Mermaid Café
Sea inn beach, in hotel motel zone, 01815 672855, (http://www.mermaidcafecox...). lunch and dinner until 7pm. overlooking the beach south of hotel media international, this newer cafe is super friendly and laidback and probably the coolest place to hang out in the area. with its natural-ish vibe of wood and bamboo, it hints at the direction that cox's bazar coulda shoulda woulda taken way back when. if it were anywhere else it's prices would put it out of business, but here it's taka well spent. it has several sitting areas and hammocks, and a creative menu including crepes and savory pancakes, and seafood-heavy mains like shrimp salad, pastas and fish pizza for tk 250-400. delicious fresh juices are around tk 80 and filter coffee and espresso around tk 50. the music is occasionally dubious but they're very open to requests.
There's a ton of restaurants along Sea Beach Rd and in the Hotel Motel Zone, most serving Bangladeshi standards.
Jhawban Restaurant
And poushee restaurant, next door to each other on hotel sayeman rd just south of sea beach rd, serve similarly excellent bangladeshi food including fried fish, a cox's bazar specialty. both are wildly popular, especially at lunch time - go with the flow. meals tk 60-130.
Sea Stone Café
As the only two-storey building on the beach-front, Sea Stone Café offers superb 180 degree views of the Cox’s Bazar beach. Its top deck is the best place in town to watch the sun set over the Bay of Bengal. Quality Western and Asian dishes are on offer, as well as fresh juices, real coffee and herbal teas. Entrées include grilled prawns, calamari and niçoise salad. Home-made pasta, pizza, chicken, beef and seafood dishes are on offer for mains. If you are after fresh prawns, calamari, crab, lobster or fish, this is the place for you. The staff are friendly and although the service can be slow, it doesn’t matter because there’s nowhere else in Cox’s that you will be in a hurry to get to!