Mojo's restaurant, Khao Lak, SW Thailand

The restaurant has been ranked on no. 8 (among 250 something restaurants) on tripadvisor.  The food isn't too bad but if in terms of price, this one is a bit overpriced.  Most dishes are ranged from THB200-400 and each side dish (incl. steamed rice) is THB40.  Compared to Smile Restaurant, this one is definitely at no. 8.

Piazza Doro, Centara resort Khao Lak

Wasn't aware that this cozy place is a cafe run by Centara hotel group, until we got in and noticed from the menu.  I further noticed they have their own brand of ice cream.  It's THB40.  Not bad for a try.  As I had a sip of it, I gave it up.  It wouldn't melt in my mouth, reminding me of the TWG ice cream, but that one even didn't melt for hours.  In terms of price, this one is better than TWG.  After all, if you want a cozy place for a drink, this one is not a bad choice.

Casa de la Flora, Khao Lak, SW Thailand

Sometimes it's good to visit the resort for a meal before actually trying it.  Turned out no need to try this one.  The villa is pretty small and the common pool is not that appealing either.  In considering people flying quite a long way and taking a car journey of about 1.2 hours from Phuket airport, then come here for a squeezed stay.  If it's in a suburban area, this would be fine.  It's Khao Lak with 20-30 miles stretched long beach areas.

Watching the sea, Khuk Khak beach, Khao Lak

Restaurant, Casa de La Flora resort, Khao Lak

This design hotel really takes on its name - design.  The people are design too - showing off.  The staff are also design - without knowing much about their menu.  The place is definitely design of all times - only tables and chairs, no fans and with a glass window blocking the sea wind coming in.  So we made a good choice of having some frosty drinks (but it melted in 30 minutes).  The food is quite nice after all, especially on chilled soup with grilled prawn, deep fried chicken and tuna salad.  The dessert was much too sweet that I would forgo it.  After all, better come here for this lunch set with one starter, one main and one dessert at THB500.  If you order one item, it's about THB400-700.  All of us got so sweaty after this meal, as there was no fan and no wind.  It was 37 degree celsius.

A street stall crepe, Khao Lak

There are quite a large no. of European visitors in Khao Lak.  That has brought up some street stalls selling crepe and other western food and snack in the street.  It's about THB60 for one (appro. Euros 1.2, vs Euros 5-6 in Europe).  Yet, this one has some fresh fruits like banana, mango.  I'd love to come back here for another try.

Smile Restaurant, Khao Lak, SW Thailand

It's half and half risky if we rely on comments from several forums.  This time I bet it on the tripadvisor rankng this place on the no. 2 among the 250 something restaurants in Khao Lak.  The bet turned out to be a winning.  This place was full with bookings but sadly I saw 40% of the bookings went off.  This is something I don't like people who often make bookings for 2-3 places and then choose it in the last minute.  This has made the others and the restaurants with some empty tables.  It further made some restaurants which might have their overbooking (like airlines having an extra 10-20% overbooking) in case of no-show.

Back to the service and food, both were quite impressive.  Simply look at their snack (photo 2).  This is something different from those boring snacks.  They also served some amuse brioche  (photo 3), but the prices of this restaurant aren't of that high-end.  So we had chicken satay, grilled prawns, spring rolls, tom kha chicken, grilled chicken, massaman curry beef, grilled fish.  All the mains come with veggie and rice (unlimited serving).  So this meal for so many dishes just cost us THB2,100, good for 6 persons.  Though it may not be the best if compared to those of BKK, it's the very best in Khao Lak.