Great Food at Coconut Grove Restaurant, Koh Lanta

The Coconut Grove Restaurant is definitely Worthy!

The Coconut Grove Restaurant on Koh Lanta is absolutely a must visit. It’s got it all: great venue, great vibe and great food.

Where do I begin?

A few nights ago I went for dinner at Coconut Grove Restaurant in Coconut Bay on Koh Lanta, Thailand with my boyfriend and 2 good friends. It was a bit of a private ‘see you soon’ dinner as one of us is leaving shortly for a few months back in Canada.

The venue is specular. I immediately knew that I would go back for sunset as the restaurant overlooks the Andaman Sea, high up over a cliff. The restaurant is open on 3 sides, with a cosy sofa area along the longer open side. We started off in this area and enjoyed a few delicious tapas dishes with our pre-dinner ‘spirit’ of choice. The dishes included a chicken liver pate, a yummy ratatouio I beginlle and a savoury fish-veggie mix. And of course we had lots of perfectly roasted garlic bread to sop up the tasty tapas.

We moved away from the balcony into the restaurant for dinner. Even thought we only moved a few steps away, it felt like we were moving into a new room or another venue. The tables were sturdy and comfortable as they nicely fit our tall frames. We now felt like we were in another place, in a restaurant. There was an open kitchen so of course we were all looking in to see what others had ordered. Even though the kitchen was an open concept, it wasn’t noisy and the smells were wonderful.

Oh my, what a delicious meal we all had. Each of us had something different. We did this on purpose so we could have a taste of many dishes. Am I ever glad we did this. It was fun for the guys to taste each dish and figure out which one they collectively liked best.

I ordered 2 appetisers for my main course, the green gazpacho and the salmon. The gazpacho was very tasty with a nice level of garlic. The salmon was slightly grilled, which is perfect for me, and served with slices of delicious pickled cucumber. Both were excellent and best of all, I didn’t have to share with anyone. This is because of the hamburger, and the excitement it triggered at our table.

Saying that the hamburger was a hit is an understatement!

The hamburger was superb. After hilarious discussion tasting it the guys spent the rest of the dinner trying to figure out how to describe it. I didn’t join into the conversation as I was having too much fun listening to their discussion.

The seriousness of of the conversation was surprising, like they were solving one of the world’s big problems. After a lot of discussion, a few arguments and a lot of harassing, insulting and cajoling, they did figure it out. They all agreed in the end, which was a relief. Their reason is very crazy, but probably extremely accurate. I was told that the hamburger tasted like the expectation they all get when they look at those big glossy hamburger chain pictures that make their mouths water. You know the ones with the beef patty, tomato, lettuce, onion, cheese on a sesame bun. Apparently the hamburgers from these chains do not taste like the pictures, but this hamburger did! The guys were so excited to have figured this out. And we’re taking about grown men!

We definitely had fun at the table.

The other dishes were also excellent, even though they didn’t stir up as much debate as the hamburger. The meatballs were delicious. They came with with creamy mashed potatoes and gravy. The other dish was a cheese lasagna that came with a small mixed salad. The guys were in agreement that all the dishes were worthy. They all said they would be happy with ordering any of the three dishes. And to prove how good everything was, we all totally cleaned our plates of all food!

The venue at Coconut Gove is beautiful with the view overlooking the sea. It’s modern, clean and spacious. When you enter the Coconut Grove Restaurant from the road you step down a few steps, but the restaurant is still very high up above the sea. It’s built on the side of a cliff so the views are amazing. We could see rows of green lights from the squid boats way out in the sea.