Great Seafood Joints?

[karuso]

Big fan of fresh seafood. Does anyone have any recommendations for standout eateries in Jomtien?

[Monger D. Luffy]

A TG friend of mine recommended me “Pu Pen” restaurant. I’ll give it a try next month.

Looks good.

Pupen Seafood Restaurant
https://maps.app.goo.gl/YwWTdgaweVkS2a6aA?g_st=ic

 

[Rocketboy]

Pupen is a very good place for seafood. They have a menu with many options. I don't eat shellfish, but they have plenty of fish entrees.

 

I've been quite often.... was there this past Friday. The first four pictures and the videos are from there.

 

It can get crowded at times on the weekends and very crowded with waiting list on holidays!

 

The last picture and video is another popular seafood restaurant. I've also been here a few times. It's actually around the corner from where I live. The location is Jomtien Soi 5....not where Immigration is. It's the Soi 5 across 2nd Rd the back end or adjacent to Rompho Market.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Rocketboy

[ChiFlyer]

This will probably be considered blasphemy by some. Pupen's is ok IMO and I have been there easily over a dozen times. Both the TGF and myself think that Pupen's has been trending downwards over the last few years. I have noticed that both the freshness of the fish as well as the service are not what they were a few years ago. My feeling this way is probably due in part to the quality of their "Grouper in a Sweet and Sour Sauce" (used to be my favorite) not being what it was anymore. The fish is now over-cooked and the amount of fresh Pineapple in the sauce has become a bad joke IMO. 

What I hear is great is buying fresh catch at the Naklua Seafood Market and having a vendor cook it up for you and eating it there. I have shopped at the Naklua Seafood Market several times before and both the breath and quality of their seafood is very good indeed. It is more than a 30 minute drive from Jomtien.

We buy our Shrimp at a market on Boon Kachana about midway between Jomtien Second Road and Sukhumvit. It is on the left side of the street coming from Jomtien Second Road. Quality is always very good. If they are out (happens sometimes) one can continue on to Makro of Sukhumvit (a little North of Boon Kachana). Their Seafood section is decent.

For an excellent Thai Seafood dinner I would consider May's on Theprassit, also in Jomtien. There is a thread in the Restaurants Forum that covers this place. The GF says that it is Farang Thai Seafood that costs too much, but I say that it is good. Traffic on Thepprasit is terrible at times these days due to construction. I would take a cab for this one. 

Oh, @Rocketboy - the restaurant you mention near the end of your post at the back-end of Rompho does not look familiar to me and I drive through that area on my bike often. Ok - I think that you mean the street that starts just South of the entrance to Rompho?

Oh, what is also worth a mention are the seafood restaurants that are on piers out over water in Satahip. Aow Talay is my favorite of these, but I hear that it is closed at this time. There are 3 others that are also very good. Ruan Talay gets compliments. There is a thread about these places in one of the forums.

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by ChiFlyer

[frantick]

2 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

This will probably be considered blasphemy by some. Pupen's is ok IMO and I have been there easily over a dozen times. Both the TGF and myself think that Pupen's has been trending downwards over the last few years. I have noticed that both the freshness of the fish as well as the service are not what they were a few years ago. My feeling this way is probably due in part to the quality of their "Grouper in a Sweet and Sour Sauce" (used to be my favorite) not being what it was anymore. The fish is now over-cooked and the amount of fresh Pineapple in the sauce has become a bad joke IMO. 

What I hear is great is buying fresh catch at the Naklua Seafood Market and having a vendor cook it up for you and eating it there. I have shopped at the Naklua Seafood Market several times before and both the breath and quality of their seafood is very good indeed. It is more than a 30 minute drive from Jomtien.

We buy our Shrimp at a market on Boon Kachana about midway between Jomtien Second Road and Sukhumvit. It is on the left side of the street coming from Jomtien Second Road. Quality is always very good. If they are out (happens sometimes) one can continue on to Makro of Sukhumvit (a little North of Boon Kachana). Their Seafood section is decent.

