THERE are many great Italian restaurants in Phuket, and La Gritta at the water’s edge in the Amari Coral Beach Hotel on Patong, is without doubt, one of the best.

For those people who love all things stylish and Italian, plus stunning views across a maritime landscape, there can be few better places. La Gritta is also a great place to impress that special date.

To get there, you go through the Amari lobby and down the remodelled stairways to the lower terrace overlooking Patong Bay. While the restaurant itself has been sumptuously renovated since the 2004 tsunami, the view of the setting sun reflected in lapping waves, the verdant hillside and the lights which dance and sparkle in Patong, is still beyond compare.

As you get older, your attitude towards Patong changes and it becomes a spectacle that is better enjoyed from a safe distance. There can be no better place than La Gritta to savour the visual splendours of the sun setting over Phuket’s most famous beach, without having to fight your way through the melee that is Patong.

I started with Chef Thomas Goetlieb’s Italian anti-pasta platter, which came brimming with classic Italian meats, cheeses and vegetables. My date chose the Prima Piatti of penne with smoked salmon, zucchinis, cream and sun-dried tomatoes. Although slight of frame, she packs a healthy appetite, and she marched on resolutely and ordered a Secondi Piatti of grilled prawns, rock lobster, white snapper and squid in a lemongrass risotto.

I ordered the crispy young chicken breast, and washed it down with an excellent Italian brandy. Just as I figured it was time to leave, my darling dinner date spotted the dessert menu and set her laser-like sights on the chocolate amoretti custard with a forest berry sauce and a couple of scoops of home-made ice cream.

We finished up with coffee and brandy, which was a perfect ending to a great night out. But as I whispered sweet nothings across the table, there was no response. She had fallen asleep, a gentle smile summing up her night out at La Gritta, one of Phuket’s most romantic eateries.

And that really is the problem with taking a date you are trying to impress to La Gritta. The food, the wine and the ambience are just so conducive to indulgence that they are
impossible to resist.

For further information, call La Gritta at the Amari Coral Beach on 076 340 115, or visit www.reservations@coralbeach.amari.com