The row of open-air seafood restaurants along Ruamchit Road is the heart of eating in Cha-am. Most are simple family-run operations with blue plastic stools, a charcoal grill on the pavement, and a fresh catch display at the front. You point at what you want — whole fish, prawns, crab, clams — and specify grilled, steamed, or fried. The standard accompaniment is sticky rice and a fish sauce-lime dipping sauce. Prices are low by any measure: a full meal for two with beer rarely exceeds 300 baht.
The quality is generally high because competition keeps standards up and because most of these places have been cooking the same things for decades. The whole-grilled sea bass (pla kapong) brushed with lime and garlic is the dish to order. Weekday lunches are when the locals eat here; on weekend evenings the stretch gets busy and lively, with Thai pop on the speakers and families settling in for long meals.