Koh Samui (May 2013)

My first visit to Koh Samui, from 9th May to 13th May. It was triggered by my expiring Krisflyer miles, so I had redeemed the miles hurriedly for this trip in January. It turned out to be extremely worth it, because the Krisflyer miles go by mileage instead of fare price. A flight to Koh Samui can be expensive for that distance; I think Silkair charges between $500 to $800 for a return ticket... for a 1 hour 50 minutes flight to Thailand! Bangkok Airways flies there too, but the prices are not much lower.

Day 1

We reached our hotel, Code, rather uneventfully, especially since we had arranged for an airport transfer beforehand. It cost us THB800 (S$33.78) for a half-hour ride, which I felt was a bit expensive (akin to paying Singapore cab fare prices in Thailand). But considering that Code was located in a rather ulu place - around five minutes drive away from the main road, and up a very steep hill at that - the price was still reasonable. Because we learned later that cab drivers in Koh Samui would always insist on a hefty mark-up on the cab fare for just those five minutes.

Code was located at the northwest part of the island, a distance away from Chaweng, where most of the restaurants and shops are at (the east). The hotel was quite impressive. Not for being posh or luxurious, but because of its design and openness. The room was like a studio apartment - it was basically just one big room, with the living room, kitchen and bedroom all in one. Here are some pictures:

The "fully-equipped" kitchen, which was small but handy

The comfortable sofa, with the television (bottom left)

The bedroom, which could be separated by a sliding glass screen

The view from our balcony

Instead of having a fixed phone line in the room, they issued us a local mobile phone, which came with their reception and manager's numbers. I thought it was brilliant, as we could bring the phone out and use it to call back the hotel in case we need transport or something else. We were not charged on the local calls we made while in Koh Samui, by the way.

A Nokia phone which lasted us for three full days without charging. Can our smartphones do that now?

The gym was small, but suited our needs. And we had the whole gym to ourselves today too.

Some basic gym equipment

Free weights

For dinner, we took the hotel transport down to Bang Por, which was just five minutes away. We chose a restaurant which many locals seemed to frequent. The food was quite reasonably priced and tasted all right too. 

Outdoor seating by the beach

"Indoor" seats

Clockwise from top left: chilli served on coconut husks, grilled pomfret, kangkong, grilled squid

Day 2

We decided to try the breakfast at the hotel's only restaurant, Vanilla Restaurant. Topped up THB500 (S$21.11) to our room charges to include breakfast for two of us, which was quite worth it as the food was quite good. It was certainly quite relaxing to chill and take in the sun and greenery, though it became a bit warm after a while; the place was not air-conditioned and only had some standing fans.

Enjoying the scenery

European Breakfast

Poached eggs with smoked salmon

After breakfast, we went to their pool to tan. It was those kind of "infinity" pools, where the edge seems to extend to the ocean. The turn-off was that the pool was full of insects! They were probably from the night before, when the pool was well-lit and the insects just flocked in... so we had to spend some time splashing the insects over the edge to "clean" the pool.

Taken from our room balcony

Enjoying a suntan at the infinity pool

Next stop was at Chaweng for lunch. Chaweng is Koh Samui's biggest and busiest town, and is rife with hotels, restaurants, and bars. Hotel transport to Chaweng was not cheap, at THB800 (S$33.78), so we took the more affordable (and troublesome) option, which was to take the hotel transport down to the main road at THB100 (S$4.22) before flagging a common pick-up taxi at THB100 per pax. So the trip cost us only THB300 ($12.66)... but took us perhaps twice the time (and half the comfort).

From the back of the pick-up taxi

The weather was scorching. By the time we reached our destination, a restaurant called Spago, we were hot and thirsty. And the place wasn't air-conditioned, to our dismay. But fortunately, the food was pretty good.

Soft-shelled crab salad, tuna loin, pasta with asparagus and crab cream

The main courses were quite good, but the salad had way too much mustard in it. If they could reduce the amount of mustard by half or even to a third, it should be much better.

It was back to the unrelenting heat again after lunch, so we walked for a short while before seeking refuge at a Movenpick cafe for ice cream (and air-con). Stayed there for quite some time, then went for a foot + neck + shoulder massage that was ridiculously cheap at THB180 (S$7.60) each. But their massage skills and service standards were quite poor; both of us didn't really feel the "shiok" factor during the massage, and the two guys attending to us kept on talking to each other and giggling.

Dinner was at Duomo, an Italian restaurant recommended by a friend.

Ristorante Pizzeria Duomo

Squid ink pasta with salmon

We were not that hungry yet, so we just ordered a salad and a pasta to share. The pasta was definitely one of the best that I have tried so far - just the right amount of cream so that it is not too thick, pasta done just right, salmon was quite fresh, and the overall taste just blended in very nicely. This was the best meal we had while in Koh Samui.

