Karon Beach: Dinner at Ying Restaurant

After having a rather terrible mango salad for lunch, I had my guards up at dinnertime and put in a bit more effort to steer clear of the worst tourist traps. That’s easier said than done, traveling with my parents, who FYI don’t eat spicy food and wouldn’t mind going to “that place with the Danish flag outside” each and every evening if I weren’t there to stop them.

The compromise yesterday evening was Ying Restaurant, which is a seafood restaurant along the last, vibrant stretch of Patak Road leading to the roundabout. There are a lot of seafood restaurants in this part of Karon, and the place next to Ying actually looked nicer, but it was almost empty, and when it comes to seafood, empty is never a good sign. A busy restaurant might not warrant good food, but at least it means that the fish and seafood isn’t sitting around for too long.

We had 300g of barbecued shrimp for 300THB (or was it 350THB? Not sure). Half of it was fried with lots of garlic (that’s my half) while the other half didn’t have anything added (my dad’s half). The garlic shrimp could have needed some saltiness to round off the taste and really let the garlic shine through. Instead the shrimp tasted slightly bitter, but it was nothing that the spicy dipping sauce served on the side couldn’t fix.

The basil stir-fried chicken was excellent. I didn’t expect my parents to eat it, because it also had a nice little kick of chili, but to my surprise and great pleasure, they liked it a lot.

My mom ordered a tomato soup, because that’s what she usually eats when abroad, and it was disappointing. I suspect it originated from a tin or some kind of just-add-water powder, because it was thick and completely tasteless, but what would you expect? The chance of getting a nice tomato soup at a Thai restaurant is probably just as slim as the chance of getting a yummy tum yum soup in the Danish province (i.e. somewhere between 0 and none.)

We had ordered a grilled fish for us all to share, and after quite a wait, it arrived at the table. Except for a couple of burned marks on the side, it looked more steamed than grilled, don’t you think?

Right after we placed our order, it started raining heavily, so I suspect that the fish might have been cooked somewhere else than on the grill. However, it was really tasty and only 300THB, so who cares?

Ying Restaurant wasn’t as outrageously outstanding as I’ve seen it described in some online reviews, but it was still inexpensive, decent seafood in nice settings. I liked the place and wouldn’t hesitate to go back.

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Ying Restaurant, 3 83100 502/3 Patak Rd, Karon Beach