Body, mind and spirit
Lamai Sarai has a large infinity pool with a breathtaking 180-degree view of Lamai Bay, reefs, surrounding forested hills and outlying islands.
A fully equipped gym, available on the floor below the pool deck.
Among the gardens are so many places to sit, recline, restore, rest, read, meditate, exercise and chill.
Next to the gym is the White room. This is a beautiful space that we have left purposefully undefined, for your appreciation. It is sculptured by natural granite rocks rendered in an old-fashioned Italian terrazzo finish and accessed from one side via French style double-doors and from the other, by an antique Gujarat door. Use it for meditation, prayer, reading, a wedding ceremony, yoga or whatever you wish.
Table-tennis terrace. Outside the White Room is the ping-pong terrace, with a professional-grade table and a view over the Waterfall Garden and the northern part of Lamai Bay.
The Library has an indoor version of the outdoor pavilions where you can read on a silk Thai day bed, enthroned within an Indonesian teak four-poster platform. The library shelves were made by an English craftsman in Northern Thailand using teak timbers reclaimed from old Burmese houses.
The library has a 78-inch TV screen and seating that turns the space into a Home cinema.
For digital nomads our Habitat future-classics desk with this amazing view of the ocean!
Through a door between the bookshelves you can access a small Star-gazing deck equipped with recliner lounger.
Descending from the pool level past the antique Tibetan doors, you’ll find your way to the yoga space surrounded by a miniature green bamboo garden.
Food
Local food
Some aspects of the local food scene remained delightfully unchanged since your hosts, Chris and Maggie, first visited Lamai when it was an untouched coconut island.
You can always find a humble eatery serving a simple plate of the sea-food noodles cooked in local coconut oil in the style enjoyed since the first fishermen settlers.
But Lamai has been favoured by French travelers over the years and that means good dining. If you have an early morning jogger in your party, make sure they run early enough to bring back croissants from one of the two French bakeries in Lamai – possibly the best croissants in Thailand. Our favourite nearby Italian eatery (there are several) offers pizzas that we think are the best we have ever tasted, cooked by our Italian friend Rino. You will go back. Ask for Rino’s hand-prepared traditional rural Italian pickled broccoli as an exotic side.
Eating on the beach is fun and romantic. Or search out one of the Isan restaurants popular among Thai visitors, which serve a distinctive style of cooking from the North-East of Thailand. For a celebratory dinner, try one of the upmarket restaurants in the more cosmopolitan centres of Chaweng beach or Bohput, a short taxi ride away, or enjoy the sophistication of the beach-front eatery of The Lamai hotel (formerly Meridien).
Other favourites include The Outrigger hotel’s Waterfront bar and restaurant, five minutes walk away from Villa Lamai Sarai; Jasmine-Rice, a restaurant with tables on the beach – great for its Penang curry (‘Kheng Pinang’ in Thai) – twenty minutes walk along the sand; the amazing vegetarian menu at the nearby The Spa Resorts – our favourite dish is the vegetarian massaman curry on a bed of mashed potato; the Indian restaurant in Lamai’s main street, Tandoori Nights, serving as good as you’ll find in London – their chicken tikka biryani is exquisite; and Ollie’s ‘Let’s Eat’ home-made burgers, claimed with good justification to be the best craft burgers on the island. Our favourite nearby breakfast eateries are Chuz, for its shady peace and quiet, and Toast for absolutely anything you want piled onto sourdough toast, and very special coffee. Both are just around the corner (or try searching out Lamai’s very own sourdough bakery directly, just ten minutes’ walk up the road).
Eating-in at Lamai Sarai
Lamai Sarai wouldn’t be a sarai (travelers’ resting place) without good food and drink.
It’s quite likely that you will find yourself not wanting to leave our pool-side, which has everything – 180 degree panorama of Lamai bay, the sparkling South China Sea, tropical birdsong and a gentle breeze. That’s why our wonderful resident hosts, Khun Kanchit and Khun Mod can cook you breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner on request from a wide menu – pool-side food, breakfast spread, or a formal dinner around our two family-size teak dining tables. Please order the day before. We recommend their pat Thai (noodles), kao pat jingling (fried rice with small dried local fish), or an all-time favourite Bangkok street-food, pat krapow gai/kung (chicken or prawns fried in basil leaves and chilli picked fresh from Kanchit and Mods’ kitchen garden). Ask for a kai dow (fried egg) on top – also fresh from our very own kitchen garden.
All dishes below were prepared by your hosts – photos to whet your appetite only! They are not a menu, but they may inspire you to pick something from Khun Kanchit and Mod’s tasty home-cooked repertoire!
Villa Lamai Sarai 