Steak Samkong in Chalong. Photo courtesy of Island.Life.Photos

Those who know their way around Phuket Town will tell you that when it comes to restaurants, Steak Samkong is very high on the list of places giving value for money.

The place is owned by a Thai guy who spent many years as a cook on cargo vessels, so the decor is, shall we say, practical, and the food is not haute cuisine. But it’s tasty and filling and won’t put a big dent in your wallet – expect to pay between 50 and 250 baht to feel well satisfied.

The Thai food is simple and traditional – try the fried rice, the Kway Tio or the Phad Thai – and there is also a comprehensive menu of Western food, including a standard “American” breakfast, a variety of good sausages, steaks that won’t bend your fork, and good chips.

The good news for people in the south of the island is that Steak Samkong has now opened a new outlet at the Home Pro Village, just north of Chalong Circle. The prices are the same as those at the original restaurant: go for a club sandwich at B65, a plate of spaghetti for the same or a Caesar salad for B79 – just a few items from the menu.

There’s also beer (naturally), cheap wine and a big coffee menu. On an island where eating out is becoming increasingly sophisticated (and therefore increasingly expensive), this is a fine down-home antidote. For more pictures, go to Island.Life.Photos here.

The original restaurant, for those who don’t know it, is on Yaowarat Rd, roughly halfway between the Bangkok Hospital and the Vachira Hospital.

Trattoria staff celebrate; At centre is resort GM Peter Komposch. Exec Chef Silvano Amolini is at left.

Want to know which is the best restaurant, not just in Phuket but the whole of Thailand? According to Thailand Tatler magazine, it’s La Trattoria at the Dusit Laguna Resort.

It’s the second time the restaurant has received the accolade from the Tatler; the first time was in 2007. The hi-so magazine didn’t just name the editor’s favourite place – it polled readers.of course, Tatler readers are not generally people who frequent Auntie Pen’s Somtam Shack, so there were probably quite a few of Thailand’s 60 million restaurants that didn’t make the cut.

It’s still an impressive score, however, and Peter Komposch, General Manager of the Dusit, was excited. “La Trattoria is delighted to receive Thailand Tatler’s award once again. This recognition is indeed a privilege and a reflection of a positive feedback from our guests.”

The man who makes the food (with a little help in the kitchen) is Silvano Amolini, Executive Chef. The Dusit press release doesn’t mention his reaction to the award, but we can safely imagine it was positive.

Instead, it lists some of his signature dishes, “blending new Italian sensations and tastes”, and including Insalata di rucola con timballo di gorgonzola e noci, sciroppo al Balsamico, or Pici toscani con stracotto di manzo al Chianti. You can all figure out what those are, can’t you?

The Observer recently visited the restaurant for Earth Hour. See that report here.

Plenty of smiles in Opiume.

Phuket’s beautiful people were out in force last night (May 5) for the unofficial pre-pre-soft opening of two floors of the restaurant and club section of the Indochine Resort & Villas, above Kalim Beach.

Singaporean group Indochine, which runs resorts, restaurants and clubs in Singapore, Indonesia, Germany, India and Malaysia, recently bought the majority share in what had, up to then, been the occasionally troubled Villa Santi Resort.

In addition to the 24 hotel rooms owned by the resort, Indochine will be able to let out many of the privately-owned villas and condos on the hillside behind.

But last night was not about accommodation. It was about celebration, fuelled by some free booze, always guaranteed to make an opening work. In this case, two floors of the four-floor main building were opened – the Deli Café on the ground floor and Club Opiume on the floor above.

Both are works in progress – flooring and ceilings are not yet complete, giving both venues the glamour of a very chic parking garage.

Not that anyone seemed to notice, especially in Club Opiume, where minds and legs were fully occupied with the music pumping out from the decks of the two deejays, model and fist pumper Nicole Chen and American legend in his own lunchtime Steve Aoki.

Laddawan Somniyam. EAM of Sales and Marketing, says there’s plenty more excitement to come, with deejays from around the world doing guest spots every two weeks, and locally-based deejays keeping the volume high in between.

Look out, too, for the opening parties for the other two floors – the Waterfront Restaurant on the 3rd floor and the Beach Club (no beach, but a swimming pool) on the 4th. Be there or be square.

For more on Indochine in Phuket, go here.

Chef Lumineau - the only Maitre Cuisinier in Thailand.

Jean-Noel Lumineau presented his first French food festival at Mom Tri’s Boathouse in Kata nine years ago – two weeks of the very best French food in the world.