Restaurant name: Duomo
Address: Chaweng Beach 60/33 60'34, Chaweng Beach Road

Day 3

Lunch in our room + movie on iPad

A rather simple lunch in our room - pan fried chicken thighs, smoked snowfish, canned tuna, and canned lobster bisque. We bought the chicken and snowfish from Tops Supermarket the day before, while the tuna and soup were brought from Singapore.

Dinner was at Fisherman's Village. The general manager of Code had recommended Starfish and Coffee for seafood, so we decided to give it a try. It was disappointing in many aspects: the place was full of insects and poorly ventilated, service was poor, food was only decent, and prices were higher than we thought. Highly not recommended.

Entrance of Fisherman's Village

View of Fisherman's Village from the jetty

Day 4

Our flight was at 955am, so we had breakfast at the cafe again once it opened (7am). The standards seemed to be deteriorating day by day! Our first breakfast here was excellent. On the second day, the mushrooms were sour and one out of our four poached eggs were overcooked. And today, the mushrooms were sour and all our poached eggs were overcooked! As we had to leave by 745am, there was no time to send it back to the kitchen. Pfft.

When we reached Koh Samui on the first day, we didn't get to see this part of the airport, which we did today. The airport's design was quite unique; it was a rather open and outdoor concept, and had shops lining the pavements. 

Shops lining the pavements at Koh Samui airport

For people to chill and relax

Spot the two cats in this picture!

Koh Samui turned out to be better than we thought, but it definitely does not justify a $600 to $800 plane ticket there. I would consider going again... but only when I clock enough miles on my Krisflyer card.

La Nonna @ Namly Place

Had an appointment at the west today, so we decided to try a restaurant on the Palate list that was as far as possible. Roast at Rochester was closed for a private event, and I didn't want to go to Tunglok Seafood at Jurong, so we settled for La Nonna at Namly Place.

Spinaci, $18

I thought this dish was not really well presented. The smoked duck looked dry, tough and unrelenting, for one thing. Other than that, the dish could do with more cheese, more Balsamic dressing, more tomatoes, more olives (I think we counted three tiny ones?), and can afford to have a bit less of baby spinach.

Spinach Fettucine with Clams and Mushrooms and Saffron Cream, $22

This was under their "Special Pasta" list. My first thought was... isn't spinach fettucine supposed to be green in colour? This dish was a let-down. The sweet taste of clams was noticeably missing from the sauce, and the overall taste did not blend well.

Rigatoni, $19

Fortunately we had this dish to make up for the spinach fettucine! The rigatoni pasta was served with braised oxtail ragout, which was juicy and soaked full with flavour. The ragout was also seasoned with truffle oil, but I had that they could have held back a bit on that, as it was a bit overpowering. Still, this dish was pretty good.

Tiramisu, $12

The tiramisu did not disappoint; it was rich with flavour (especially alcohol) but was not overly creamy.

After a 50% discount, the bill came to $41, which was really cheap. While there were no fantastic dishes here, I wouldn't mind coming here again to try their baked pasta or pizzas as the prices are very reasonable.

Oenotheque by Wine Universe @ Millennia Walk

Brought my mother here for lunch today, and learnt that they had totally removed their a la carte menu and replaced it with set menus only... permanently. The set menu had a choice of one to three courses, but the Palate discount only applies for three courses. It costs $44++ per pax (before discount).

Eggs Slow Cooking

I haven't had such a good starter in ages. As shown from the picture, the white puffed up ring is actually parmesan cheese, probably mixed with some egg whites to give it that fluffy texture. In the middle, bacon. Under this layer was a beautifully and perfectly poached egg, and beneath the egg, a spread of beef oxtail. This was so... darn... good. I even asked the manager if they have this for dinner, and was told that they would change their set menu every week. I hope this would still be here during my next visit!

Mackerel

Another starter. Although this was not as good as the previous starter, it was still quite impressive. A fresh piece of mackerel surrounded by pieces of zucchini, carrots, and pear. I am not sure what the green sauce is though.

Cod Fish

This required a top-up of $5. According to my mother, good-quality cod fish is more firm and has a less oily texture. If this is true, then Oenotheque's cod fish is really good. I thought the cucumber didn't go well with the cod fish at first, but after a while I got used to it. The beetroot and apple also went quite well with the fish.

Kurobuta Pork

$12 more for this dish. It came with pomelo, corn, and aubergine. This was relatively disappointing, actually. I found the natural pork taste to be a bit lacking, and the sauce (I think it's port wine sauce?) to be too overpowering. I could only dab a bit of it, or else the pork taste would be drowned in the sauce.

Riz Au Lait

This is actually rice pudding with vanilla ice cream, berries, and mango. Quite an odd combination to me, but it didn't really make an impression on me.

Although their a la carte menu has been removed, their set meals still show a considerable level of quality. My guess is that they streamlined their menu to manage their resources better - the restaurant was obviously under-staffed. We spent two full hours there, and had to wait quite a long time for our food. Our desserts took the longest time - 20 minutes. And I had to ask for the bill three times in ten minutes before I got it.

Past visit:
10th April 2013