Amari Hua Hin

Driving about 3 hours plus from Bangkok Airport, we finally reached our accommodation. Amari Hua Hin is located about 10 minutes drive from its City and is ideal for a resort holiday if you want to stay away from the bustling city lives.

Hotel Lobby

Pool View

Open Area

The Deluxe Double Room with pool facing is tastefully furnished with contemporary decorations. Room is well furnished with Air-conditioned environment and an en suite bathroom. Rooms is basically equipped with the basic necessities of what you will expect in resort. They have a flat screen satellite TV, a minibar and a safety box. Free toiletries, hairdryer and bathrobe are included too. Private balcony which is facing the pool makes up of the 38 square meter room.

Deluxe Double Room

Deluxe Double Room

En-Suite Toilet

Hospitably services is commendable as we were greeted with all smiles from entering to exiting the hotel throughout our stay in Hua Hin. I'm impressed by their service from the beginning as the Hotel Staff brought us around introducing corners of the hotel to us even into our rooms, they highlighted that items like basket and poncho are readily provided if we are heading to the beach which is about 400m away.

Safe and Beach Basket

Wifi is available throughout the Hotel Compound but is only limited to 3 devices per room. Breakfast at Mosaic has a wide spread of food and I guaranteed you that you won't go hungry leaving the hotel.

Since we are driving, I noticed that security there are pretty tight as the guard will cordon off the entrance of the carpark. Other than that, parking lots are ample despite having one of the days coincide with one of a major IT security event in the Hotel.

Entrance to Hotel Lobby

Amari Hua Hin
Location: 117/74 Takiab Road, Nongkae, Hua Hin

Snack Jack Restaurant

Walking round the night market in Hua Hin, joining the atmosphere being a tourist enjoying the street food as much as our stomach can handle.  To the section where seafood stalls and restaurants are, you will get to see how competitive the business is over there. After walking and up down the streets, we finally decided to have a seafood feast and went into Snack Jack Restaurant. Restaurant was visibly full, packed with tourists.

Snack Jack

Holicks

Drink

We went up the 2nd level via the iron spiral stairs and after browsing through the menu, the server recommended the combo item. We all thought it was a steal to enjoy the seafood combo with a choice of steam or fried fish and decided on it. Seafood platter consists of crayfish, crabs, prawns, cockles , calms and mussels. It was quite disappointing that the crayfish was not entirely cook and most of the items were bland and tasteless unless you were to dip them into the sauce given. Perhaps the only thing that is worth eating on the plate were those prawns, at least they were cooked but on a dry side due to the style of preparation.

Seafood Combo - 650 Baht

The Snapper fish is much better and worth eating even though the taste was not really good. Herbs and Spices like lemon grass were added in the base of the fish with aluminium foil and wrapped up. I like the fish fresh but the taste again was too bland on the top side of the fish while on the other side, it was all soaked in its gravy.

Snapper Fish

The dish was awful. Felt that it was a disgrace to their national dish. Rice was not fluffy, in fact by just one look, you know the texture, color and consistency would have failed the entire dish on the spot. Taste was right below par.

Pineapple Fried Rice

Overall, it was a total disappointment. We felt that it was kind of tourist trap to have dined there. The Seafood Combo sounded a fuss free choice for tourist like me but with crowds and accommodating of the high turn over rates, the food quality was being compromised, needless to say, the service too.

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Snack Jack Restaurant
Location: Toh Rung, Hua Hin, Thailand

Baan Itsara Restaurant

Enjoying Seafood by the Sea is something we are looking forward to as it was part of the relaxation aim from the trip. Baan Itsara was recommended by my Thai Pal who had patronized the place before and said that I can enjoy some food by the beach.

Baan Itsara Restaurant, Hua Hin

The waves

Sculpture and the sea

Calm and Beautiful

Dining Area

Dining Environment

The therapathic view of enjoying a glass of lemonade over the edgeless sea, listening to the sound of nature while waiting for our main food to be served.

