easy stop for coffee and something sweet, but the draw is the açaí bowl and the vegan sandwiches — the caramelised pumpkin one above all. On a hot day there's cold tomato gazpacho as well, and on the way out you pick almond butter or good chocolate off the shelves.

⚠ The soups and toasties are less of a sure thing

A vegan kitchen with chef's takes on Thai dishes, all of it gluten-free

A vegan kitchen whose menu reaches well past Thai — lasagne, gnocchi in pesto, bowls and chocolate cake to finish. Among the plates, the cream-filled mushroom caps stand out. Just know that the experience swings hard in both directions, so if you're undecided, the Mexican bowl is a relatively safe opening move.

⚠ Very hit or miss

Green falafel and thin schnitzel in soft pita, on Srithanu's temple road

A small Israeli stall on the road to the temples, the kind of stop that settles a craving for home cooking. There's no culinary revelation here and that's exactly the point — simple, well made, and the falafel goes down easily with kids too. Breakfast deliveries arrive well packed, croffles included — a waffle-croissant hybrid.

ℹ Pita packs — order a day ahead

A long Srithanu morning: excellent coffee, open sandwiches, breakfast plates

The coffee is among the island's best, and around it sit breakfasts, open sandwiches and a menu that keeps changing — mujadara, Greek shakshuka, chicken livers with mash. It opens at 7:30 and stays open until ten at night, so it works for a long morning with a laptop as much as for dinner.

Thai fusion in a designed room — beef massaman and lemony fish lead

Not classic Thai but a chef putting a twist on familiar dishes, one of the first addresses to reach for on a celebratory evening or a birthday. The massaman carries charred notes of onion and potato, and the pad krapow is made with pulled meat rather than minced. Book a table ahead, and check they're open — they vanish for a break now and then.

⚠ Opinions on the food are divided

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

You wander between the stalls — half of them Israeli-run — and build a meal one counter at a time. The fish stall right by the entrance does fish with potatoes and green beans, possibly the best plate in the whole place, and tucked into the back left corner is a Thai sandwich stall that only opens in the evening. With kids? The poke bowl at the last stall on the right is a hit.

ℹ Some of the stalls are closed on Saturdays

Falafel in fresh pita with a table of salads — and seriously good chips

When you want home cooking: falafel in fresh pita with a table of salads, pita with liver or kebab, and chips among the best around. Time it right — Saturday it's closed, though Saturday is exactly when it pays to stock up in advance on salads like the egg salad and the matbucha.

ℹ Closed Saturdays

Home-style Thai — pad thai, mini schnitzels, fried rice, and they deliver

There are two branches, and the rule is simple: the regular one — not the one on the beach — is the right one, by a wide margin. Order the things that are hard to miss: pad thai, chicken nuggets, fried rice and vegetable gyoza — sit in, take away or delivery.

ℹ Two branches — the Srithanu one is far better than the beach one

Poke bowls and pumpkin salad with feta and grapes, plus serious coffee and matcha

Breakfast or a light lunch is the right slot: a poke bowl with salmon or tuna, a chicken sandwich, and an excellent salmon plate for anyone after a more serious dish. There are two branches close together — the one beside Big C is convenient, but the other has a bit more atmosphere.

An Israeli institution for jachnun, toasties and kubbeh — and sufganiyot in season

Home-style Israeli food of the kind people miss — pitas, couscous soup, and a grill that only runs on Fridays. Vegetarians are looked after too: the pita with vegan shawarma comes seasoned exactly right. Worth remembering for food to take home as well, like ready-made stuffed vine leaves — and their new place sits right beside the travellers' centre.

ℹ The jachnun runs out early

A steak and seafood house, with Belgian chocolate soufflé to finish

The signature plates are clear: the most expensive steak on the menu, bone marrow and oysters gratin, and a Belgian chocolate soufflé with cream and ice cream to finish. Sit upstairs — that's where the atmosphere is — and bear in mind the cooking isn't always even from one visit to the next.