For an excellent Thai Seafood dinner I would consider May's on Theprassit, also in Jomtien. There is a thread in the Restaurants Forum that covers this place. The GF says that it is Farang Thai Seafood that costs too much, but I say that it is good. Traffic on Thepprasit is terrible at times these days due to construction. I would take a cab for this one. 

Oh, @Rocketboy - the restaurant you mention near the end of your post at the back-end of Rompho does not look familiar to me and I drive through that area on my bike often. Ok - I think that you mean the street that starts just South of the entrance to Rompho?

Oh, what is also worth a mention are the seafood restaurants that are on piers out over water in Satahip. Aow Talay is my favorite of these, but I hear that it is closed at this time. There are 3 others that are also very good. Ruan Talay gets compliments. There is a thread about these places in one of the forums.

 

Agreed, I don't think Pupen is "all that". But I also don't think Naklua is either, even though all the Thai ladies think so. (I believe they mostly think it is good due to lower price) 

I'm still on the lookout for good seafood. 

[w1lly]

Pupen turned out to be a disappointment last visit. Maybe they are a victim of their own success or maybe they lost the good chefs during covid. Same thing with another restaurant I’ve been to on many occasions before on jomtien beach road. Surf kitchen. Used to be great, now it was rather flavourless and the chicken in one of the dishes were raw, lucky I caught it. No apologies for the raw chicken either. I asked them to take it of the check bin, but they charged me for the rice because they said there was nothing wrong with the rice. But who the hell eats just the rice when the curry has raw chicken pieces in it. Never going back. And neither are any of my friends. Ever.

So not their best business decision, we’ve spent a lot of money there over the years.

Edited September 28, 2022 by w1lly

[gammonplayer]

Pupen is not bad, and better than most of the Walking Street places (actually nang nual on Walking Street is pretty good, used to have jomtien location also until COVID), but there is a place at the end of jomtien beach road (I can't remember the name right now, lung sawai maybe) I think is/are the best in jomtien. If you want better need to go a little further to bang saray and go to preecha.

Edited September 29, 2022 by gammonplayer

[ChiFlyer]

22 hours ago, frantick said:

Agreed, I don't think Pupen is "all that". But I also don't think Naklua is either, even though all the Thai ladies think so. (I believe they mostly think it is good due to lower price) 

I'm still on the lookout for good seafood. 

I buy fresh at the Naklua Seafood Market and take it home to cook. Given the diversity and freshness of what they have generally available, I think it is a pretty decent option. For a restaurant visit, to repeat I do like May's.

[ChiFlyer]

12 hours ago, gammonplayer said:

Pupen is not bad, and better than most of the Walking Street places (actually nang nual on Walking Street is pretty good, used to have jomtien location also until COVID), but there is a place at the end of jomtien beach road (I can't remember the name right now, lung sawai maybe) I think is/are the best in jomtien. If you want better need to go a little further to bang saray and go to preecha.

IMO - I would put Lung Sawai a step behind Pupen's.

http://www.lungsawaiseafood.com/

I say this despite having a place in my heart for the place. On my first extended (I mean more than a month) trip to Thailand, the woman who would become my long term GF took me there and paid for the dinner, despite my saying I would cover it.

I think it is possible that my and others bitching about the decrease in quality for these type of restaurants is at least in part due to the Covid hangover. A lot of cooks, massage ladies, etc. went back home and are in part returning very slowly.

Things are not rapidly going back to before.

[ChiFlyer]

20 hours ago, w1lly said:

Pupen turned out to be a disappointment last visit. Maybe they are a victim of their own success or maybe they lost the good chefs during covid. Same thing with another restaurant I’ve been to on many occasions before on jomtien beach road. Surf kitchen. Used to be great, now it was rather flavourless and the chicken in one of the dishes were raw, lucky I caught it. No apologies for the raw chicken either. I asked them to take it of the check bin, but they charged me for the rice because they said there was nothing wrong with the rice. But who the hell eats just the rice when the curry has raw chicken pieces in it. Never going back. And neither are any of my friends. Ever.

