Article Category - Dining Out in Phuket

SHEILA’S in Soi Sansabai, in Patong, just across from Soi Bangla, has always been one of my favourite restaurants. Until recently, it wasn’t all that flash, but it was clean, the staff were friendly, and the tucker was terrific, and everything was all very reasonably priced. Owner, Sheila Reed, has recently re-vamped the place with a new paint job, new furniture, and even new uniforms for the staff.

The KanEang@pier restaurant next to Chalong Pier is a major Phuket landmark ... and it’s about to get even bigger. Executive director, Wallee Pachantabutr, said the company name, Kan Eang, which means ‘feel at ease’, had been owned by the family for more than 30 years. “My husband started the first Kan Eang restaurant in 1977, and word of mouth about the seaside dining and the good food quickly spread to the locals,” she said.

IT’S always a buzz to discover a new restaurant, to be the first on your block to savor a complete new set of culinary delights. And Acqua, which overlooks Kalim Bay, is a real ‘discovery’. Although it has only been open a month, discerning diners from all over the world are already flocking in for a taste of owner Alessandro Frau’s fantastic fare.

THERE is one very good reason why you would be well advised to book a table in advance at Sam’s Steakhouse. The restaurant, which is just off the reception area of the Holiday Inn in Patong, sells the best steak on the island, and it is booked out almost every night. This intimate, but regal and elegant, restaurant has been serving up prime US and Australian steaks for quite a while, and their customers keep on coming back for more.

BELIVE it or not, drinking wine is good for your health. But until recently we did not know just how healthy a glass or two of vino could be. Medical research has found that wine reduces the risk of heart disease, and offers greater protection than beer, spirits or abstaining from alcohol all together.

HUMPHREY Bogart once said the trouble with the world was that everyone was three drinks behind. He must have been right because I get lot of questions about vodka. Every day someone asks me a what ‘five times distilled’ means.

SINCE they first opened in 1989, Mom Tri’s Boathouse and Mom Tri’s Villa Royale have set the standard of taste and sophistication on Phuket. These fabulous boutique resorts and restaurants on Kata Beach and Kata Noi headland are as effortlessly tasteful as the man for whom they are named, Mom Luang Tridhosyuth Devakul, who is universally known as Mom Tri.

WITH the opening of the new Marriott Courtyard in Patong, there are now three MoMo cafe’s to choose from on Phuket. The entrance to the Patong branch is through the hotel’s giant main entrance doors which open out onto an expansive open-plan dining area, with splashes of deeps reds and cool beige. A collage of 200 mahogany seats and teak tables give the place a very welcoming atmosphere.

THE picturesque and charming Siam Indigo restaurant, on the Phang Nga Road in Phuket Town, specialises in Thai-Chinese fusion food. It is housed in an 80 year old Sino-Portuguese house and since it first opened two years ago, its reputation has grown, and last year, the Siam Indigo was named one of Phuket’s best restaurants by the Thailand Tatler. The atmosphere is homely and oriental artwork adorns the walls, giving it an ambience of charm and culture.

WHEN the first Two Chefs restaurant opened in Kata Beach in 2001, owners Heinrike and Billy had one aim, to provide a wide choice of excellent food in pleasant surroundings with good service. They now have three restaurants and they certainly appear to be achieving that goal. The menus are all fairly homogeneous and feature salads, pasta and items from the grill along with some Thai favourites.

THIRTY lucky guests assembled at enVision Wine in Surin for an encore presentation by one of Thailand’s greatest chef’s, Alexander Mack of the Dusitani Laguna Phuket Resort, showcasing the best of Dusitani’s famed La Trattoria Restaurant at Laguna Beach. The diners were welcomed with one of Italy’s most famous rose wines the Leone de Castris Salento Rosato Five Roses from Puglia and an almost ethereal essence of tomato and sherry reduced broth with large bites of Phuket lobster in parma ham.

THIRTY lucky guests assembled at enVision Wine in Surin for an encore presentation by one of Thailand’s greatest chef’s, Alexander Mack of the Dusitani Laguna Phuket Resort, showcasing the best of Dusitani’s famed La Trattoria Restaurant at Laguna Beach. The diners were welcomed with one of Italy’s most famous rose wines the Leone de Castris Salento Rosato Five Roses from Puglia and an almost ethereal essence of tomato and sherry reduced broth with large bites of Phuket lobster in parma ham.

