Jared O?Brien, better known as Jay, and Christian Karl, who prefers to be called Jimmy, are, respectively, the F&B Concept Executive and Culinary Executive at Sri Panwa. These grand titles suit the grand outlook of their high-class, but casual dining project, Babas ? where dinner is served on the patio beside the pool, and millionaires can ? and do ? loosen their belts after the feast to lounge back on bean bags and observe the stars. Here they talk with Phuket Post about how Babas came to be.

Jay: Babas has been open a year now and Jimmy and I have been here since it opened. This villa was its first home, then we moved to the villa next door. When someone bought that villa we moved back here. We started with just four of us, now we have a staff of about 20.

We were moving in to a pre-built villa that had been designed to be a home, not a restaurant. So it automatically gave it the feel of a home and we tried to make everything about Babas associated around that ? comfort food, finger food and a chilled out vibe. It fit with the villa, but it also fit with the feel of the island. Then we sat down and asked ourselves: where would we like to have dinner? Where would we be comfortable?

Of course, we have the view here, so we wanted to maximize its potential for us and we wanted to keep the food simple ? nothing over the top.

Jimmy: We make things we like. Everyone on the kitchen team can have an idea and say, ?Let?s try this. Do we like this?? We make a bunch of sandwiches and see which ones we like. We like pasta. Of course we love Thai food. So the food is based on whatever we like in a setting where we like to eat. It?s not big garnishes or fancy dining plates ? even though we have a nice property, a nice restaurant. The food is just simple, fresh ingredients and lots of taste.

Jay: I could eat the Lemongrass Chicken Wings every day of my life. And the Black Truffle Lamb Chops ? oh my God, they?re absolutely awesome! And it?s so simple, it?s just an Australian lamb chop grilled and then the sauce is butter and truffles. It?s a little rich, but? fantastic.

Jimmy: I like any sandwich that?s not on the menu. We have one section that is ?Up To You? ? so you can create your own sandwich. We?ve made our menu more like a guideline. You can order whatever you like, if we have the ingredients then no problem. For dinner we have a set menu that changes every day, so when I take the order, I check if there is anything the guests do not like or want to change, then the next day I can set the menu to their taste.

Jay: For the most part that was the plan from the start ? we introduce the menu every night. When we started I would do it, but then we said, why are we using me as the middle man between the guest and the kitchen? So we got Jimmy to do it directly and he can tell them exactly what we have.

We weren?t trying to fill a void on the island. The feel and the food ? that came from us. If we?re offering a five course dinner menu, it?s going to take an hour and a half to eat if you?re going to enjoy it. You probably want to chill out for a bit, have some wine. In between courses you want to relax ? sit back in the rocking chair, grab a bean bag, lounge on the sofa or jump in the pool. Look at the options you have here. Who doesn?t like rocking chairs?

Jimmy: You can come to dinner in your swimmers. You can come in your pyjamas. That?s what we want you to do. It?s not a formal place ? it?s your home. It?s our home. So be our guest.

Babas will be moving into a custom-built restaurant at Sri Panwa in April next year that will spread the experience across four floors, but Jay and Jimmy promise it will still be a very chill-out place to eat.

Babas, Sri Panwa
Cape Panwa, near the aquarium
076 371 007
www.sripanwa.com
Babas is a member of the Privileges program ? www.privilegesphuket.com