W Koh Samui

W Koh Samui is located on the northern coast of the island with a unique location that allows incredible ocean vistas throughout the resort. With 74 luxury pool villas, the resort is secluded and stylish, attracting guests who enjoy the finer things in life and also wish to enjoy that vibe that W is renowned for. The resort is blessed with a pristine beach, incredible views, and plenty of Insta-worthy spots for you to capture the moment and share with your friends. Exploring the resort is easy, either by using one of the buggies driven by a friendly team member, or by walking along the paths trimmed with manicured tropical plants, foliage and trees. Even the restaurants have stunning views, whether it’s of the beach and neighbouring islands, or the glistening pools and surrounding jungle. It’s certainly very easy to lose hours gazing at the scenery whilst sipping on a (branded) fresh coconut at W Koh Samui.

Our villa at W Koh Samui

Home for our stay was a specious, modern and stylish Premier Ocean View Pool Villa with floor to ceiling windows that allowed the light to flow in. The private infinity pool allowed for some gentle laps, whilst the surrounding deck area had tables, chairs, sun loungers and a covered day bed to escape the rays. The open plan style of the villa allowed views of our pool and the ocean from all areas, with the lounge area boasting a comfy sofa and huge flat screen TV. We also loved the option of indoor or outdoor rain shower, and free standing bath which was big enough for two, which also had a TV at the foot. The sliding doors adjacent to the bath fully opened, which allowed us to enjoy the gentle breeze and watch the night sky whilst having a bath, which was a unique way to end our days at W Koh Samui..

The vegan food at W Koh Samui

With four dining locations at W Koh Samui we had plenty of options during our stay, but it was at The Kitchen Table where we enjoyed the majority of our meals. Choose to sit on the terrace and soak up more of those stunning views, or be seated in the bright and spacious dining room, where the friendly and welcoming team will ensure you are very well catered for, even as vegan guests. Our daily breakfasts, long and leisurely lunches and indulgent dinners at The Kitchen Table were most certainly the culinary highlights of our stay at W Koh Samui.

Vegan breakfast at W Koh Samui

We need to say an extra special thank you to Executive Sous Chef Bee who is clearly passionate about creating exciting, delicious and nutritious food for all of her guests. She made sure that we certainly didn’t miss out during our stay and was always on hand with new suggestions and ideas as to what we could try.

It was great to find that the extensive buffet at The Kitchen Table had clear labels allowing us to select the vegan options, and the daily specials menu also featured dishes that could be adapted for vegan guests or those wishing to eat plant based food. From the buffet we sampled delicate dim sum with mushrooms and a soy sauce, black vinegar and chopped chilli dipping sauce. The noodle soup station included a vegan option which was light and flavourful, whilst the Thai section also had a vegan massaman curry with tofu. We almost walked past the egg station without spotting the ‘vegan Benedict’ with almond based hollandaise sauce, wilted spinach and diced tomatoes. Once Chef Bee and her team knew we were vegan they prepared an excellent tofu scramble which was topped with pea shoots and served on toasted sour dough with a side of guacamole. They also made delicious smoothie bowls made with the creamiest of homemade coconut yoghurts, fresh berries, nuts, toasted buckwheat and a chia berry compote. On our final day, her team sent a ‘floating breakfast’ to our villa, which was the perfect end to our stay. Breakfast at W Koh Samui was quite simply plant based paradise each and every day.

Vegan options at The Kitchen Table

The menu at The Kitchen Table had so many vegan options we decided to eat there on a number of occasions during our short stay as we didn’t want to miss out on the exciting plant based dishes. Thai starters included two of our favourites, laab and pomelo salad. The vegan laab featured rice berry, which is a nutrient dense grain grown in northern and northeastern Thailand which added extra texture and flavour to this Thai classic. The yum som o (pomelo salad) looked great and tasted even better, reminding us just how much we love this flavour packed dish. We loved all of the healthy and vibrant salads at The Kitchen Table, with other favourites being the ‘Cured Watermelon Tataki’ and the ‘Roasted Beetroot and Avocado Salad’ which were both light, flavourful and truly delicious. When the sun is shining, and the salads are this good we could eat them each and every day.