He came back every year to do the same thing and, in September 2008, made the big jump, moving to Phuket as Chef Consultant for Mom Tri’s four restaurants – the Boathouse, the Oasis next door, Mom Tri’s Kitchen (all in Kata) and, the most recent addition, Mom Tri’s Regatta at the Royal Phuket Marina.

This was really quite a catch for Mom Tri; Lumineau has won Michelin stars for restaurants in France, and toques from Gault-Millau. He is one of just 300 or so Maîtres-Cuisiniers de France – the crème de la crème – and he’s the only one working in Thailand.

So getting fed by this man is really rather special. But you’ll need to be quick; this year’s Boathouse French festival lasts just two weeks, ending on March 21.

There are three menus, the “Les Châteaux” and the “Les Vignes” version, each of three courses chosen from a total of six, and a degustation version, four courses with a glass of carefully matched wine to go with each.

So you can imagine how delighted Phuket Observer was to be invited to sit down to the Châteaux menu on the terrace at the Boathouse, with a fine sunset and cool breeze ordered up specially.

Chef Lumineau explains that he finds many of the local ingredients, especially the sea food, fresh and tasty, though certain ingredients still have to be imported for authenticity – the truffles for example, and the cèpe (or porcini) mushrooms.

The choice of appetisers is between a crab salad with fresh tarragon and Orleans white wine vinegar sauce with aspargus, or duck liver with stewed pears. My vote goes to the duck liver, smooth and rich. More toast please. My partner, however, likes the crab better, and I can’t disagree, especially when the shell is nowhere in sight (one of my pet peeves: battling through a crab shell is, frankly,  too much work for too little reward).

This loin is really, really tender.

The next choice: Sautéed fillet of seabass with virgin sauce or Grilled Angus beef tenderloin, with black truffle slices, cèpe mushrooms, garlic and parsley. Neither of us being virgins, we both order the steak.

Oh yes. The real thing. This loin is supremely tender, and is deliciously offset by the truffle slices and the textures of the mushrooms.

Finally, dessert. My grandmother used to say, “Life is short, so eat the dessert first.” But I’m glad I waited. The choice here is between Millefeuille with caramel mousse and mocha coulis, or Cremet d’Anjou, a soft white cheese, with red forest fruit sauce.

We get one of each. At the time I can’t make up my mind which is better. I still can’t. I may have to go back again.

For all three menus, see here. For bookings, email or call +66 (0) 76 330 015.

Andrew Parker and Brian Lunt of Absolute with Jorge De La Torre Koch at the FineWineDine launch.

Absolute Group boss Brian Lunt has been flying to Koh Samui once a month for dinner with the local dining club, and figured it was about time that Phuket had a similar deal.

It now has. FineWineDine International was launched on February 11 at Climax, atop Absolute Bangla Suites in Patong, with seven courses prepared by chef Stephan Bouwman and his crew, served up to 60 carefully chosen freeloaders – hoteliers and restaurant people and others from the chattering classes.

To lubricate the proceedings, each course came with a different wine (French, Spanish, Italian and Argentinian), supplied by Great Prestige Co and Wine & Taste.

For gourmands, here’s the menu for that night: Liver paté; salmon and prawn carpaccio; potato and spring onion soup; asparagus risotto with veal; basil-lemon granitée to clear the palate; Tajima Wagyu beef with tomato confit, mozarella Panzarotti and balsamic reduction; and orange chocolate mousse with Campari panna-cotta.

And for those who were still hungry, there were Belgian chocolate truffles to go with the tea or coffee.

First stop, the Climax restaurant, bar and, yes, swimming pool.

Restaurants are still being recruited to the scheme, the aim being to have 12, so that members can eat at a different restaurant each month. Apart from Climax, the roster now includes Plum at Cape Sienna, White Box in Kalim and Le Royale Namtok in Kathu, so venues are set for March, April and May.

A single annual membership costs B24,000 while a membership for a couple costs B36,000. The club is run by Jorge De La Torre Koch, until recently the F&B sales and marketing manager at Cape Sienna.

To learn more, see the website here.  Oh yes, and note the word “International” in the club title. Wonder where that’s going to lead?

Richard Clapton (left) and Charlie Musselwhite.

Andy Andersen, organiser of the annual Phuket Blues-Rock Festival, which takes place on February 26 and 27, has organised a couple of intimate dinners for small groups of people to get to know the two headliners – Charlie Musselwhite and Richard Clapton.

The first, with Australian rock hero Clapton, takes place on the 24th at the Baan Rim Pa restaurant at the north end of Patong, while the dinner with Musselwhite will be the following evening at Twin Palms. Dinner will run from 7 to 10pm.

Diners will get a five-course meal with three wines, plus VIP tickets to the festival and CDs signed by the musicians. Plus, of course, a promise of fascinating conversation and anecdotes.

There are just six places for each of the meals and in both cases, two have already been booked. Andy has asked us not to mention the price, but it will be more than your average bowl of noodles. You can ask him by emailing him. The festival website is here.

Cast adrift for dinner: the Plum Restaurant.

With Cape Sienna having won two accolades from Tripadvisor recently (the only hotel in Asia to do so), it seemed a good time to visit the place. And since the delightful Riz (it’s easier to say than Tipwarintron Tanaakarachod), former local TV star now doing marketing for the Millionaires’ Mile five-star, offered to throw in supper, any resistance we might have had crumbled immediately.

The first thing to realise about Cape Sienna is that it has – gasp – no beach. But it more than makes up for this with huge views across Kamala Bay and chic minimalist architecture and decor. Less than a year after the hotel opened, its restaurant is near full most nights, especially on Fridays – tapas night.

Fusion doesn't work: Indrajit Saha.

This is a great place to watch the sun dive into the sea. On the evening  the Observer was there, a gleaming gin palace slid across the face of the bay as the sun sank behind it. Sitting in comfort on the classy restaurant terrace with a good cold Mojito to hand, it’s possible to image that this is something the management arranges every night just to add to the sunset experience.

Helping to appreciate the food was Indrajit Saha, Director of Kitchen & Service Operation (ie, “Chef”). For a 35-year-old, he’s been around a bit. A chemistry graduate, he started out with Oberoi in his native India, then joined the opening team for the Anantara in the Maldives as Chef de Cuisine.

From there he want to the Caribbean, working at the Jalousie Plantation on St Lucia, helping to make the transition away from Hilton management. Next was Africa, as exec sous chef at the new Kempinski in Djibouti for a couple of years, before being invited by Cap Sienna GM Frank Dreist, late of the Phuket Pavilions, to join as Big Boss of Food.

Indrajit has some forthright opinions on food, coloured by his background in chemistry. For example: “Fusion doesn’t work,” he says. Shock! Horror! That’s about half the chic restaurants in Phuket. He explains, “Things that work have a logic and a philosophy. For example, what goes with fish?” “Er, lemon and white wine?” “Correct. It’s fish plus sour. There are hundreds of ways to achieve this.”

Not for the faint of heart: The Lamb Trio.

Once we are seated in a sunken area in the middle of a pool – a novelty in itself – he chooses the food for the evening. Plum Signature (the restaurant is called Plum) followed by Lamb Trio, then a simple dessert. All served with a very pleasant Chilean Chardonnay.

The Plum Signature consists of four bites: panfried scallop, softshell crab tempura with sambal, raw prawn marinated in mango and chili, and tuna wrapped in Parma ham with green papaya chutney. Yes. Thank you.

On to the Lamb Trio. This is for carnivores; the only greens in sight are a couple of sprigs of spring onion. The trio consists of rack of lamb (never to be called “chops”) and some chunks of  lamb loin plus a sauce – a tajine – a kind of stew that Indrajit discovered in Africa and made from, yes, lamb.

Delicious, but not for the faint of heart – your reviewer ended up with no room for dessert. So bring a hearty appetite, enhance it by lingering over the sunset, then tuck in.

Book a room at Cape Sienna here. The Plum restaurant is open from 8 to 11pm. For reservations, call +66 (0) 7633 7300.

Ani Phyo: Forget the cooker; eat it raw. - Photo courtesy AniPhyo.Com

Hungry? Yes? Feel like cooking? No? Ani Phyo has the answer – raw food cuisine – and she’s bringing her version of it to Phuket at the end of January, with a class at Mom Tri’s Villa Royale.

Ani, who was born of Korean parents but is thoroughly Californian, has been making a name for herself in the States with her raw food, “uncooking” banquets for hundreds, appearing in magazine and newspaper articles and on TV food shows.

As she explains on her website, “My belief is that illness is created by toxins we put into our bodies. Eating raw foods helps me detoxify, stay healthy, strong, fit, weigh my ideal weight, and look my best.

“When I eat whole fresh organic foods, manufacturers can’t sneak in chemicals, perservatives, artificial colors, flavorings, or other toxins into my food. I go straight to Mother Nature as my source for nutrient-rich foods.”

This, combined with her creative take on the combination and presentation of ingredients has won her considerable acclaim, and has fueled sales of her book, Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable, Living Food Recipes, available through Amazon.

If you’re expecting steak tartare, sushi, larp lerd or similar meat-eaters’ delights, you’ll be disappointed – Ani’s recipes are unashamedly vegan and “guilt-free”. No sugar, even, or wheat. But one look at the chef should give anyone assurance that Ani’s food is good for her and, presumably, for others.

Ani’s four-hour class will take place at Villa Royale on January 24, from 1pm to 5pm. She will present six recipes which participants will, naturally, get to eat afterwards. Tickets cost B800 in advance, or B1,000 on the door.  To book, contact Sylvie Yaffe be email or by calling +66 (0) 76 333 569.

For those who cannot make it to the event, videos of her at work are accessible through her website, where there are also plenty of recipes, or through her YouTube channel.

Holly Maitland Smith is just four years old, yet her work has already featured in nine exhibitions in Phuket and Bangkok. This is the acrylics-on-canvas painting that will be for sale at the charity event.

Works of art donated by internationally-renowned artists, galleries and local children will be up for sale on December 9 at Hung Fat’s restaurant, Kalim Beach, with all proceeds to go to the Phuket Has Been Good To Us Foundation (PHBGTUF).

Included in the line-up is a Warholesque portrait of Mao Zedong (valued at B100,000) by Alan Boswell, a landscape with cheetahs (valued the same) by South African impressionist Paul Van Rensburg, and an abstract work by locally-based Varaporn “Map” Pornrit called Inspired by Nature and valued at B140,000.

More affordable is a painting of foliage by Chiang-Mai based artist Apichat Panuwong, valued at B7,000, and two portaits of monks by Burmese painter Zaw Zaw, valued at B25,000 and B35,000.

Also on sale will be a dozen or more remarkably sophisticated paintings by local kids ranging in age from nine to 12 years old and one – the most surprising of all – by Holly Maitland Smith, who is just four years old. Holly, a pupil at the British International School, started painting on canvas when she just two, and since then has completed approximately 250 works. She has her own website here.

Entry to the event costs B1,000 a head, which includes two glasses of wine or beer, and canapés. Apart from an auction, there will also be a prize raffle.

All proceeds will go the the PHBGTUF, which was started after the 2004 Asian Tsunami by the late Tom McNamara, founder of the Baan Rim Pa restaurant group, which includes Hung Fat’s. The foundation currently supports 600 children by educating them to international standards in English, with the aim of giving them a better chance, long-term, at a satisfying and productive career.

As Tom explained when he set up the foundation, “Education is a gift that stays with you forever. You can’t sell it and nobody can take it away from you. It is the best way for us to give back to this island that has been so good to us.” The PHBGTUF website is here.

Coming back to life - the old mansion, dark for so many years, was lit up for the special dinner.

Renovation of the old Phra Pitak Chinpracha Mansion on Krabi Rd in Phuket Town is still not complete, but a group of guests and press types got a sneak preview yesterday of how it will look when it is complete and is occupied by the Blue Elephant restaurant.

Blue Elephant founders Karl and Nooror Steppe not only managed to assemble all the ingredients for a fine gourmet evening in delightful surroundings, but also spendidly garnished it with 20 would-be beauty queens – the finalists in the Miss Belgium contest.

The 20 girls are in Phuket as part of the run-up to the finals of the beauty contest some three months hence, and with Karl being Belgian (though not exactly a beauty himself) they were a perfect fit for his preview.

Thumb's up for somtam.

Along with the beauties came some 30 people from the contest organisers – managers, chaperones, make-up artists and wardrobe types – as well as a crew from the German TV station RTL who, Karl explained, can put his restaurant in front of an audience of 60 million people in  Europe.

To spice up the evening, Nooror, helped by daughter Sandra, gave the girls a lesson in making somtam (Thai-style papaya salad), before they all trooped out along the red-carpeted duck walk (the grounds were rather soggy for the spike heels the girls were all wearing) to a special area set up for their first foray into Thai cuisine.

Lit by oil lamps and a barrage of flashes from dozens of cameras, the beauties got to grips with their pestles (some evidently for the first time) and created somtam of their own, with advice from Nooror, Sandra and members of the Blue Elephant kitchen. Then, of course, they had to taste it. How was it? Some thought it was a little on the spicy side; others gave it the thumbs-up.

Getting to grips with those pestles.

Then it was back to the big house for cocktails on the newly-laid turf, and a huge buffet dinner in the rooms that had been opened for the evening.

The hardy girls had been up since 3:30 am to prepare for yet another photo shoot, yet managed to stay chatty and looking fresh, with only the occasional stifled yawn.

The genial Karl Steppe hopes the rest of the house – the other downstairs rooms, the upstairs, the kitchen and cookery school – will be open in three months or so. “We prayed for no rain tonight, and that worked. Now we are praying for an opening in three months,” he grinned.