As much as we love The Surin for allowing us to be completely self-contained, after six consecutive nights of dining at the resort, we felt the time had come to attempt something different. With neither of us showing even the slightest bit of interest in heading to Phuket Town – a tacky reminder of what you inherit when you succumb to mass tourism, we thought we’d give one of the nearby resorts a go. The previous year when we did try the Japanese restaurant at The Amanpuri, it was a disappointing experience we didn’t care to repeat. But when the other Mr. Highlife booked us a table at the originally named Palm Seaside Restaurant at one of the other neighbouring properties – Twin Palms Resort, I was happy to oblige.
Getting there involves two trips; one to get from The Surin to the Twin Palms Resort (a 5-,imute walk away), where one of their complimentary towncars would drive us the short distance to the restaurant. The Twin Palms has a pleasant open air reception where you can wait to be collected. While it’s possible to walk to the restaurant directly from The Surin (when you reach the turn in, go left and follow the road for about 20 minutes), the car service is a welcome option when battling humidity on exceptionally hot evenings such as this.
The Palm Seaside Restaurant is in an architecturally modern, open-air setting by the sea, tastefully put together in resort chic aesthetic. There’s a breezy lounge area where you can sip cocktails to chill-out music and people watch. When dinnertime beckons, there’s a choice of dining areas where you can have your meal served. The most coveted seats are the sunken tables running along the centre of the restaurant, which are surrounded by a zen water feature. The night we dined there, a large wedding party was having their rehearsal dinner, so table options were limited. Be sure to specify your request at the time of booking.
We stuck to our comfort zone of ordering grilled seafood, which the restaurant serves by the kilo and had a bottle of Gavi brought to our table to get things going. Our starter was a mix of grilled squid and prawns, and we had a side salad to balance things out for when the main course of red snapper arrived with a side of fries. I did think we under-ordered our main, so a word of caution if you’re not very good with deciphering weightage. For the dessert course, our waitress asked if we’d like to adjourn to the lounge area – an excellent suggestion – where we had their signature coconut ice-cream in a coconut and a nice amaretto on the rocks.
The Verdict
Everything we had that evening was fresh and well prepared, service was fairly efficient and the cost of the meal was incredibly reasonable. As much as I’d like to take credit for this find, that praise deservedly belongs to the other Mr. Highlife. I enjoyed this meal a lot, and wholeheartedly recommend you dine at the Palm Seaside Restaurant if you’re looking to break up the monotony of resort dinners.
Restaurant – 8/10
Experience – 8/10