www.siamwininganddining.com

Tropical Pick/strong>

Do farangs like farangs? A look at the guava.

If you’re a newcomer to Thailand, you’ll no doubt keep hearing the word ‘farang’. Well, actually, you won’t! You’ll hear ‘falang’, because the Thais aren’t too hot at saying the ‘R’ sound – in the same way you’ll hear everyone saying ‘loy baht’ instead of ‘roi baht’ when they’re playing about with 100-baht notes. This word, ‘farang’, gets thrown around a lot. Literally translated, it means ‘foreign’ or ‘foreigner’, and it’s used when talking about people and things. Specifically things which are not native to Thailand, but curiously, when used in talking about people, it refers only to light-skinned Westerners.

Low on Glamour, High on Fun

The little-known market at Bangrak is probably the best market on the island!

There are three sorts of ‘markets’, here on Samui. The first are the Thai ones. These are the places where you see very few farangs (foreigners). The most basic of these open well-before dawn. Here you’ll see the locals setting up to sell meat, fish, fruit, veggies – the produce which every little local eatery buys for the day, and quite a few of the big places, too. Mostly these close-down mid-way through the morning.

It’s Time To Pay

After the drinking come the hangovers and the regrets.

Drinking can be funny. I’ve certainly wet myself enough times – though perhaps that wasn’t always from laughing. No matter, as I’m enjoying a very small beer as I’m writing this, let’s start with a joke.

A drunken man walks into a pub and after staring for some time at the only woman seated at the bar, walks over to her and kisses her. She jumps up and slaps him silly. He immediately apologises and explains, “I'm sorry, I thought you were my wife. You look exactly like her.” Fuming, she glares at the man, “Why you worthless, insufferable, wretched, no good drunk!” she screams at him. “Funny,” he mutters, “you sound exactly like her, too.”

A World Apart

A haven of dining and a great family atmosphere awaits you at The Beach Club at Buri Rasa.

It’s very easy to fall in love with this beachside restaurant; plenty of people do, and they return again and again to this idyllic spot. The Beach Club at Buri Rasa Village, Samui is one of those places that seem to have everything going for it, offering wonderful food in beautiful surroundings. Whether you’re looking for a long, lazy lunch or a deluxe dinner, it provides an exceedingly varied menu, with both Thai and international delicacies in spades.

Double -Take

Some Thai foods appear outlandish to holidaymakers.

Thai food has taken the world by storm; Thai restaurants are everywhere and so many people come to Thailand itself because they’ve fallen in love with the cuisine. But unless you’re Thai, you might not suspect how broad the range of the cuisine really is. And not just that, some of the foods strike visitors as very strange. Here’s a quick lowdown on just some of those foods that most westerners will raise their eyebrows at.

TALKING POINT

The Samui Social Sunset Bar & Kitchen – handcrafted cocktails, all day dining and epic sunsets.

This is one spot that certainly lives up to its name – there can’t be many places where you can watch a sunset in such convivial surroundings whilst enjoying great food and drink, all courtesy of Samui’s most famous chef and mixologist team, Martin Selby & Damian Ahern. The Samui Social Sunset Bar & Kitchen opened towards the end of last year, and this brand new addition to the island’s dining scene has been racking up its popularity ratings ever since.

The Wine Page

A rough guide to buying wine.

If you are still unsure about, or intimidated by wine, don’t be. Simply learn what you like and don’t be persuaded otherwise. Look at it the same way you would music, nobody can tell you what you do, or don’t like. And when buying a bottle of wine, know what you’re looking for, and put it into words. It’s easier to find a non-oaked, crisp white wine with restrained flavours of green apple than a “fabulous” dry white wine. The latter means different things to different people, so the odds of getting what you want are slim.

Festive Spirit

‘Tis the season to be merry.

Fun is the order of the day in December. Food, music and happy times are on tap more so than at any other time. The pull to enjoy yourself is as irresistible as it is infectious. Here on Samui, the year simultaneously winds down but gears up for its headiest period, packing in as much as humanly possible for this month.

Top Thai

Eclipse Bar at Anantara Bophut Koh Samui Resort offers authentic Thai treats.

To get to Eclipse Bar is a memorable journey, even if it’s a short one – you cross a moat, go through an ornamental gate and then follow a lane fronted by tall tropical trees. Just before the bar, you’ll see a lily pond that stretches almost as far as the sea. Surroundings like these are memorable in themselves, and you’ll rarely come across anything like it in your travels. It’s all deeply Thai, and that theme continues at Eclipse. Much more than just a simple bar, this turns out to be a full-scale restaurant dedicated to authentic Thai cuisine. It’s located just off the ring-road at Anantara Bophut Koh Samui Resort, an exotic and beautiful locale, which is graced with some of the most interesting dining options on the island.

Mind Your Manners

How to behave in a Thai restaurant – whether it’s a street stall or 5-star.

You are in a restaurant. At the next table to you a woman sniffs and blows her nose. At another table a man has a finger up one nostril, picking happily away. Which of them has no manners and is being offensive? The answer is so, so simple – it all depends what country you come from.

Peace and Perfection

Peaceful, tranquil, relaxing – and a simply splendid restaurant at Shasa!

Everybody does it. It’s hard to resist. And after a couple of days by the pool, even the most dedicated sun-lovers are doing it too. Samui has more than just sun and sand, and there are miles of unspoiled island to explore. And so we all go out in search of lush green hills and lovely little valleys with secluded sea views. Somewhere away from the madding crowds; somewhere where it’s peaceful and calm. And that’s where Shasa comes into the story.

Refresh Your Day, Reboot Your Life

Just Juice Delivery comes to the rescue!.

Morning Jazz, Moon Dance and Summer Booster are just some of the names Just Juice Delivery gives to its super healthy, freshly cold-pressed juices. Cold-pressed juice is made with a hydraulic press that uses thousands of kilos of pressure to extract the maximum amount of liquid from fresh fruits and vegetables. No additional heat or oxygen is used in the process, meaning that no nutrients are lost, unlike those super-fast machines you can buy. Just Juice Delivery only sells 100% pure fruit and vegetable juices, so it’s a quick and delicious way to get a lot of these nutrients into your body.

Supreme Saturdays

The tropics are a hothouse for edible seeds and nuts.

Nuts! Powerhouses of energy. As are their smaller counterparts, seeds. They’re both an integral part of Southeast Asian cuisines, and widely used. Nuts and seeds are truly one of the most ancient foods on earth, and most have been cultivated for thousands of years. Popular nuts such as walnuts, almonds and pecans don’t grow well in the tropics, but that leaves plenty of other candidates for tasty fare. Here’s a brief guide to what’s readily available in this part of the world.

Seasonal Poppies

Celebrating in style at the delightful Poppies Samui.

Poppies. Even the word has a nice feeling about it. It brings to mind summer, eternal sunshine and the happiest days of your life. And for many visitors to Samui, that’s exactly their experience. Because Poppies Samui is the island’s longest-running and most-respected boutique resort. And it has a restaurant to match.

On a plot that runs between Chaweng Beach Road and the beach, there are 24 luxurious villas (of European standard) quite literally woven into the landscape. Even at the drawing-board stage, it was designed so that there was maximum accommodation, but also maximum privacy. A network of criss-crossing paths meant that you could never see more than a few of the villas at a time. And these were enhanced with rampant tropical greenery, streams, ponds, little waterfalls and tiny wooden bridges. Add to this the 24 years of growth that now forms an overhead canopy of shady, dense foliage, and you’ll have the picture.