Back when I was a bit younger, I used to waffle on about the "generation gap". I was convinced my generation was wiser, more insightful and morally superior to all those older folks. Now a member of the older generation myself, I remain convinced there's a gap, but it's us - the ones with the grey hair - who are wiser, more insightful and morally superior. We've got to be: we know about the delights of abalone.

What the hell is abalone? It's a succulent mollusc possessing a never-to-be-forgotten flavour. It was something enjoyed and savoured throughout the world in "the good old days", when we still had some spring in our step and a little lead in our pencils.

In recent years, however, supplies of abalone have dried up. Over-fishing, poaching and loss of habitat have caused the commercial harvest of abalone to decline over the last 20 years from 18,000 metric tonnes to a paltry 5,000 tonnes, making the tasty mollusc a luxury affordable only to those with Bill Gates-like incomes.

But great news has arisen on the abalone front, and it comes from right here in good old Phuket. Phuketians, unlike the rest of the world, no longer have to do without. Dr Sitthisak Muangsin, a veterinarian trained in aquaculture at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, is raising abalone commercially on Koh Sirey and serving some of his tasty product in a scenic restaurant attached to the farm.

Although abalone farming is practised to a limited degree throughout the world, the mollusc's slow growth rate and high overhead keep prices extremely high. Dr Sitthisak, however, is doing some things differently. To start with, he's raising a type of local abalone that grows faster than most, and one that possesses more edible flesh for the size of the shell than is typical of other species. The produce of the Phuket Abalone Farm and Restaurant isn't cheap, but it is more reasonable than it is elsewhere. Cocktail-size abalone (25-30 grammes per piece) run 2,500 baht/kilo; mini-steak size (50-60gm) go for 3,000 baht/kilo and steak size (100-120gm) for 3,500 baht/kilo.

Sitthisak's open-air restaurant, new and squeaky clean, overlooks an attractive little cove. Although it features abalone, a variety of seafood is served, including crab, lobster, prawns, mantis prawns and fish. Chef So Kam Seng, a native of Kwang Tung Province, China, is an expert at preparing seafood, and abalone in particular. My companion and I tried a variety of dishes and found all of them delicious. We were particularly interested, of course, in the 10 abalone items on the menu. Happily, the steamed abalone with oyster sauce that we tried proved a winner, and demonstrated that Dr Sitthisak's product is as good or better than abalone served in the good old days. Other items we particularly enjoyed were the steamed mantis prawn with garlic, the fried fish with abalone XO sauce, the jade seaweed tempura with abalone sauce, and the Chinese red date pancake.

The Phuket Abalone Farm and Restaurant bridges the generation gap, proving to one and all that abalone ranks with the world's great seafood treats. If you get the chance, head over to Koh Sirey and try some. You'd better hurry, however. Once word gets out, the place is bound to be packed with people with grey hair, canes and pacemakers - all of them eager for a taste of savoury goodness harkening back to days long past.