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VOL. 12.2
 
Creating Royal Lifestyle in his Palace Gardens
Mission Impossible: The Best Cocktail on Phuket
Kathu Engery-Efficient House
Lady Kanna’s Patong Garden

La Gritta: Fine Dining by the Sea

The Cliff: The Freshest of Fresh

Living Resorts

A Cool Million for a Piece of the Hottest Beach

Laguna Phuket Keeps on Selling – It’s So Easy

Look Who’s Here to Play… Superyachts

An Unplanned Day on Phuket

 

ARCHIVES:

 
La Gritta: Fine Dining by the Sea
 
By Sam Wilkinson
 
As someone who’s lived on Phuket for five years I was almost ashamed to admit to my dinner guest that eating at the Amari Coral Beach Resort was a first for me. The funny thing is that the Amari isn’t even off the beaten path, ensconced down some dusty inaccessible little country lane by the airport. It’s at the southern end of Patong Beach – within walking distance of the shops. Driving up the hill at the end of the beach road, I had a feeling of, “Hey, there’s always something new to discover on this island.”
 
The lower floor of La Gritta has a nautical flavour. Portholes and other things sailorly abound. A restaurant’s decor speaks paragraphs, and this place speaks well of itself; it smacks of careful planning, with the discreet understatement of a top-class restaurant, never mind it lies just outside a town that’s pretty overstated. What with its sweeping view of Patong and a superb location, La Gritta is one of the most attractive restaurants in Phuket for seaside dining.

And so to the food. Our antipasto was creamy farfalla with slices of ham. It made an excellent light companion to the red Italian Abruzzo wine. We ordered a mix of entrees, including <I>Verdura Grigliato con Bocconcini, Insalata Caprese</I> and <I>Antipasta La Gritta.</I> The <I>Verdura Grigliota</I> – mozzarella melted over grilled mixed vegetables – had a lovely mixture of textures. The <I>Insalata Caprese</I> (salad) was perhaps the best dish, with a sensational sail-like arrangement on a round of toast. <I>Antipasta La Gritta</I> was a salmon, cream and cucumber dish, light and delicious, with crispy deep-fried grated potato on the side. A musky rock lobster bisque with skinned tomato, grilled garlic, and fresh basil leaves was a perfect accompaniment to fresh bread rolls.

Chris Meylan, the hotel’s young EAM (Executive Assistant Manager) has had a good look around the island’s eateries during his stay on Phuket. As a result, he’s given his staff one piece of solid Swiss advice: Be yourself. Don’t get stressed out and lose that world-famous Thai smile by being too much in a hurry. The formula seems to work, as his staff was as relaxed and friendly as any I’ve ever seen.

For the sake of simplicity, I’ll list the main course in English. We sampled tenderloin veal with grilled Parma ham and risotto, grilled gray snapper in ginger with grated carrot and boiled potato on banana leaves, salmon, prawns and rock lobster, and lamb with sun-dried tomatoes, gravy and polenta bread. I would recommend the snapper arrangement as being especially tasty.

An average visit to a restaurant to test the ambience, wine and food usually takes me two to three hours. At La Gritta restaurant, in the Amari Coral Resort on a cloudy Saturday night in November, we sat together for over four pleasurable hours. That fact speaks more for La Gritta than words can.