Ao Nang is more about refuelling than experiencing authentic cuisine – Thai or otherwise. There are a few recommendations of Ao Nang places to eat like Jenna’s Bistro and Wine or Carnivore Steak and Grill amongst the fairly nondescript food on offer
There is no easy way of saying this. When it comes to eating in Ao Nang, bland is the order of the day. The bland is generally garnished with the insipid and served sluggishly by the indifferent and occasionally surly. For a country such as Thailand where cooking and eating amount to a secondary national religion, this may come as a surprise. The fact is that it is all created to cater to the lowest common denominator of international fare without the incentive or competition to produce anything better. This is at variance with Phuket (let alone Pattaya or Hua Hin where there are any number of very good restaurants of all sorts).
Krabi Town Offers Better Thai Food
Having said that you won’t starve. If you really want to eat and taste decent and authentic food as enjoyed by decent and authentic Thai people, then make the short journey to Krabi Town. (See our Places To Eat In Krabi Town guide for the best restaurants and stalls to visit).
Recommended Ao Nang Restaurants
Jenna’s Bistro and Wine is an bistro style restaurant next to Starbucks and just down from McDonalds. Serving excellent steak (which is imported from Australia and is 100% grass fed and free range. The meat is GMO and hormone free) fish, cheese, champagne and the most extensive wine list in Aonang not forgetting they serve 7 Belgian beers and a mean Mojito!. Signature dishes include slow cooked belly of pork and beer battered fish & chips. There’s a vegetarian menu too and a 3 course set menu for only 690 baht.
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Read current guests reviews on our recommended Ao Nang Restaurants by clicking these links
Jenna’s Bistro and Wine – Steakhouse, Seafood, European, Thai, Wine Bar
Carnivore Steak and Grill – French, Steakhouse, Mediterranean, Grill
Lae Lay Grill – Seafood, BBQ and Thai
Ao Nang Boat Noodle – Noodle, Asian, Thai
Jungle Kitchen – Thai
Ao Nang Thai Seafood
Obviously it is seafood that figures most prominently around Ao Nang. Seafood Street is a small alley near the junction on the way to Noppara Thara that is lined with seafood restaurants. All offer similar options and the food is fresh.
Ao Nang Italian Food
A very quickly noticeable feature of Ao Nang is that it probably boasts more Italian Restaurants than Palermo. The ease of blandly approximate Italian stodge is a feature of most international beach resorts in Thailand and in Ao Nang it has obviously been considered to be the swiftest route to creating something acceptable for the package-tour palate. It’s all just about edible, but none of it will lodge in your memory as anything very special or even very Italian. Azurra is probably the best of the bunch with good pizzas and pastas as well as Australian hokubee beef. The owner here is actually Italian, so that ensures a measure of authenticity.
Ao Nang Scandinavian Food
The Blue Mango on the way to Noppara Thara is a mongrel option serving Swedish, Italian and Thai fare. It also has a surprisingly good wine list. Many Swedish families holiday at Ao Nang and this restaurant is run very much with them in mind since it has a separate play area and an extensive kid’s menu. Another place for Scandinavians yearning for a touch of herring or nordic meatballs is Jeanette’s on the seafront.
Ao Nang Mexican Food
For those weary of endlessly bland Italian or Scandinavian food there is another option. Gringos in Walking Street near the corner junction of Ao Nang and the main road, offers endlessly bland Tex Mex food in an atmosphere that totally fails on every level to invoke visions of either Texas or Mexico.
McDonalds In Ao Nang
If all else fails, there is also a huge McDonalds up the main hill leading off of Ao Nang. This is complimented, in the same glitzy complex, by Pizza Company, Starbucks, Subway and a Swenson’s ice cream parlour. It is a little taste of Orlando, Florida in an otherwise barren Asian culinary desert of lemongrass.
Nearby there are also some good street stalls serving Thai food to Thai people employed thereabouts. The small night market opposite Krabi Resort near Seafood Street is another place for Thai street food such as padthai, noodle soup, and papaya salad, tom yam kung, curries and spicy salads. It has become expensive now though, to the point where Thai people cannot really afford to eat there.
The further up the hill out of Ao Nang you go, the cheaper the restaurants get, although the quality doesn’t improve with distance. There are plenty of places to choose from lining the road for about 2km.
Things To Do In Ao Nang, Railay and Krabi Town
There are lots of excursions and activities in Ao Nang itself, but also in nearby places like Railay Beach and Krabi Town.
