Moti K.
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This one is long overdue.
Somehow I thought that from the distance of time and geography, it would get easier. Actually, it’s harder.
Kapi Sator (กะปิ สะตอ) was the last restaurant I enjoyed in Koh Samui with my Thai family.
And I need to say something before “the food was amazing.” This time, this review is not strictly about that.
Never have I imagined I would be eager to study Thai. Never have I imagined discovering a non-biological family in Koh Samui. Nobody told me that home is there, on that island — the place I call home, even from afar. And this restaurant is a symbol of it for me.
Traditional, respecting the past, yet evolving and facing the future.
I will not go on at length about how tasty the food is. It’s above that. The point is not “delicious.” The point is what it represents.
It can be surprising. Exotic. The taste can be harsh sometimes — hidden flavors suddenly revealing themselves. Too spicy at times. Quite puzzling. The differences are apparent. And yet it’s always lush, flavorsome, accepting, inviting, delicious, mouth-watering, smiling at you.
There’s a Thai word that jumps into my head over and over while writing this review: คิดถึง (kitung). Literal meaning: my heart reaches you. Colloquial meaning: I miss you. That’s what this restaurant does. It reaches you even now, from far away. And I miss it in a way that is physical, not poetic — like a place in the body that tightens when you realize you’re not there.
Koh Samui in a shell.
Kitung