Lemonade - 60 Baht

Simply love the Thai Style of preparing steam fish over the burning flame with the fish shape metal plate. Spices of the fish used were what we see from the mainstream thai dishes, that includes limes, garlic, chilli , parsley as the visible garnishing.Even though gravy was good, we did not order any rice to pair along as we were afraid of having no room for other Thai Snacks after dinner.

Steamed Whole Seabass with Lemon Sauce - 520 Baht

Fish Meat

That was the first time ever seeing Prawns dressed in Pandan Leaves "suits". I was not so sure if the fragrant of pandan leaves is effective on the prawns but the plate of prawns that was served in 5 was firm and fresh. You can see the aftermath of grilling with the burnt patches from the prawns' antennae as well as its legs, the leaves too.

Grilled White Tiger Prawn in Pandan Leaves - 440 Baht

Nicely Wrapped in Leaves

Excitement was curb upon looking at the lobsters. Wow, they were huge and the biggest that I had savoured so far. it was halved and presentation of food was nicely done with tomato carved into a rose, accompanied by sides like tomato and pineapple. In terms of the meat, I was kind of disappointed with its firmness.

Steamed Phuket Lobster with Sweet Basil Sauce - 480 Baht / 100g

Dinner was a good sum up for a Hua Hin Trip, at least we knew we had done dining by the sea. No doubt ambiance was good, I was not used to the intermittent animal's feces odour that blew towards us and that kind of bring down the mood. If you are attracted to insect, perhaps you may want to prepare yourself with some repellent before going there.

By the Sea

Walking out of the Restaurant

While passing by their kitchen

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Baan Itsara Restaurant
Location: 7 Naeb Kehardt Road, Hua Hin Subdistrict, Hua Hin District., Hua Hin, Thailand

Classic Old Style Noodle Soup

While driving from Hua Hin to Cha-Am, we chanced by this Classic Old Style Noodle Soup by the side of the road. We wasn't sure of what to expect but we had decided to stop by with our car parked by the road side with cars passing by at high speed.

Classic Old Style Noodle

Menu at the Entrance

I was surprised to see Caucasians around in the Old Style eating place despite thinking that such shop will be mostly for locals. Place was decent and quite down to earth with basic furnishings. To me, the place seemed to be a shelter or perhaps a perfect place for Rest Stop after long hours of driving.

Interior

What do you like to eat?

Drinks Menu

Again, we had "Cha Yen" (Thai Milk Tea). Milk Tea was rather sweet but I guess this is how Thai enjoyed their beverage. On a second thought, if the food is spicy, sweet beverage will help to neutralize the spiciness.

Spices / Condiments

Thai Style Black Coffee - 20 Baht & Milk Tea - 25 Baht

Back at home, I'm not a fan of fish balls but over here in Thailand, I could not resist these bouncy and springy hand made fish balls. I do love them especially when they were dipped in the Chilli and fish sauce.

Fish Balls in Bowl with Vegetables 6 / 9 pieces - 20 / 30 Baht

For noodles, there will be a choice of clear or tomyam soup and special or regular size. Not only that, you can ge tto choose to have yellow or glass noodles.

This dish had totally got me! Perhaps, its the simplest yet best of all meal that I had! Hot & Soup Soup was really appetizing and how I wish I can have a bowl of it right in front of me now. The choice of my glass noodles have been massively covered by their use of ingredients. Slices of Char Siew, crunchy chips, beansprouts, minced pork meat and beautiful hard boiled eggs made up this favourite dish of mine. Garnishing like crispy fried pork lards, onion oil and spring onions were used to give the dish a tastier experience.

Hot & Sour (Tom Yam) Noodle Soup with Pork & Vegetables & Peanuts & Eggs - 45 Baht

I will recommend this!

We had the non spicy version as requested and had it done with the usual yellow noodles with chicken. Soup was sweet but I still prefer the Tom Yam Soup as it enlarges my appetite.

