Baci

Baci has been cooking traditional Italian food in Bang Rak, on Samui's north-east coast near the Big Buddha, since 2008. The restaurant describes its approach simply as Italian cuisine with no fusion, and it is run with a personal touch by hosts Tiziana and Luca.

The menu is long and leans towards Campania: wood-fired pizzas, including a sharing "pizza doppia", home-made pastas such as gnocchi alla sorrentina and paccheri di Gragnano, and squid-ink spaghetti with seafood baked in a pizza-dough parcel. Fish and seafood come from local waters, and meat-eaters can choose beef fillet or a walnut-crusted tuna tagliata. Most pizzas and pastas cost 400–550 baht.

Diners can sit in the air-conditioned room, the open-sided main dining room or a lounge area. It opens for dinner only, from 6pm until midnight, and is closed on Mondays; book by WhatsApp.