Restaurant Tip: Samchong Seafood (Phang Nga)
Well, last weekend we dragged our lazy bones out of the house for a proper day out, even managing to leave Phuket! I am sure most people realise that Phuket is an island, but Phuket is connected to the mainland by the Sarasin bridge (well, 2 bridges actually which run parallel), so you can drive to/from Phuket. The bridges are about 500m long and when you hit the other side you are in Phang Nga province which has a wealth of attractions including Phang Nga Bay, Khao Sok National Park (well, that's actually in Surat Thani province), the Similan Islands and the temple in a cave at Wat Suwan Kuha.
After visiting the temple and checking out the nearby Raman Waterfall and National forest park (which we will revisit), we went looking for lunch. A friend had told me to look for a restaurant called "Poo Dam" (meaning Black Crab) around the Khok Kloi area which is a bit north of Phuket. I had assumed it was on the water, so as we drove back towards Phuket we looked for "Poo Dam" signs. No luck... Feeling hungry we followed instead a sign to "Samchong Seafood" which was well signposted (but only in Thai!), with the turn off near the village of Ka Lai, about 10km from Khok Kloi and about 20km from the Sarasin bridge. You drive about 2km down the side road and reach a wide mangrove channel, some floating jetties and the Samchong Seafood restaurant floating in the water, accessed by a stilted walkway. The sign you can look for :
And here's the restaurant ...
It looked decent, the views were great along the channel, with some of the Phang Nga limestone formations visible to the east, and a stilted village similar to the famous Panyee village just over the water. Longtail boats acted as taxis across to the village. A peaceful location (I don't count the occasional longtail engine). A few cars with Phuket plates were parked nearby. Maybe a restaurant that Phuket people visit for an "off island" lunch! I liked the place even before we ordered food.
There was an English menu, but I'd reckon they don't get many tourists here. I should note that we found the English menu was about 10 Baht more per dish than the Thai menu. We chose the Thai price. We ordered a salad made with smoked prawns, a whole snapper with lime and garlic, plus chicken with garlic for the kids. The price of the fish dish was less than places we have eaten in Phuket, only 280 Baht per kilo. Service was fast, though the place was not very busy as we arrived a bit later than normal lunchtime.
Food was very tasty - fish was excellent, we are already planning a return visit to Samchong Seafood. No photo of the fish, sorry. I am not a good food blogger.. we had already started attacking the fish and agreeing on how tasty it was, then I realised I had not taken a photo. Ah well, next time... Photos above show Yam Gung Seab (salad with dried smoked shrimp) and Kung Che Nam Pla (raw prawns with fish / chili sauce). From our house, only about an hour to drive there, and it's not just the food, it's the location! Some more views from Samchong Seafood:
It's been a good year for finding new places to eat so far. We must vow to continue our explorations and not be so lazy!
Update March 2012: We have now done a couple of trips out to Phang Nga Bay from Samchong Seafood - easy to get a longtail from there to James Bond Island and Koh Panyee / Panyi.
Samchong Seafood - Location Map
View Samchong Seafood, Phang Nga in a larger map
After visiting the temple and checking out the nearby Raman Waterfall and National forest park (which we will revisit), we went looking for lunch. A friend had told me to look for a restaurant called "Poo Dam" (meaning Black Crab) around the Khok Kloi area which is a bit north of Phuket. I had assumed it was on the water, so as we drove back towards Phuket we looked for "Poo Dam" signs. No luck... Feeling hungry we followed instead a sign to "Samchong Seafood" which was well signposted (but only in Thai!), with the turn off near the village of Ka Lai, about 10km from Khok Kloi and about 20km from the Sarasin bridge. You drive about 2km down the side road and reach a wide mangrove channel, some floating jetties and the Samchong Seafood restaurant floating in the water, accessed by a stilted walkway. The sign you can look for :
And here's the restaurant ...