Our mains included a fiery green curry with tofu, and an excellent Penang curry with tofu, whole portobello mushrooms and fried enoki mushrooms atop, offering a contrasting texture to the creamy curry. Both curries were perfect and left us very satisfied. Other main dishes we enjoyed were the ‘Beyond Meat Bolognaise’ topped with vegan cheese, and a ‘Roasted Cauliflower Steak’ served with chickpeas, edamame beans and a spiced tomato sauce. Of course we needed to try the mango sticky rice which was butterfly pea infused rice and was refreshingly delicious. The commitment to featuring exciting and innovative vegan dishes throughout the menu at The Kitchen Table made dining there simple and enjoyable for us as vegan guests.

Vegan lunch on the beach at SIP

We soaked up the beachside vibes at SIP & Beach Grill where we enjoyed a couple of their clearly labelled vegan options for lunch. The poke bowl with tofu, beans, wakame and veggies was healthy, nutritious and packed with goodness, whereas the Beyond Meat burger with vegan cheese which was served with steak cut fries was naughty but oh so nice. Our fresh coconuts branded with W Koh Samui were the perfect liquid refreshment to enjoy with our al fresco lunch. The menu at SIP also offered avocado and tofu sashimi, tacos and a vegan quesadilla which were both labelled as vegan which was good to see, and also the ideal light lunch options to enjoy on the pristine white sand beach.

Vegan Japanese cuisine at Namu

On our final evening we dined at NAMU, the Japanese restaurant at W Koh Samui. Whilst the à la carte menu has limited vegan options, they offered to prepare a five course vegan menu for us to enjoy. The intimate restaurant offers stunning coastal views, and the staff team were welcoming and professional from the moment we arrived. Our meal, which started with marinated tofu topped with creamed avocado and gold leaf, and finished with a delicate mochi with coconut and mango, was nothing short of sensational. The flavour packed roasted eggplant with miso and truffle sauce was a stand out dish, also was the only dish from our meal that we spotted on the à la carte menu. Udon noodles with perfectly grilled veggies, and a sweet and fragrant salad of baked avocado with strawberries, mango and a vanilla sauce were both excellent, but if there was one dish we could eat all over again it would have to be the mochi which was simply divine.

The vegan essentials at W Koh Samui

AWAY spa was a wonderful choice for a blissful escape during our stay at W Koh Samui. We started by spending time in Asia’s first THAIMAZCAL®, a traditional sweat lodge-inspired steam room, where the heat and herbs cleansed and purified our bodies, before heading to one of the private spa pavilions for our treatments. The signature massages were excellent, with attentive therapists, pillowy soft massage beds, luxuriously scented oils, choice of eye pillows and the option of mango or pandan lip balm to end the session. Our experience at AWAY was another one of the highlights of our stay. As with all Marriott International hotels and resorts, plastic straws, bottles and single use bathroom amenities are a thing of the past in line with Marriott’s Serve 360 sustainability and social impact framework. The MOMO bathroom amenities in our villa at W Koh Samui are not tested on animals, and are made with natural ingredients such as yellow melon extract, and the Davines brand behind them is a certified B Corporation that supports reforestation.

The Vegan Food Quest Verdict

The excellent staff team are a credit to W Koh Samui and the spacious private pool villas are stylish and luxurious. The W Hotels philosophy of ‘Whatever/Whenever’ is omnipresent with that aforementioned team always on hand to make it happen if they can. But it’s the vegan food that elevates W Koh Samui to the next level with no shortage of options available during our stay, with each of them varied and delicious. This was one of our favourite Marriott Bonvoy moments and we would love the opportunity to return in the future.

We were guests of W Koh Samui but please rest assured that their generosity in hosting us didn’t influence our views.

W Koh Samui
4 Tambol Maenam, 1 Mae Nam, Amphoe Ko Samui, Surat Thani 84330

Telephone: +66 77 915 999
Email: reservations.wkohsamui@whotels.com
Cost From: £620 / $820 (Month Year)