The road running inland from Surin Beach has a handful of small Thai food shops that serve the local workers and residents of the area rather than beachgoing tourists. The cooking is genuinely local: boat noodles with pork blood broth, rice porridge with minced pork, pad see ew with wide rice noodles, and the occasional Hokkien noodle dish reflecting the area's Chinese-Thai heritage.
These are proper neighbourhood eateries — plastic chairs, laminated menus with pictures, prices that seem implausibly low. They open early (some by 6 am) and often close by early afternoon once they've run through the day's prepared stock. Not the place for an evening meal, but excellent for a breakfast or early lunch before the beach heats up. The noodle shops are scattered along the road rather than clustered together, so explore a little on foot.