Article Category - Dining Out in Phuket

Phuket may not have a finer example of a friendly neighbourhood restaurant than Ban Saiyuan's the Breakfast Hut. Set among a cluster of small businesses along Kata-Sai Yuan Road, the restaurant sits in a building that's a little more than a hut--but not much more. As I pull my motorbike into the small dirt-patch of parking outside, I immediately feel at home. The surfer ghetto in my home region of Santa Cruz County, California is dotted with many such neighbourhood eateries all serving straightforward breakfast and lunch fare (often heavy on the carbohydrates) at modest prices. They're populated with locals on their way to work or to the surf break if a killer swell happens to be running that day. The scene at the Breakfast Hut is no different, and just as in Santa Cruz, the proprietor of the Breakfast Hut issues a warm "good morning" when we walk up to take a seat.

There is more life in the eyes of a squirrel nailed to a plaque by a taxidermist than in the eyes of someone who has just waded through 800 words on the subject of chemistry, but something happened at Sunday Brunch today that caused me decide to write about the subject anyway. The hotel manager handed me a bottle of wine from one of my competitors, with thousands of tiny floating crystals, and asked me what was wrong with it. I tried to explain that it was salt but she did not understand how there could be salt in an unopened bottle of wine. I further explained it was potassium bi-tartrate, the esterified form of tartaric acid, and that it indicates the wine was bottled without the winery chemist first ensuring the wine was chemically stable. By this point the familiar expression of the taxidermy squirrel was already in her eyes.

A vehicular mishap outside the office set our business-day lunch off to an anxious start. So, too, did my unfamiliarity with Surin Beach as I hunted for our destination cafe. My stomach panged with every wrong turn. My blood sugar sagged as I realized I had motored entirely through Surin Beach and well into Kamala Beach. All of that frustration evaporated a short moment after we took a seat in the casual and serene Sejuice at Twinpalms Phuket. A quiet and reassuring server quickly took our order and promptly delivered two tall glasses of fresh, blended juice: pineapple for me and watermelon for my companion (170 baht each). My low-blood-sugar daze thus ended, I found myself far from the cares of the office in one of the most serene cafes I've ever experienced. I instantly relaxed, drawing on my straw as if the light, frothy and unsugared pineapple juice were a restorative.

The other day I received an unexpected visit from a Thai lady from Pattaya who sought my help with her nascent wine-importing business. The first thing I found charming about her was that she actually thought I would help her set up a company to compete against me free of charge. You can ask me later about the other things I found charming about her. Anyway, her story goes like this: She fell in love with South African wine while visiting her boyfriend. Upon her return to Thailand, she decided to open a wine import company in order to sell the six wines that her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend's former employer found for her at a good price.

Wanting to impress friends or someone special with a fantastic meal. Here's a trick; invite them home for traditional Thai food, and serve something great from Sangkasee! This restaurant is dedicated to food, great food, and definitely not to decor. You might be distracted from the very basic surrounds when your tongue is dancing a tango and flavours are bouncing around your mouth, but then again, you might like us, prefer to order to go. Some local knowledge, Sangkasee means galvanized iron, you'll get the reference when you see the restaurant, a plain open-sided iron-roofed shack.

Have you been watermarked yet? Whatever are you waiting for? From hot-steppers to wannabes to have-beens, to also-rans, this is the place to find them all. At our brunch at the Watermark, we goggled at a stream of "important" folk. They strode in with the casual amble of regulars, but the strut of where they were was unmistakable.

My first visit to the N.C. Restaurant was a bit confusing and quite exciting at the same time. Parched and hungry I was looking desperately for a place to escape the scorching sun and treat myself to a nice leisurely lunch. Not knowing what to expect, I wandered into the first floor of the restaurant, which turned out only to be a sit'n'chill lounge for tourists and locals to rest their weary feet and grab some snacks and refreshment.

It's that time of the day, you are just starting to get hungry and a little thirsty. You've spent the entire day in the sea and on the beautiful beach, and you need that something extra, for that perfect ending to a gorgeous day on Phuket. Where do you go? If you're around Kata, Karon or even Nai-harn, it's a choice easily made. Treat yourself to a one of Phuket's most special settings, and the glorious setting sun.

Khun Walee lives her dream at the Kan Eang@ pier restaurant in Chalong. Restaurant, coffee lounge, and a fabulous event-setting, it's everything you could wish for in a place to eat, and meet friends. Or, you could choose to spend some solitary time, working on your laptop with the free wireless Internet.

Discovering local lifestyles and experiencing first-hand how people live, work and manage their day has to be one of the most rewarding elements of travel. Local food can tell many a tale, and on Phuket, you have th advantage of being able to sample this fare in very real, homely settings.

The board walk at the Royal Phuket Marina is a romantic a setting as you could wish for. The pavement is broad and inviting, the space open and airy, and that delightful vision of yachts and boats against the foreground of Parisian-styled outdoor tables and umbrellas leads the sight ever farther upon the waters.

After five years of penning a wine column it sometimes is difficult to find a new topic to write about so, this week, I will cheat and write about coffee instead of wine. Since there are many similarities between coffee and wine connoisseurship, why not?

Cherng Talay seems to be the place everyone wants to be. Property developments, sandwich shops...Tesco, even. So it comes as little surprise that the one place on the island that churns out pie after Super Pie, is found right here.

It's important to know where good pizza can be found. It's one of those key facts that could save your life...ok, make your life worth living anyway. The Cook Restaurant on Phang-nga road in Phuket town offers some great real Italian pizza and also, arrestingly, Thai-Italian fusion pizzas using Thai food toppings.

There are views, pretty views, panoramas, and then there's the view from the Phu Hin Tang restaurant, overlooking Kamala bay. It is spectacular, and worth every mile of the drive up the hill from Patong or Surin. Coming from Patong, negotiate the twists and curves and keep an eye out on the left. The Phu Hin Tang is perched along a virtually non-descript curve in the road, almost making you wonder why they'd pick such an odd location.

On the way into Phuket city, going toward Central Festival and Big C, past the County Club golf course, a couple of hundred metres or so on the left, stands a big chicken. Chicken may not be a totally accurate description for the rather stately rooster that looks proudly onto the road, but it's certainly how the folks at the restaurant see it.

Time once again for my hard-hitting, no holds barred wine predictions for the coming new year. As an Aquarius, my predictions are based solely upon my gut, which has been getting larger with onset of middle age, but also a dash of experience thrown in for good measure. I accept no responsibility, however, for anyone who loses their life savings or even a bet for beer because of my predictions.

Amongst the hustle and bustle of a constant stream of motorbikes, cars, kids and locals hollering about in Phuket Town, nestled away is a charming Italian restaurant called La Gaetana.

High Season is finally here. Skies are blue again, and the water looks just magnificent. The Post Dining Out team took advantage of an exceptionally gorgeous day to set off to Rawai, and there's nothing like the first glimpse of the High-Season sea to make you very grateful for the incredibly beautiful island we live on.