Lunch is a much-maligned meal. Since the slimming binge of the 1970s, the very word has acquired such a tinge of tempting menace that it seems impossible for us to indulge without prefixing some controlling influence – Business Lunch, Power Lunch, Light Lunch – as if the appellation excuses some supposed excess.

Even when we cannot think up a semi-plausible justification for our intended indulgence, we can no longer just "eat" lunch, but must instead "do" lunch or, worse still, "have a bite of" lunch. That's it. Just a bite. Perhaps not wanting to give the impression we might be about to enjoy ourselves in some way. So, it's time to give a boost to the noontime feast, and I call upon all who are willing to take action by taking lunch. And I have just the place to start: Into The View, at Evason Resort and Spa.

Set high on Laem Ka, a headland on the southern tip of Chalong Bay, Into The View looks out across the Andaman, taking in both Koh Lon and Koh Bon. The restaurant is laid out across a sprawling, open-sided sala, or pavilion, allowing warm breezes to enhance the appetite while the visual banquet fills the soul.

Many places on Phuket can boast a view as inspirational, but only a few come with excellent restaurants. Into The View falls among the latter. Several of the lunch dishes are creations du jour, worked up from whatever the chef finds interesting at the market that morning, together with an ample selection of salads and fresh vegetables. There's also a solid range of Thai dishes, from a variety of rices to tom yam gung, gaeng gai gati and others, but the tour-de-force is a fresh meat counter presided over by a chef ready to do wonders to your cut of choice. Among the pieces of fresh pork and Australian beef, I was surprised and delighted to come across partridge – a dish I was eager to try, once it had received the ministrations of our personal chef du rang.

Spread along the sala's only wall, the buffet-style service has the advantage of giving plenty of time to match your hunger to your mood – a mood that has already been greatly influenced by the Evason. Just arriving for lunch at Into The View can be an adventure in itself, requiring a gentle bus ride through the 64-acre resort's beautifully landscaped gardens.

Into The View will be joined this month by an all-Thai restaurant, shelved into the headland a little below its sister, while the resort's fusion dining experience has recently had a makeover. Such a profusion of great dining options all sharing that same view is an opportunity not to be missed by those with a yen for a leisurely lunch taken just for the pleasure of it.