Home Culinary Travel Prestigious Recognition of Saffron in MICHELIN Guide Thailand

Prestigious Recognition of Saffron in MICHELIN Guide Thailand

Banyan Tree’s signature restaurant in Koh Samui is recognised by the esteemed French culinary guide.

Saffron, a fine-dining restaurant overlooking the luxury resort of Banyan Tree Samui, has been recognized by the prestigious MICHELIN Guide in its restaurant recommendations for 2025.

The French-based MICHELIN Guide, famed for its accreditation of “stars” to the most exquisite restaurants in the world, announced its MICHELIN Guide Thailand 2025 in which Saffron is listed among only a handful of dining venues on the tropical island.

Opened in 2010, Saffron hosts set evening dinners in a sophisticated and tranquil ambiance and offers a culinary journey of Thailand’s most innovative cuisine. An elegant dining establishment perched on a hillside and commanding spectacular vistas across the Gulf of Thailand, its chefs are renowned for creating combinations of flavors through a delicate blending of Thai herbs and spices.

This award-winning restaurant serves specialties such as: Khong Wang Ruam, an appetizer for two featuring freshly prepared crisp rice noodle-wrapped prawn; grilled tender chicken breast satay; fried floppy seabass rice noodle rolls;and pomelo salad with tamarind sauce; as well as Pu Nim Thod Yum Lychee Nham Sawaros, a palate-tingling dish of crispy soft-shell crab, lychee salad, mint, lemongrass, and spicy passion fruit dressing.

One of Saffron’s most recent features is Chef’s Table evening when guests can be treated to a Gueridon-style table service by one of the kitchen’s chefs who specialize in Thai and Southern Thai cuisines. The chef guides the diners through the preparation of Thai cuisine in an educational and entertaining setting and outlines local techniques and recipes, including the famed Tom Yum Koong, a traditional spicy prawn soup with condensed milk, lemongrass, mushroom, and coriander.

The Chef’s Table dinners are complemented by Thailand’s own Monsoon Valley wines, which have surprised many connoisseurs in recent years with their full-bodied flavors.

“The MICHELIN Guide rating shows great recognition of our Saffron culinary team and their daily dedication to and love of producing excellent food,” said Director of Food & Beverage and Cuisine Rainer Roersch. “We have already seen an increase in outside customers who have become aware of Saffron through the MICHELIN Guide. Our aim is to satisfy each and every guest with outstanding food and exemplary service.”

Saffron’s host hotel, the 5-star Banyan Tree Samui, was among the recipients when MICHELIN recently announced an inaugural ranking system of “keys” to acclaim the most outstanding hotels in the world. The 2024 MICHELIN Guide hotel selection in Thailand included a total of eight Three-Key hotels (its highest decoration), 19 Two-Key hotels, and 31 One Key hotels. Each hotel had been anonymously visited and assessed by MICHELIN inspectors. Banyan Tree Samui was recognised with two “keys”.

In addition to recognition in the prestigious MICHELIN Guide, Saffron has received a Best Restaurant Award four times by Tatler Magazine.