It looked decent, the views were great along the channel, with some of the Phang Nga limestone formations visible to the east, and a stilted village similar to the famous Panyee village just over the water. Longtail boats acted as taxis across to the village. A peaceful location (I don't count the occasional longtail engine). A few cars with Phuket plates were parked nearby. Maybe a restaurant that Phuket people visit for an "off island" lunch! I liked the place even before we ordered food.
There was an English menu, but I'd reckon they don't get many tourists here. I should note that we found the English menu was about 10 Baht more per dish than the Thai menu. We chose the Thai price. We ordered a salad made with smoked prawns, a whole snapper with lime and garlic, plus chicken with garlic for the kids. The price of the fish dish was less than places we have eaten in Phuket, only 280 Baht per kilo. Service was fast, though the place was not very busy as we arrived a bit later than normal lunchtime.
Food was very tasty - fish was excellent, we are already planning a return visit to Samchong Seafood. No photo of the fish, sorry. I am not a good food blogger.. we had already started attacking the fish and agreeing on how tasty it was, then I realised I had not taken a photo. Ah well, next time... Photos above show Yam Gung Seab (salad with dried smoked shrimp) and Kung Che Nam Pla (raw prawns with fish / chili sauce). From our house, only about an hour to drive there, and it's not just the food, it's the location! Some more views from Samchong Seafood:
It's been a good year for finding new places to eat so far. We must vow to continue our explorations and not be so lazy!
Update March 2012: We have now done a couple of trips out to Phang Nga Bay from Samchong Seafood - easy to get a longtail from there to James Bond Island and Koh Panyee / Panyi.
Samchong Seafood - Location Map
View Samchong Seafood, Phang Nga in a larger map
Restaurant Tip: Samchong Seafood (Phang Nga) | Jamie's Phuket Blog
Comments on Restaurant Tip: Samchong Seafood (Phang Nga)
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While you're walking up 'n down Karon, pop in to marina phuket hotel and ask them what's wrong with their live-webcam. I can't start my morning correctly, if I can't see the beach!
cheers from snow covered Finland!
Annoying isn't it! Well, I will try an email. Not much point asking at reception. Pretty sure the receptionists do not deal with the webcam!
I did send an email to Marina Hotel, they replied that the webcam would be back soon - it's back already -
Phuket Karon Beach Webcam
As for Samchong Seafood, we will be back sometme soon. We like.
Yep, I noticed that it's up too. ( I check it every day..)
All I get now is 'too many clients'.
thanks anyway!
Jamie
Did you finally find Poo Dam restaurant ???
Hi Mystic, nice to see you here!
Oh we did find Poo Dam, it's on the main road up to Khao Lak a little after the turn off to Phang Nga. We preferred the location of Samchong, on the water, no traffic noise save for the odd longtail engine of course! I want to go again sometime and see if we can hire a longtail from there to James Bond Island.. looks pretty close on Google Earth.
Jamie, was it you that also mentioned getting a boat from the Samchong Seafood restaurant to the James Bond Island? What about a hotel close to this restaurant so we can wake up early and get a quick start?
Thanks for your help!
Yes indeed - just added to the blog - James Bond Island trip from Samchong Seafood.
Not really any hotels that close. The nearest would be small hotels in Phang Nga town about 20km away, or something in the north of Phuket Island around Mai Khao or Nai Yang Beaches around 30km away. We live near Phuket town and it's an hour to drive from there.
Yes, the food was very good. It was great recommendation on your part again, Jamie.
We ordered a grilled seabass with the spicy condiments on the side so that the kid with us could also eat the fish. It was grilled with plain salt but with the fish scales intact. Our immediate reaction was that it was going to be too fishy for us. As it transpired, it was grilled to perfection -- fully cooked and yet still retaining all its juices. It was so fresh, two of us preferred eating it by itself without the accompanying condiments. This was clearly a sea catch and not a farmed fish. As such, it had no muddy taste which is almost the mark of the bulk of the seabasses sold in Singapore.
Our neighbouring table ordered a deep-fried garoupa in garlic and pepper which also looked very good but which we did not have the opportunity to try.
The squid was grilled with only a dash of salt and pepper. Again, it was so fresh and juicy that every bite just brought so much pleasure -- eaten on its own, again.
