Places to eat in Suratthani

Surat Thani is a great place to dine on traditional Thai cuisine. Here, locals like to serve up tasty Thai dishes that haven’t been toned down to suit western travellers so you’ll be able to enjoy spicy curries, fresh seafood and delicious street food delicacies. With local Thai basil, coconuts from Koh Samui and fish caught in the Gulf of Thailand you’ll know you are eating fresh, local produce which makes dishes all the more tasty.

Street food

Rather than restaurants, perhaps the best place to eat out while in Surat Thani is the night markets.

The main street food market is located on Soi Tonpo, close to the Ta Pi River. This daily night market offers everything from spicy papaya salad to sticky desserts with a smattering of satay, fish and curry thrown in for good measure. The market sprawls out over a number of streets so you could easily head out along Soi Tonpo every night and dine on something different each time! Some of our favourites include freshly grilled prawns and kaew muu sap (Chinese-style pork dumplings).

An alternative market is set up near Bandon Pier which is a great place to pick up fresh fruit and veg. It also offers more popular Thai dishes for travellers such as pad thai and noodle soup and a smoothie, juice or cold beer is never far away. This is a great place to hang out of an evening and meet up with other travellers. Although this street market has less of a local feel you’ll still be able to pick up cheap nosh on the go.

Local produce

Surat Thani is known for producing rambutans (an unmistakable small red-skinned fruit with green spikes) and they even have a rambutan festival in August every year to celebrate the harvest. These fruit are similar to lychees and have light, sweet flesh with a stone inside. It is worth picking up a handful as a tasty, healthy snack. As they have skins you also don’t need to worry about them having been washed in unclean water.

The area is also known for its oyster farms and many restaurants along the Ta Pi River serve up the catch both raw and cooked. If you choose a modern western-style restaurant along the main stretch you are likely to pay a premium so if you want to try oysters at a fraction of the cost look for local cafes or head further out of town towards the sea.

Cafes and restaurants

If you’d rather eat out at a café or restaurant (although we think the best food is served in roadside ‘shacks’), Day & Night offers great western food with a hipster vibe and Kao Hom serves up authentic Thai cuisine.

The Surat Thani food scene has got better and better in recent years so if you wander around town you will be sure to find somewhere modern offering a range of dishes.

Vegetarian

As with much of Asia, Thailand caters well to vegetarians and vegans. Many stir-fries and curries feature tofu and vegetables which make for healthy, filling meal. Surat Thani Vegetarian offers a huge selection of dishes for vegetarians including stuffed avocados, spring rolls and fried rice. Dom, just north of the Coliseum shopping centre, also produces great vegetarian and vegan cuisine although it does not have an English menu so just point at what you want.

Although many just see Surat Thani as a stopover destination, if you stop to explore you will find that it is a great place for food enthusiasts to try delicious local cuisine.