So not their best business decision, we’ve spent a lot of money there over the years.

I arrived in Jomtien in 2016. I spent a fair amount of time reading restaurant reviews. My read even back then was that Surf Kitchen was going down hill. Sounds like it has gotten worse. Given the reviews, I tried it a few more times, but remained very unimpressed.       

[Rocketboy]

9 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

On 29/09/2022 at 01:19, frantick said:

 

I buy fresh at the Naklua Seafood Market and take it home to cook. Given the diversity and freshness of what they have

Certainly not the sheer volume of seafood as at Nakula, but this is the fishery on Jomtien Beach. Fresh off the boat seafood every morning...early mornings! The first two videos I shot at 0645.

 

If you're heading south on Jomtien Beach Rd it will be just past the traffic light at Soi Chaiyapruek. Haven't seen the lady who cooked the fresh crabs in awhile.

 

If you like oysters this seems to be the place to go. This is actually in NaJomtien. They arrive around 1700 and the line gets very long! 150฿

 

 

[rioman]

I love oysters like that.  Always seemed to get very good ones in Hua hin at night mkt there.  Thought the Phuket night mkt was ok too until the oysters there gave me food poisoning.  No issues with that in Jomtien?

[splitpin]

I often wonder how much seafood you see on sale and eat, particularly in supermarkets, is actually "farmed" or fresh water Much of the prawns are.

https://weanimalsmedia.org/2022/03/09/new-investigation-thai-fish-farms-and-markets/

[frantick]

I find the shrimp/prawns here tasteless. Is it just me or am I ordering the wrong thing? 

I always enjoyed shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico, ie in a Poboy, Scampi, or Gumbo. 

[ChiFlyer]

17 minutes ago, frantick said:

I find the shrimp/prawns here tasteless. Is it just me or am I ordering the wrong thing? 

I always enjoyed shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico, ie in a Poboy, Scampi, or Gumbo. 

I will repeat -> the shrimp that I buy at the Boon Kachana Market and to a slightly lesser degree at Makro on Sukhumvit are better than the ones I used to get in the Whole Foods near my former Chicago house. The Naklua seafood market is also very good.

This is in part due to my letting the TGF select this particular product. She has a better eye than I do with regard to both fresh seafood and fresh produce. 

Edited September 30, 2022 by ChiFlyer

[nemopat]

On 28/09/2022 at 23:11, ChiFlyer said:

@Rocketboy - the restaurant you mention near the end of your post at the back-end of Rompho does not look familiar to me and I drive through that area on my bike often. Ok - I think that you mean the street that starts just South of the entrance to Rompho?

 

 

 

Name of this restaurant is Jae Tum Thepprasit’s Kitchen. Very good seafood, prepared for thai taste. Here is the location. Name outside only in thai https://goo.gl/maps/sBXBLNSjeqk8uvud8

They are also in Facebook https://www.facebook.com/j.tum.kitchen

[Sloracer]

1 hour ago, nemopat said:

prepared for thai taste

Does this mean they use a shit load of chilli?

[Arnie85]

Centara Grand Mirage Wongamat/Naklua do a seafood buffet. 
 

https://www.centarahotelsresorts.com/centaragrand/cmbr/seafood-bbq-night

[ChiFlyer]

15 hours ago, nemopat said:

Name of this restaurant is Jae Tum Thepprasit’s Kitchen. Very good seafood, prepared for thai taste. Here is the location. Name outside only in thai https://goo.gl/maps/sBXBLNSjeqk8uvud8

They are also in Facebook https://www.facebook.com/j.tum.kitchen

Thanks. I have been there. Some of my Thai friends say "used to be good". Just as an FYI.

[nemopat]

On 01/12/2022 at 09:55, Sloracer said:

Does this mean they use a shit load of chilli?

No. Sauces were spicy but not too much. Plaa kapong manau in picture could have even more chili. Another picture is from set we took home some other day. Rock lobsters are good perfectly grilled and scallops very tasty. Tom jam kung and jam talee also tasty and not too spicy.