On the southern Thai island of Ko Samui, there’s no lack of places to put one’s toes in the sand during a meal. But Bangpo Seafood is one of the few places where it’s possible to do this while also eating one of Thailand’s most intriguing microcuisines.
Before it was a holiday destination, Ko Samui was a coconut farm, a remote outpost for a handful of hearty Thai and Chinese traders and farmers. These locals made the best of what they had, which often meant seafood scavenged in the rocky tide pools that surround the island, vegetables and herbs grown at home and, most notably, coconut, this ingenuity coming together in the form of a distinct cuisine.
Opened by a lawyer, a native of the island who lamented the lack of local cuisine in his increasingly touristy home, Bangpo Seafood features dishes one would be hard-pressed to find on the mainland. An excellent example of this is the dish that’s given to every customer upon sitting down. Khoei jii takes the form of crab meat and shrimp, pounded in a mortar and pestle with grated coconut, shrimp paste, chili and aromatics, smeared on the inside of a coconut shell and grilled until fragrant. It’s savory, smokey, spicy and funky—a taste of the island’s past.
