Catch Beach Club

Sunset is the whole point here. The white daybeds face west across Bangtao, the DJ eases the volume up as the light goes, and by the time it's dark you're at a party rather than a lunch spot. If that's not what you want from a beach day, go somewhere quieter down the sand.

The kitchen is better than it needs to be, which isn't always true of places like this. Wood-fired seafood, sushi, wagyu burgers, eaten either in the glass-walled restaurant or on a bed with your feet more or less in the sand. Front-row beds carry a minimum spend, so work out what you're happy to spend before you're talked into the best row. Daytime is calm enough for families and there's a decent stretch of it, since doors open at 07:30. The character change happens somewhere around dusk.

Plenty of flashier rivals have opened along this coast and this one has outlasted them, mostly because the basics are handled properly.