THE Yorkshire Inn is half way up Soi Sansabai, opposite Soi Bangla, but once you step inside the front door, you could be anywhere but in the heart of Patong. The stylish exterior hints at the elegance within and the sophistication continues throughout this recently refurbished hotel. Every consideration has been given to customer comfort, from the open kitchen, to the modern fitness centre and the uncluttered pool area.

THE Friendship Beach Resort, on Viset Road on the way to Rawai is a great place to eat. Quiet and secluded with its own personal waterfront, the resort is self contained and doesn’t need to cater to outsiders, so it’s a pretty well-kept secret amongst expats ‘in the know’. At night, the resort’s activities are replaced by charm, tranquillity, and fine dining, to match the spectacular view over the picturesque Chalong Bay.

IF you are looking for a restaurant which serves good food at a reasonable price, in relaxed surroundings with a pleasant view, efficient, helpful staff, and maybe a genial owner who cares about his customers, then Mando’s steakhouse on Rawai Beach Road is just the place. And if you have a Thai partner you want to impress, then it is definitely the place to go. The restaurant comfortably seats forty people so a level of intimacy is always assured.

THE Green Man pub is all about character, in every way. The purpose built Tudor-style English pub on the outskirts of Chalong is definitely incompatible with its environment. You can pile bricks on top of each other to build a pub, but you can’t build atmosphere, and The Green Man has atmosphere pouring out of the woodwork. It is spacious, authentic and homely. A roaring log fire would not be out of place. The Carte Blanche restaurant on the first floor is listed as one of Keith Floyd’s top five restaurants of the world. In February 2002, the pub was rated by the Phuket Island Guide as ‘a must see, the only real pub in Phuket’.

A lot of people have asked me when the price of Australian wine in Thailand will come down, now that the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) has come into effect. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that Australian wine prices, like all imported wine prices, will probably never come down. I don’t know of any importers who use TAFTA to clear their Australian wine through customs. Most prefer to clear their product under World Trade Organization protocols, of which Thailand is a signatory, because the system is better understood by officials in Bangkok. Like Monty Hall of the legendary game show Let’s Make a Deal, wine importers struggle, bargain and banter to get wine through customs at prices consumers can afford. In so doing, some are even reputed to push the envelope, if you get my meaning.

The Playhouse, on Rat-u-Thit Road, is just distant enough from the gaudy, pulsing nightlife of Patong. A little like Hollywood, the Playhouse is an eclectic mix of entertainment attractions in a gracefully modern restaurant. The fare features excellent food, a relaxing beer and cocktails garden, and a high-kicking, glitzy cabaret show in a comfortable and cozy theatre.

Confrères had synchronized watches, many of them within an hour of others. Muted cries of “Remember the Fat Duck”, “The Spirit of El Bulli” and “Nose to Tail like St. John” whispered through the sultry evening as the Heavy Brigade of La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs moved to condition red, members lumbering purposefully towards Floyd’s Brasserie in Patong. The substantial confrères grouped outside the Brasserie for their first sortie. The opening barrage was instant; miniature versions of many of Floyd’s classic dishes served as canapés supported by classic martinis and Burasari sunsets. No quarter was offered or sought. Martinis came at an startling rate, neutralised as quickly by the advance party. As reinforcements started to arrive, it was clear that Floyd’s was not going to outgun La Chaîne. They retreated to the Brasserie itself, and the confrères inched after them and dug in for the evening.

In my last column, I noted that there’s no inherent taste in wine. Taste really is just a name we give to our memories, and wine is just water, alcohol, tannin, acid, and its other chemical constituents. When we examine wine seeking its taste, no matter how hard we look we cannot find anything there in the wine we can call taste independent of the taster. I explained that taste is not the same as flavour and that our catalogue of tastes is built up over a lifetime of experiences. Our parents, our peers, our culture and our life experience teach us what flavours we like or dislike, and so the taste of anything, as it turns out, is unique to each individual taster.