Of course, most of these eateries are located by the sea – after all, when better to enjoy seafood than when you’re overlooking the lapping waves? Kudos, then, to new restaurant Fish 4 Thought, which has instead opened up off the busy Viset Road, halfway between Chalong Circle and Sai Yuan Road.
As it turns out, the location is not as odd a choice at it might initially seem – it’s actually the former family home of Fish 4 Thought owner and head chef Thames Kraitat, the son of well known islander Angela Prajantabut, managing director of Phuket Consult, whose office is just down the road.
Before you ask, yes he is named after the river that runs through the middle of London, a nod to his mother’s English roots. However, we’re here to talk about saltwater, not freshwater produce.
The concept is deceptively simple: fresh seafood with a local twist. However, if many of the dishes seem to have more of a European than Phuket flavour, that’s because Thames studied at the Le Cordon Bleu Dusit Culinary School in Bangkok, part of the globally famous network of culinary institutes.
Indeed, his experiences there, where he was trained in classic techniques, inspired him to open his own restaurant. Having spent some time in the capital, he was a fan of the many upscale establishments that occupied former family residences – celebrity chef Ian Kittichai’s Issaya Siamese Club being a notable example – and so the chance to convert his own two-storey Phuket home was too good to pass up.
He built decking on top of the front lawn, added a small outside bar, opened up the ground floor of the house (furnishing it with family heirlooms, an easy way to achieve that chic retro style so popular in Bangkok), refitted the kitchen extension, and capped it off with a central fish tank and seafood display.
Of course, no matter how good it looks (and Fish 4 Thought definitely impresses on the design front), a restaurant is only as good as the food it serves. Thankfully, Thames lives up to his nautical billing with dish after excellent dish of delectable seafood, sourced from local markets and direct off the pier.
We could have have eaten several more bowls of the clam with white wine (B180, ask for a side of baguette to mop up the rich sauce with), while the spicy Phuket-style crab curry (B300), a creamy, coconut yellow broth, was excellent, served, as tradition dictates, with the local thin white noodles.
The barbecued Tiger prawns (price by weight, we paid B600 for 0.4kg) were meaty and juicy, but the seabass (price by weight, B315 for 0.7kg when we visited) was the bargain-priced piece de resistance.
Stuffed with Thai herbs and simply cooked in tinfoil over the barbecue at the end of the garden, it exemplified Fish 4 Thought’s smart East meets West culinary approach – much like Thames himself.
Fish 4 Thought, 5/1 Viset Road, Rawai, 076 381 315, facebook.com/Fish4Thought. Open daily 4pm-midnight.