Seventeen years in Lamai
Our story
Nana Tam has stood on the same corner of Lamai for seventeen years. It started as a small family kitchen and grew, one table at a time, into the garden you see today.
The cooking has not changed since the beginning. Curry pastes are pounded in a stone mortar every morning — never bought in a tub. The fish comes from Lamai. Herbs, lemongrass, kaffir lime and pandan grow in the garden, and much of what you eat is picked a few metres from your table.
When we opened we planted a tree. It is the roof now — the canopy that covers most of the garden, and the reason the tables stay cool at midday and lit from below after dark. The coconut-shell lamps hang from its branches, drilled one hole at a time by artisans on the mainland. The koi pond and the little waterfall came later, because guests kept staying long after the plates were cleared.
Most of our guests are visitors to Koh Samui, and many come back the following year and ask for the same table. That is the nicest thing about this job.
How we cook
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Fresh, every day
Market in the morning, wok in the evening. We do not cook anything ahead.
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Your spice, not ours
We will cook it mild for the children and properly hot for you. Just say.
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Nothing wasted
We buy from local suppliers, use whole fish, and compost back into the garden.
The garden
Ferns, heliconia, frangipani, and the tree we planted the year we opened — grown from a sapling into the roof over most of the tables. After dark, a few hundred lamps come on in its branches and the whole place turns amber. There is a koi pond by the far wall and a small waterfall behind it — children tend to find both before the food arrives.
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Reserve a table
We are busiest between 18:30 and 20:30 in high season. Booking takes about a minute and you will get a confirmation straight away. No booking? Just walk in — that has always been how most of our guests arrive.