Phuket Sep 2013 - Part IV, Food at Phuket

Continued from
Part I - Pullman Phuket Arcadia
Part II - Grand Ocean  Room
Part III - Breakfast at Pullman Phuket

In this post, here's sharing where we had our meals apart from breakfast at the hotel.

By the time we checked-in on Fri night, it was already 8+pm. We were famished and couldn't wait to tuck into a good thai dinner. Elements Restaurant was closed for a private event and Vero Italian was also closed somehow. The front office staff recommended us to go to Naithon Beach for thai seafood dinner and we were certainly happy to indulge in some seafood cooked thai style.

The buggy driver took us to Naithon beach which was merely 5 minutes drive. Naithon beach is a very quiet area with around 7-8 seafood restaurants on the beach itself. Business seem quite bad for most restaurants with only 1-2 tables of diners each.

The front office staff had recommended a restaurant called Mr Oody's, whereas the buggy driver suggested Beach House. We decided to go along with the driver's suggestion.

The whole atmosphere was actually quite serene, dining under the stars barefooted, listening to the sounds of the waves with gentle sea breeze while enjoying seafood. Free wiFi is available!

Stir-fried clams with basil and chilli. Not the freshest but still ok.

Stir-fried morning glory in garlic (known as kang kong in Singapore). Can't go wrong with this dish, crunchy and refreshing.

A must-order for every thai meal, Tom Yum seafood. Not the best we had, but still pass hubby's taste test. Spicy and sour, certainly whet our appetite.

Initially we wanted to order fish but after looking at the variety available, hubby told me that the fish weren't very fresh, whereas the squid (sotong) was very fresh. So we had grilled squid, which was really yummy! Tender and juicy with bbq smell, perfect with some sweet thai chilli sauce. Both of us agreed that this was the best dish of the night.

My must-order dish, the breaded prawn cake. This was ok only, still couldn't match the standard of what I had at Sabieng Lae Koh Samui. The breaded smell was a tad too strong and overpower the taste of the prawn cake.

This meal was less than 1000 baht inclusive of drinks, fairly reasonable in terms of price, food quality and service standard.

For lunch the next day, we decided to go to Naiyang Beach as we missed the food there. Rented a semi-automated bike at the shop just outside the hotel, for 300 baht a day.

Gasoline is 50 baht for 1L, easily available at most shops around the island.

Alternatively, self-service pump stations found almost everywhere as well.

Since it was still early for lunch, we drove down south to Bangtao area (found a fairly nice spa for massage, will blog about it in a separate post) and then up north towards Naiyang beach.

We were back to Naiyang beach, our third visit. There were around 6-8 such beach eateries along the beach.

Selling thai food and grilled meals/seafood.

Look at the scrumptious looking grilled chicken! We only saw these thigh meat after finishing the meal.

Diners could dine in one of these beach huts (photo taken from the beach direction).

Or any tables under the sun shade.

We opted for one of the beach huts.

Nice, cool coconut drink to start.

The papaya salad was really good! Sweet, salty, sour, spicy and special umami taste from the dried shrimp.

Grilled fish. Meat was tender and juicy.

Grilled chicken. Very fragrant with charcoal smell, but the meat was a little tough unfortunately. We forgot to request for thigh meat and the staff gave us breast meat instead :(

Tom Yum seafood, fairly yummy.

Stir fried glass noodle, which was surprisingly very good!

As we weren't satisfied with the grilled chicken, decided to order some grilled pork, which was oh-so-good! The meat was juicy, and nicely caramelised with the honey marinate. No regrets ordering this additional dish even though we were too full for words! This shall be the must-order dish next time, if we were to return again!

After the sumptuous lunch, we strolled at a nearby weekend fresh market (will blog about it) and then headed back to the hotel and lazed the whole afternoon :) Bliss!

Soon, it was time for dinner (again). We were deciding between room service, Elements or Vero. Since we couldn't get enough of thai seafood, we proceeded to Naithon beach again and this time, dined at Mr Oody's. It was a Saturday night and we were actually surprised that the restaurant was very quiet with only 1-2 tables of diners (same as the rest of the restaurants).

Was also disappointed that the fish on display weren't fresh at all! Quite surprised as we saw plenty of fresh catch at the Naiyang weekend fresh market. Probably because business was bad, the fish were leftover from previous nights. The menu also didn't look appetizing.

Fried prawns with garlic. Prawns were still ok, quite fresh, taste-wise so-so only.

Stir-fried mussels with basil and chilli. Mussels was fair.

Stir-fried mixed vegetables. So-so.

 

Phad thai noodles. Oh this was the worst phad thai we ever had. The noodles were clumped and no taste at all.

Well, if we were to compare Beach House and Mr Oody's, we would say the food quality at Beach House was better. I guess this was our last visit at Mr Oody's. In fact, the restaurants at Naiyang Beach are better than that of Naithon Beach. Maybe it's really due to poor business and hence food not so fresh.

We sort of regretted not dining at Elements or Vero's instead. Next time, we will.

In the next post, will blog about the Naiyang Beach weekend fresh market. Stay tuned!