Trendier Phuket denizens may already be familiar with this haven of chilled tranquility as a bar. But it's much more than just a bar. This is cool. Pure and funky bliss, slap-bang in the chaos of the town centre. And it offers a great menu to boot.

XVI's exterior (the number 16 in Roman numerals, okay?), opposite Salvatore's Restaurant in Phuket Town, can be identified by its tall, vaguely Art Deco-style glass front. It would be easy to walk past without knowing what lies inside. Once you enter, however, you encounter what can only be described as a warehouse-sized, hyper-chic playground.

One section has stark, roughly finished walls that complement slick, '70s-style black sofas. Another is scattered with square red-and-white poufs, and giant archways lead to such surprises as a roman bath, a massage area and, upstairs, two stunningly decorated guestrooms — a mix of Japanese minimalism, 1930s warmth, and up-to-the-minute architecture.

The music is superb — mellow, hip and laid-back beats with a DJ arriving around 10pm — and the food is eclectic and delicious. We ordered a selection to get an all-round feel for the menu, there being far too many dishes to choose from. For starters we sampled fresh spring rolls filled with carrot, lettuce and pork accompanied by a sweet chilli sauce — a healthy option to accompany a green salad draped in a honey and mustard sauce. On the slightly less healthy side, but equally tasty, the nachos came drizzled with cheese and a salsa of tomato, onion and chilli.

We next applied ourselves to a side dish of fried sun-dried beef and slivers of chicken rolled in seaweed and cheese with a barbecue dipping sauce. For drinks, we stuck to the very reasonable house wine and a couple of chilled Singha beers, since we'd already spotted the huge cocktail menu and wanted to save space for later. For main courses, our group chose the chicken fajitas, spaghetti with Thai-style salted fish, a pork chop smothered in pan-fried apple and duck breast in mango sauce on a bed of buttered rice. Absolutely fabulous.

Of course, after a meal of such gargantuan proportions we just had to get stuck into the cocktails. XVI also, rather sensibly, stocks "Mocktails" — so there's no excuse if you're on the wagon. The list of yummy-sounding beverages seemed endless but, in the end, we settled for a Sharkbite and a bit of Sex on the Sofa. The former presented a sweet-sour blend of rum, lime juice, orange and grenadine; the sofa sex was an enticing mixture of vodka, peach schnapps, orange and apple juice. These treats left no room for the Kamikaze; one of XVI's specialties, this is a dangerously delicious green drink with a secret list of ingredients. Potent stuff.

Hardly surprising that the owners here are a team of young architects from Bangkok. The enterprising group established XVI as a base for Be Gray, their interior design and graphics company. "We commute all the time between London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok," says Khun Malida, one of the owners. "So we took on this building as an office. But when we moved in, we decided it was too big to waste the space, so we played around a little and turned it into a bar."

The bar opens at 6pm and remains fairly quiet until around 10.30pm, when things heat up, with the DJ spinning into house and low-level techno. XVI has been open two years now, and this writer hopes it's going to be there for many years to come.