⚠ Not always consistent from one visit to the next

Green falafel straight out of Israel, with kebab, schnitzel and shakshuka in pita

The pitas are baked on the spot, and that is the foundation for everything that goes inside them. Beyond the familiar plates there is a picanha pita and meat cigars with tahini, and the falafel divides opinion — some crown it the best on the island, others walk away unmoved. Exactly right for a fast Israeli lunch.

ℹ Closed Saturdays

Challah stuffed with schnitzel or pulled asado, at the Srithanu market

Stuffed challah is the point: schnitzel, sabich and Moroccan fish, and above all pulled asado from a long braise with matbucha. The stall sits in a corner of Mama Market, and even arriving after six in the evening you'll still find the full range; on the lighter side there's coffee, an egg salad sandwich and pancakes.

ℹ Parking at the market is difficult

Ragù and thin-crust pizza from a one-chef kitchen, plus date-sweetened mousse

Toto, the chef, cooks everything here himself — which is why dishes come out slowly, but the ragù, the carbonara and the thin pizza justify the wait. Leave room for the chocolate mousse, sweetened with dates and almost no sugar.

ℹ Dishes come out slowly and the standard isn't always consistent; gluten-free pizza by advance order

Classic pad thai loaded with fresh vegetables, and mini schnitzels by the pile

A combination you don't take for granted — a Thai kitchen with a full vegan section, so the vegetarians at the table are sorted too. Tucked into the menu there's also a fish dish with garlic and pepper, and to finish, a Belgian waffle buried in Nutella. It works just as well on delivery, and it's an easy address for families with children.

Handmade pasta made in front of you — come for the tortellini

A no-frills Italian on the Haad Yao–Haad Salad stretch: one older Italian man in the kitchen, making everything with his own hands. From the menu, seek out the sweet potato tortellini. Come hungry and focused — the plate here is the whole story, with nothing staged around it.

ℹ No pizza and no atmosphere — you come for the food

Good coffee and simple breakfasts — bagels, Turkish eggs, avocado

More a morning habit than a culinary event — the kind of place you return to because it simply works. The avocado plate comes out full and generous, well beyond what the modest menu suggests. And anyone eating around a restriction is covered here: gluten-free bread, and vegan cream cheese for the bagel.

ℹ The food is fairly basic

Handmade pizza and pasta from Italian ingredients, open until five in the morning

Beyond the pizza there are reasons to sit down: a creamy mushroom pasta that has made a name for itself, a Nutella calzone and rugelach for dessert, and vegan cheese made in house. The room also works for an evening with football on the screen, and for anyone still out late it's open until five in the morning, delivery included.

The vegan burger that surprises people who weren't looking for vegan

Beyond Meat in a bun — regular or gluten-free — is the order you come back to here, alongside Belgian-style waffles, pumpkin soup and vegan cookies sold by the piece. Air-conditioned and open until nine or ten at night, late for a café.

Duck with green noodles and pomelo salad, facing the sunset

A sunset spot on a small bay where the view does most of the work — and the plates hold up their end. The pomelo salad is fresh and balanced in its seasoning, without the overload you find in other versions on the island. It's a pleasant place to sit with a laptop during the day, but the hour that really counts is towards sunset — date nights included.

Toasted bagels and feta-aubergine shakshuka, late into the night

The menu covers just about every craving — toasted bagel, feta and aubergine shakshuka, schnitzel and Israeli salad — plus gluten-free bread and an ice cream freezer with a wide selection. It stays open past eleven at night, when almost everything nearby has already closed.

Everyday Thai in Srithanu, with precise fried rice and tofu khao soi

A neighbourhood Thai place on the road between Tops and Pure, the kind you walk into for lunch without thinking twice. The lunch plate of chicken meatballs, mash and salad is a fun pick — and a side of carrot salad is worth the few extra baht. If you want to play it safe, the Thai side of the menu is steadier than the pastas.

⚠ Opinions are divided, mainly on the pastas and the service

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

The beach restaurant of Secret Beach, with tables set on the sand itself and the sea almost touching the plate. The menu goes further than you'd expect from a beach place — alongside the fish there's a courgette larb and a Burmese salad. Exactly the place to spend a whole beach day: you eat where you swim.