Noodle Soup Chicken & Vegetables & Peanut & Egg - 45 Baht

Close Up on the Noodle Soup

Rating: 4 / 5

Classic Old Style Noodle Soup
Location: 1248/1 (Phet Kasem Road) Cha-am, Changwai Phetchaburi

Baan Khrai Wang

When we all know that Hot & Spicy food is always what we will get in Thailand, I had a different perspective when I visited Baan Khrai Wang. Forget about the mainstream dishes you will have in a moment and indulge yourself with light and fluffy pastries as we entered into Baan Khrai Wang.

Baan Khrai Wang

Baan Khrai Wang is a cafe situated by the beach and quite popular among the locals.  After entering the gate, it takes a minute to walk pass the garden and into the exact place where you can enjoy your tea. You will meet this this plump pastry chef ushering you the way into the most scenic area of the restaurant.

Pastry Chef

Ta-da, this is the way! You can laid back and relax enjoying the calm sea.

Way to Beach 

What a wonderful view we have got! Sink yourself into the atmosphere and enjoy the sound of nature while the waves were crawling gently to the shore.

Shoreline

Just within a day of landing in Thailand, we had an overdosed of "Cha Yen" (Thai Milk Tea). Every beverage we order is just Thai Milk Tea and other. The Lemon Iced Tea of course is not the same as what we had back home, using Thai Tea and the lemon they use as spices, it taste totally different.

Our visit to Hua Hin was never sunny. It was drizzling but on a positive note, we were glad that we were not burnt under the scotching hot weather.

Thai Iced Tea & Lemon Iced Tea - 75 Baht Each

Tiramisu with flower? I'm totally in love with the ambiance while having tea with the sight of edgeless sea. Espresso taste from the Tiramisu was not too strong and was good for someone who don't really drink coffee like me. Mascopone Cheese was light with Tiramisu texture being spongy. Most of all, the presentation and environment had already bought me over.

Tiramisu - 120 Baht

Another must try will be the fresh coconut cake. Presented with Frangipani flower, Cake's cream was light and fresh, most of all without being cloying. What a heavenly moment having spongy fluffy cake under the coconut tree. Enjoy some coconut flesh too!

Fresh Coconut Gateau

I'm already missing this place even though I just came back less than a week ago. Seriously I don't mind coming back again if I were in Hua Hin.

Sea View

Rating: 4 / 5

Baan Khrai Wang
Location: 11 Soi 51 Naeb Kehardt Road, Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand 77110

Living Room Bistro & Wine

This is the first stop to Dessert and I was quite surprised that we are having pastries desserts over tea time in Thailand. It's definitely no longer the Thailand that I used to know. Passing through the garden, you will find Living Room Bistro & Wine which is just located next to the beach / sea.

Living Room Bistro & Wine

It was a little bit drizzling during that time and we took the outdoor seating under the big beach umbrella to shelter ourselves away from the rain. However, we could not stay any longer not because of the rain but the flies that came disturbing us.

Facing the beach

We requested for an indoor seat and was ushered into a sheltered area. We felt so exclusive as it gave us a feeling that we were in the private event room while the server switched on the air conditioned unit solely for us.

Private Area

While waiting for the rain to goes off, we got ourselves some beverages and cakes to pass the time. Very Coconut Cake was served on a wooden board topped with coconut flesh on the cake. There were alternate layers between the sponge cake and fresh cream. Light and fluffy, bet you will eat them without any guilt!

Very Coconut Cake - 140 Baht

What a special way to pass a wonderful afternoon in Hua Hin, pushing back all your worries and issues that we had in Singapore. Smoothie was chocolaty and was not dilute, it was thick till the point that I thought having more sips of that will kill my throat.

Smoothie Chocolate - 100 Baht

An absolute beverage not to be skipped if you are in the Land of Smiles. Thai Milk Tea smoothie was authentic, on the sweeter side, just like what most Thai preferred. However, if you were to drink the chocolate earlier on, it aids abit in reducing the sugar rush on your tongue.

Smoothie Milk Tea - 100 Baht

Rating: 3 / 5

Living Room Bistro & Wine
Location: Hua Hin, Hua Hin District, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand