Laid-back lakeside dining with a jungle view
The lake next to Peang Prai, with the jungle rising behind it.
While the west coast seethes with great restaurants, from Thai to Russian, French to Burmese, the east coast is rather less well equipped – unless you are an aficionado of dirt-floor noodle soup joints where the toilet is a tin shed out the back with no soap, no paper, no towels.
But there are some gems hidden away, one of which is Peang Prai. The eight-sided, two-floor buildings sits next to a lake surrounded by trees and leaping with fish. Beyond the lake, the land rises steeply, covered with enormous trees. This is one of the few parts of Phuket still with virgin tropical forest.
The owners, a local family, also own the fruit orchard that surrounds the restaurant, and plainly enjoy gardening too – carefully manicured tropical plants constantly catch the eye.
The restaurant itself is upstairs, roofed over but otherwise open to the air. This extra height keeps the place cool with breezes off nearby Khao Phra Taeo mountain, the site of a national park that is a favourite with locals for its waterfall, Nam Tok Bang Pae, and a regular stop for tourists visiting the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project.
The restaurant is surrounded by tropical plants.
Like most better Thai restaurants, Peang Prai has an extensive menu, featuring all the usual favourites including Phad Thai, prawns done in a variety of ways (try them with tamarind sauce), pork and chicken dishes, curries ranging from mild to fiery, and very fresh fish.
To accompany the food, there’s a wide range of fruit juices, the usual beers, nine different types of iced coffee, three different types of iced tea, and six different smoothies.
This is not a place to hurry through lunch. It’s a place to go with friends for a couple of hours, enjoying the food, the efficient, unobtrusive service and the green view.
Expect a plate of fresh fruit from the orchard, on the house, once you’ve polished all the serving plates. Which fruit is served will depend on the time of year. Oh yes – and the loos and spotlessly clean and fresh.
To get to Peang Prai, drive east from the Heroines Monument about nine kilometres and keep an eye out for the sign to the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project (on the left). Turn in there and go another kilometre or so until you reach the barrier beyond which is the national park. The restaurant is set back from the road, on the left immediately before the barrier. Tel: 085-832-7439 or 088-890-2753.
The family have also built a couple of small bungalows close by, which rent at B800 a night. Expect to be woken in the morning by the gibbons calling. And finally, a tip: If you want to take a wander in the jungle without paying the outrageous park fees, linger over lunch until about 3pm when the park staff pack up for the day. After that, entrance is free.
