A $44 Michelin Seafood Dinner on a Thai Beach - Jun Hom Koh Samui

A 32-minute dinner at Jun Hom Seafood on Bang Por Beach, Koh Samui, filmed at 5pm on Wednesday September. 9 Three dishes, two large beers, 1,480 THB total. We walk the whole menu with prices, then eat. Where is Jun Hom? On Bang Por Beach, on Koh Samui's north coast, just west of Green Coconut Village. Note that several listings place it on Mae Nam Beach — that's a misreading of the address. Mae Nam is the sub-district; the beach is Bang Por. From Ban Tai it's about a seven-minute ride west. What is a Bib Gourmand restaurant? A Michelin Guide designation for good quality cooking at moderate prices. It is a separate award from Michelin stars and recognizes value rather than fine dining. Jun Hom has held it in 2024, 2025 and 2026. Michelin's own review calls it an unpretentious open-air eatery with hearty, modestly priced portions in a beach location. What did we eat, and what did it cost? Squid tempura with sweet and sour sauce, 280 THB. Steamed whole prawns with lime and chili, 420 THB — our second time ordering it, and the best thing on the table. Crab curry, 450 THB, which is crab meat in a coconut curry rather than a whole crab, finished with shredded greens. Rice, 30 THB. Two large local beers at 150 THB each. Total 1,480 THB, about $44 for two. What is the green leaf in the crab curry at Jun Homm? Almost certainly wild betel leaf, or bai cha plu — a heart-shaped, mildly peppery leaf used in southern Thai cooking, shredded and wilted into the curry rather than served whole. Despite the name it isn't the betel leaf used for chewing; it's a different plant. Michelin's review of Jun Hom describes this dish as crab coconut milk curry with shrubby basil and notes you can ask for wild betel leaves instead. We didn't confirm with the kitchen, so treat that as a strong guess rather than a fact. Are the menu prices what you actually pay? Yes. Prices on the menu are inclusive — no service charge and no VAT added at the end. That's not universal on Koh Samui and it's worth knowing. Can you pay by card at Jun Hom? Yes, but there's a 5% surcharge on credit cards. Bring cash if you'd rather not pay it. Is there a wait for food? Yes, and it's a feature rather than a fault. Everything is cooked to order, so mains take a while — ours arrived around 20 minutes after ordering. Michelin notes the same thing in its review. What are the opening hours? Listings disagree. Google says 12 to 8, other directories say 11 to 9 or 12 to 8, seven days a week. When we asked staff directly, the answer was "sometimes we close." Treat published hours as a guide and call ahead: 077-236-458. Is there a vegetarian menu? Yes, and the staff here seem comfortable being asked how things are prepared, which isn't true everywhere. Ask regardless — fish sauce, oyster sauce and shrimp paste turn up in Thai dishes that look vegetarian on the menu. Do you eat Thai food with chopsticks? Not usually. A fork and spoon is standard: the spoon does the eating, the fork pushes food onto it. Chopsticks come out for noodle dishes. Where should you sit? We sat on the raised section, which still has sand underfoot and puts you about 30 feet from the water. It's alfresco with no air conditioning, so early evening is the more comfortable window. Three minutes after we stopped filming, the sky opened and we were there a while longer than planned. ⏱️ Chapters 00:31 — Arriving at Jun Hom 01:26 — Leo, Singha or Chang, and the Changover 02:30 — What is a Michelin Bib Gourmand? 03:21 — The full menu and prices 07:50 — Whole fish: seabass and pomfret 08:20 — The vegetarian menu, and what to ask 09:35 — Waiting for the food, 30 feet from the water 10:00 — Squid tempura with sweet and sour sauce 10:56 — Eating with a fork and spoon 18:30 — The main courses arrive 18:59 — Steamed prawns with lime and chili 19:24 — Crab curry in coconut sauce 23:28 — Eating the prawns 27:55 — Back to the crab 30:23 — Finishing the meal I'm Amber S. Hoffman, a food and travel writer, and I film these with my husband Eric J. Hoffman. I've been writing about food and drink travel since 2012 and I'm the author of The Food Traveler's Guide to Emilia-Romagna and The Food Traveler's Guide to The Costa Brava. We live on Koh Samui, so these are the places we actually go rather than a highlights reel. We paid for our own meal. 📍 Jun Hom Seafood, 7/3 Moo 5, Bang Por Beach, Mae Nam, Koh Samui, Surat Thani, Thailand. More at https://fooddrinkdestinations.com/tha... #KohSamui #Thailand #BangPor #MichelinGuide #BibGourmand #ThaiFood #ThailandTravel