Thursday 11 October 2007

Gai Restaurant, Maenam

Gai's restaurant in Maenam is a long standing favorite!

Before I moved to Plai Laem, some 6 years ago (almost), I used to live in Maenam and really enjoyed it there. One of the pleasures there is Gai's restaurant.



She's been around for ever it seems and since the almost 8 years ago when I first set foot inside her place, I've been going back on a very regular base and the place has hardly changed at all, except that she closes now for Sundays.


Her restaurant is easily located, it's at the corner of the main road through Maenam (the ring road around the island) and Soi 5 in Maenam. Her restaurant is evenly visited by expats, tourists and locals.


It's a good old fashioned plastic tables/chairs place, although she makes it look very clean and pleasant, in contrast to some other, similar places.



Her food is very good and above is a picture of some vegetarian food or Je food, to go along with the Vegetarian period in Thailand, that goes hand in hand with the better known Vegetarian or Je Festivals in Phuket and Hat Yai. Here's a plate of vegetarian food I had yesterday. It's dough with corn and Tofu, deep fried, with a dipping sauce.






She also has massive fruit shakes. I nearly always go for the mixed fruit shake and it looks like this massive glass above!


My favorite food here is Pad Krapau Plaa Muuk sai Kai Dao mai Suk laad Kao or Fried squid with Chili and Holy Basil with an egg, sunny side up over rice. It's the best version of this I know of in all of Thailand, at least in my book! When I come in we only nod heads and 2 minutes later I have my meal!


Here's Gai in full swing in her kitchen at the back of the restaurant, which is also the place she lives with her family and parents.



Here's a view on part of her menu, she's got a more extended version as well. My meal with the mixed fruit shake (30Baht), the Je food (20 Baht) and the Pad Krapau with egg (45 Baht) added up to 95,-Baht in total!

It's a basic bit lovely place with excellent food and once more, I can highly recommend it. Enjoy it!

Camille

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello

we are coming to samui on 8th December until 3 January. We have been following your weather reports-thanks for those. I hope the rainy season has come early and it will be over by the time we arrive!

My son is 9 years old, and is obviously too young for sea diving. I would like to arrange a christmas surprise for him and I wondered if there is any way he could have a "taster session" using the apparatus in a swimming pool. Is there any way you could accomodate this? If so, how much will it cost, and what dates and location would be available?

Thanks for your time

Sharon and Dean and Harry

Camille Lemmens said...

Hi Sharon,

Thanks for your feedback and your enquiry.

To answer your question, for a 9 year old we can offer a Bubblemaker program, which is kind of like a Discover Scuba Diving program, for 8 and 9 year olds. It can be conducted in a pool or confined water environment with
a maximum depth of 2 meters but we only conduct it in a pool. The costs are 1.500,-Baht including equipment.