Natin Spicy Garden

A countryside restaurant-and-garden out past Ao Nang that's built a big local following for proper southern Thai cooking — the fiery, no-compromise kind — served in an open-air setting among plants and ponds. It's a place to eat rather than a sight to tour: come hungry, order the southern curries and stir-fries, and warn them if you can't take real heat, because the default is serious. Worth the drive for a long, cheap lunch away from the tourist strip. Free to enter; you pay for the food.

Highlights