The kangkong (or morning glory, as they call it) was a little "old". Cooking style was okay, but nothing to rave over.
By the way, if you are driving up from Phuket Island, just follow the signs pointing to the direction of Phang Nga then turn right at the Samchong junction which will take you to Ban Samchong. No need to go through Khok Kloi then Kalai before reaching the Samchong junction, which is quite a detour. If you're driving south from Phang Nga, you also just head in the direction of Phuket Island until you reach the Samchong junction, in which case, you turn left.
Finally, Jamie, the restaurant was very well signposted indeed, except that the signs were all in Thai. :-)
We also took up your recommendation and hired a longtail boat and went out to James Bond Island and Koh Panyee and went through a mini cave, but which nevertheless had some interesting limestones formations. The hire cost us 1500 BAHT for a three-hour ride. We got caught in heavy rain and thought we must be crazy to trust the boatmen who assured us that there would be no rain although the sky looked quite overcast. When we got to the stretch of sea between James Bond Island and Koh Panyee, it was quite comforting to see that we weren't the only crazy tourists out in the choppy waters that afternoon. But it was a good ride, we had fun, and we enjoyed ourselves -- getting wet under our torn and flapping disposable raincoats, notwithstanding.
Thanks to your blog, we really had a great time in Phuket. We spent less time than we would have liked to because of a mistake in the flight booking. Would have loved to drop by Sunrise Divers to say hi and to thank you personally. But we enjoyed ourselves so much, we hope to make another trip back to Phuket, and this time, when we do, we will definitely swing by. Cheers!
Thanks for the report Yong Yong! We ourselves will certainly eat at Samchong again and do another boat ride from there. ..the route from Phuket... in case anyone gets confused.. YES you do have to pass Khok Khloi and Ka Lai, but stay on the main road and do not follow the road into these villages. Just after Ka Lai is the Samchong intersection.. and yes sorry the sign is only in Thai!
Hi, Jamie,
Thank you very much for your sharing.
We (a young couple from Hong Kong) are planning a trip to Phuket in late October, and want to get your advices on some questions.
1.we've heard that Khao Lak is beautiful (but far away). Is it worth spending one or two days there instead of only in Kata/karon? Is there any bus from Phuket to Khao Lak?
2. We want to follow your route to Samchong Seafood (Phang Nga) and then visit the James Bond island by longtail boat. But we cannot drive. So can we take a bus from Phuket to Phang Nga and take off the bus at Ka Lai?(but it seems that we need to walk for 2.3km to Samchong Seafood). Or about how much we need to pay if by taxi from Phuket? And after Phang Nga bay trip, can we have some way to get to Khao Lak from Samchong Seafood if we want?
Thanks again.
Best regards,
Owen
Hi Owen,
Khao Lak has nice beaches, it's a very quiet place with lots of bug hotels, and not much to do except sit on the beach :)
There is a bus from Phuket to Khao Lak which you catch from the main bus terminal in Phuket Town. Any bus heading to Ranong or Takua Pa will drop you in Khao Lak.
Samchong Seafood - James Bond Island, hard to get to without transport! Taxi will be very expensive, yes you could get a bus and walk.. or you can contact Easy Day Thailand - a travel company run by some friends of mine, they have set up a day trip based on my blog including Samchong Seafood and the longtail trip :)
Thanks a lot for your information, Jamie.
Maybe we shall visit your office if we pass by karon.
Regards,
Owen
Hi Jamie,
I'm Sharm from Malaysia. I chanced upon your blog during one of my research sessions on Phuket. I have decided to take my husband to Phuket - we loved Bangkok and Chieng Mai, and would love to visit Phuket.
I am planning a 4D3N stay at the Andaman Seaview in Karon, as you mentioned in your blog that it is one of the most beautiful beaches there.
Also, being big food connoisseurs, your entry about Samchong Seafood was quite inviting...I want to pay it a visit.
I'm wondering if you can suggest a good itinerary, to save us some good vacation time.
We're not really into scuba diving/ snorkelling, and prefer scenic vacations, with cheap shopping, good food, fantastic relaxation and basically, some good fun. I look forward to your suggestion.
Thanks!
Sharm
Hi Sharm,
For a day out including Samchong Seafood, James Bond Island and Panyee Island, contact Easy Day Thailand - a travel company who do personal tours some of which are based on this blog :)
Dear Jamie, I am staying at Laguna Holiday club and had rented a seven seater. I would like to visit Phang Nga and have lunch at Sam Chong. I got a GPS but can not secure a bearing for Phang Nga not least for Sam Chong. Is there only one road that will direct the traffic to Phang Nga after crossing the bridge. How long does it take to reach the Thai sign post for Sam Chong after crossing the nbridge. Your guidance is greatly appreciated. My best regards.
Tom Chan
After crossing the bridge, after a few km the road splits - you take the right hand road (straight goes to Khao Lak), and about 10km after this is the sign - you can find a Google Map on this page Phang Nga Bay - Doing it OUR way! - the map shows clearly the restaurant location and the road leading to it and where to turn. But as I say, the sign is only in Thai :)
Dear Jamie, thank you for the guidance. I'll try the route tomorrow. Wish you all the best. Tom
Dear Jamie, I found Sam Chong Restaurant today. From the direction of Phuket, once passing by the traffic light for Ka Lai, turn right at the next traffic light. Although Sam Chong restaurant signs are in Thai, but there is a Big district sign in the middle of the road pointing to BAN SAM CHONG. I just follow that sign to Sam Chong restaurant.
The place is quiet but clean. Enviroment is good with light breeze and sunshine outside. Food is good and reasonably priced. The waitress though speaking little english but very helpful. I told them to ask their boss to put up English signs as well so that people don't understand Thai can find the place easier.
Thanks again for your assistance.
"a sign to "Samchong Seafood" which was well signposted (but only in Thai!)"
"the restaurant was very well signposted indeed, except that the signs were all in Thai. :-)"
"and yes sorry the sign is only in Thai!"
"the sign is only in Thai :)"
"ask their boss to put up English signs"
I hate to nitpick ... actually, I absolutely love to nitpick. :-)
Come on, folks. In the first picture, the small blue word is hard to see, but is probably "restaurant". The initial large red character is one of the Thai consonants that has an "S" sound. The next one is an "A" vowel. The next is an "M" sound. The next, partially hidden by the traffic signal post, is a "ch" sound. The next is an "O" consonant. And finally, an "ng" sound.
The second word is not something Thai, like "talay". It starts with another Thai consonant that has an "S" sound. On top of that letter is the character for a long "E" vowel. Next is an "F" consonant, with a long "oo" vowel underneath it. Most Thai consonants have one sound at the start of a syllable, and a different sound at the end. The last character sounds like "D" intially, but "T" at the end; it's the same one as in "wat" (temple) or "khaow pat" (rice, fried). You can't have "D" at the end, in a Thai word. There is a diacritical mark that means "this is a foreign word, so pronounce it wrong", that probably should be on top of the d/t letter, otherwise you have "see-foot". So you see, the sign IS in English.
Spelling a foreign word with Thai letters is common. I can just see the restaurant owners thinking "here we went to all the trouble to use the English word, and the darn foreigners are complaining." But of course they would be too polite to actually say so. But if you listen carefully, you might hear one mutter "falng. falang ba."
We recently visted Samchong Seafood Restaurant after your recommendation, we were the only europeans there, and had to wait 3 hours for our lunch and still one of us missed out, there was only 4 of us! It seemed there were two table of regular thai people and their meals did not stop coming out, and we ordered first! When some of the food came, it was good, but was disappointed with the service!
Hi Anonymous April 30th - sorry to hear that! Well, of course restaurants have off days and can change staff and so on... pls remember that this is a blog, not a travel guide and this restaurant recommendation was written in 2009 :)
HI does anyone know their opening hours?
Do they do late lunches, say 3pm?
I am sure 3pm is fine. Maybe call first - see the phot on this page of the menu cover .. with phone number ....