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Hua Hin, once the seaside resort ofonly locals from Bangkok,
is now seeing an influx of foreign tourists as well as expatriate
residents, resulting in more new restaurants opening and offering
better choices for all.
The sleepy little seaside town of Hua Hin is slowly changing,
both in terms of the dining scene as well as the overall development
and population growth. And the latter is having a definite
impact on the former. Any restaurant scene is obviously affected
by the people who form the marketplace for the restaurants
and the Hua Hin market is steadily growing with the biggest
change being the increasing number of full-time foreign residents.
The booming condo and house market here is bringing in many
of these people and because of them there is a slowly growing
demand for upscale restaurants serving a wider variety of
foreign foods, in effect escalating the growth of pricier
stand-alone dining spots. Until recently, almost all of the
highest-quality restaurants were situated in the town’s
five-star hotels and some of these you can read about in the
reviews following this article. This is still mostly true
but the next step down from these hotels consists of a group,
although a small one, of foreign food restaurants run primarily
by expats for different groups of residents and tourists:
Scandinavian, German and Italian being the most notable.
Then you have quite a number of family-run Thai restaurants,
some specialising in seafood, some presenting simply a varied
selection of Thai dishes. These are typically open-air establishments,
short on service and ambience, but usually offering home-style
cooking with any number of house specialities. These are the
type of places that cater to locals as well as the large number
of Thais who come down from Bangkok for the weekend and don’t
mind roughing it for their weekend dining experience. Instead
of eating in a trendy Bangkok-type place with all the style
and sophistication that goes along with that, they are quite
happy to go to one of their old favourite spots to eat dishes
that may remind them of mom’s cooking, where they can
relax in a family-style atmosphere and get away from the bustle
of the city. That, of course, is why they’ve come to
Hua Hin in the first place.
But now, with a constantly changing mix of people living
here, more and more independent, higher-quality restaurants
should be able to survive and the entire restaurant scene
here should become more vibrant, competitive and, ultimately,
better. There is nothing like competition to bring out the
best in any industry and that is especially true of restaurants.
If the chef down the street starts to offer food at a better
price or of better quality and people start flocking in to
his place, then you had better do something to keep up. And
certainly, some places won’t keep up and will fall by
the wayside, but the end result will be a continual upgrading
of the dining scene here. And that is good for anyone who
likes to dine in fine restaurants that offer good service,
food, atmosphere and wine.
The following restaurants were selected because they offer
all of the above and they represent a good cross section of
choices available to diners in Hua Hin. You will find that
most of them have an affinity with the ocean in one way or
another which is certainly appropriate. They either specialise
in seafood or are located on the water or have a great view
of the water or a combination of all three.
The level of wine selection in the area has also shown improvement
as can be evidenced by the increasing sophistication of the
wine lists you can choose from here. Most of these restaurants
have comprehensive lists covering many of the wine-producing
countries of the world and with wines in each price range
that represent good value for money. Also impressive in most
cases are the wines that are offered by the glass, a sign
that the restaurateur is making an effort to cater to all
of his wine-drinking customers, and which is something that
lesser restaurants fail to grasp.
Change is inevitable in the world and it can be for good
or bad. However, the changes that are slowly overtaking the
Hua Hin restaurant scene seem to be mostly for the good and
are heralding a positive development. Look to see even better
dining here in the future as this process continues to unfold
and residents and visitors alike reap the benefits.
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