A beach restaurant with burgers, massaman and barbecue on Mondays and Fridays

Thai food that is a pleasure to eat facing the water, with a broad Western wing to the menu for anyone who needs a break from local cooking. The burger can also be ordered in a mushroom version. Families manage here easily — there is even an oat pancake made for the little ones.

⚠ The burger divides opinion

A vegetarian Srithanu kitchen with Thai accents — buddha bowls, pancakes, lentil soup

A quiet vegetarian corner that suits a slow morning as much as a few hours with a laptop. The buddha bowl leans on local beans, chopped lemongrass and coconut, and the cacao is a house blend of Vietnamese and Thai beans. Just factor in that the pricing here isn't among the island's cheapest.

ℹ Closed on Sundays

Sourdough straight out of the morning oven, with good coffee beside it

A café on paper, a full sourdough bakery in practice — there are people who cross the island for a loaf, baked here in the classic style. The shelf holds dates as well, and it's a pleasant place to sit for more than the morning coffee; midday passes here nicely too.

Pancakes and breakfast bowls, plus a poke bowl and a kimchi tuna melt

A café for long mornings — bowls that photograph well, coffee worth remembering and dishes you want to come back for. The kimchi tuna melt is the example: house kimchi with tuna and cheese on a sourdough that feels like challah — sour, spicy and slightly sweet from the bread. A safe choice for breakfast with kids, too.

ℹ The menu has changed and some long-standing dishes have gone

Moroccan cooking: slow tagine in a clay pot over coals

Start with salads, move on to a tagine cooked over coals, and finish with cheese-filled pastry parcels dipped in honey. You'll find it on the road to Hin Kong, a little past the shish kebab place, and it deserves an evening genuinely left free: book a table ahead, and expect the food to take its time.

⚠ The wait for food is long, and opinion is divided

A fully vegan café — zen bowls, mushroom wraps and desserts

The zen bowl with house-made tempeh is the safe order, and the cheesy mushroom wrap is a good reason to come back. There's a pool and a day pass that includes a meal — a format built for long afternoons — and just remember that everything here is vegan, the coffee milk included.

The coffee is the reason to stop here; the breakfast is very plain

A coffee stop rather than a meal: the cup here is good, the breakfast very plain, and off the shelf you can grab a bottle of kombucha for the road. Convenient if you are passing on the way to the beach anyway.

A mango sticky rice stall in Srithanu, green rice version included

A yellow kiosk at the roadside, directly opposite the gym: a mango sticky rice stall that holds its level, visit after visit. If you want a change, there is also a version made with green rice instead of the usual white.

A surprising atmosphere and open mic nights, a good burger and an excellent date cake

On open mic nights the people who get up genuinely know how to sing — good reason to time a visit around them. On the table: a good burger, wine if you came only to drink, and the date cake as the obvious last order.

Açaí and smoothie bowls, and a vegan croissant that stands on its own

Next to Warung, and you come mainly for the bowls: açaí or smoothie, the size of a full meal and properly thick. The croffle and the vegan croissant complete the picture, and the whole menu is vegetarian and health-minded — a natural fit for a slow morning.

The Fisherman burger — crispy tofu in tartare sauce, with truffle chips

The food here is unapologetically indulgent, and that's exactly the point. It's the salad that steals the show — extra lemony, with lettuce, parmesan and sliced almonds, the right counterweight to a burger. And on lazy days it travels well by delivery.

Protein bowls and a Beyond burger — a break from Thai food and burgers

Nourishing and filling in a way that's hard to find around here — and it's the big, heavy plates that land better than the light ones. The Beyond burger hits the spot for anyone missing a burger without the meat, and there's coffee too. It also works well for a large group settling in.

The thickest coconut yoghurt on the island, and you can take it home

A quiet morning spot on the edge of the lake, and particularly pleasant on a rainy day. The yoghurt is made without sugar and comes out thick enough that it never turns to liquid under the fruit. To take some home, look for the sealed tubs in the fridge to the right of the entrance.

ℹ The yoghurt sometimes runs out — worth ordering ahead

An ice cream shop at Yang San, plenty of flavours and a play corner outside

A relatively new sweet stop, easy to fold into a visit to Yang San. The draw is the matcha ice cream — a flavour that is hard to find on the island — and the ice cream in general is genuinely good. You can leave the Belgian waffle aside and stay with the scoops.

ℹ The Belgian waffle is less good value

Proper Belgian frites, steak and mussels — a Belgian bistro for meat lovers

The menu is unusually long and goes well beyond meat — bone marrow, a good blue cheese salad and fish that does the job. Come hungry and with patience for choosing, and anyone dragging a vegan along will find a few options among the specials.

ℹ Steak prices run high

Plain-looking Thai with a precise tea-leaf salad and pad krapow

The setting next to the church is about as modest as they come, but the kitchen gets everything right: Burmese tea-leaf salad with prawns at 80 baht, pad krapow, larb and cashew chicken, plus grilled fish in miang style. It's Yummy's neighbour — and no less good.

An Italian in Srithanu where the pizza and the seafood pasta are the point

One of those Italians where the right order decides the evening. The pizzas, even if they aren't especially large, are the anchor, and the seafood pasta holds up well too; the fish dishes are harder to justify at the price. Stay on the pizza and pasta side — that's where the place is at its best.

⚠ Opinions are divided; prices are high

Pasta in tomato sauce, simple and good, delivered straight to your door

An order for a quiet night in — a comforting plate that shows up exactly as you expect it, no surprises. Beyond the pastas, the menu also hides a borscht, an unexpected answer for anyone after a vegetarian soup by delivery. Order through the KPG delivery app.

Careful vegetarian cooking from quality ingredients, with good coffee alongside

A good answer for anyone after a fun vegetarian dinner with a fancy touch to it. The kitchen itself is among the cleanest you'll see on the island, and matcha drinkers get an organic version here.

A lounge restaurant with live music — sea bass and salmon over mash

You come for the music, and find that the kitchen holds its own. The sea bass comes out tender in a sauce that makes the dish, and the kitchen is flexible — you can ask for the fish in place of the chicken breast in another dish. Keep it for an evening when you want to eat well without giving up live music.

Air-conditioned Thai, with a green mango salad that justifies the visit

A relatively new name on the island's Thai map, and already a standing answer to the what-is-for-dinner question. It sits further along the same street as Pom Poy — an address worth having ready when there's no free table there.

Challah and chocolate babka from a home kitchen, pre-order only

A home bakery in the fullest sense — no shop, just a baker turning out large challahs (200 baht each) and cakes to order from her own kitchen. The chocolate babka is the proof: the sweetness measured exactly, never overdone. You order ahead for Friday, and some weeks the orders close — best to be early.

ℹ Pre-order only, with pickup in Srithanu

Excellent Vietnamese food, and the chicken sandwich is the safe order

Right beside the 7-Eleven, opposite Ratatouille Massage — Vietnamese food that's genuinely excellent, with the chicken sandwich as the order to start from. Anyone moving around Thong Sala will find a branch there too.

MSG-free Thai kitchen in Srithanu, with a few Indian-style dishes

Everyday Thai that cooks without MSG — not something to take for granted — and keeps a small Indian corner too, led by a yellow dal. It sits right next to Pum Poy, and it's an easy choice for a simple meal with no fuss.

Japanese in Srithanu where the miso soup and gyoza are the thing to order

A Japanese place with an odd gap: the ratings run very high, but on the ground most of the menu never takes off. Better to approach it as a light stop than to build a whole sushi evening around it.

ℹ Opinions on the rest of the menu are lukewarm

Sea views and good coffee — a place you come to for the experience

The view does the work here — this is one of those places that is an experience first, with good coffee to go with it. The sweet little café on site turns it into a pleasant morning stop on the way north towards Haad Salad.