The news came through a post online explaining that group of Thai friends visiting the island had stopped off at a small restaurant on Muen Ngern Rd on the way to Tri Trang Beach on Tuesday (Apr 12).
The price for stir-fried chicken with Thai basil served with a fried egg was B200, the complaint noted.
“Don’t let this kind of thing ruin Phuket’s tourism,” said the post.
The same dish at small restaurants in non-tourist areas in Phuket costs about B65.
Napat Piromrit, the owner of Little Tiger Restaurant, which overlooks tri Trang Beach, responded to the complaints yesterday, saying that when the group arrived they were given two different menus: one priced to be given to Thai customers, the other one priced to be given to foreigners.
Ms Napat said she didn’t know why the Thai tourists had complained.
“As we can show on the bill, they paid B100 for the chicken basil dish, not B200 [as marked on the “foreigner menu”],” she said.
The problem stemmed from the fact that the group of Thai tourists were handed both menus. Members of the group had selected their dishes from the foreigner menu when showing staff which dishes they wanted to order, Ms Napat said.
Ms Napat also defended her prices on the Thai menu, saying she used high-quality ingredients. The mixed meat tempura costs B450 for Thais, and B500 for foreigners.
The cost of paying for the location of the restaurant was also high, she noted.
“Also, the prices include enjoying our flower garden, which people can enjoy a walk through. We have been closed for two years. In that time, the jungle and garden had become overgrown and we need to pay for restoring it to the beautiful condition it was before,” Ms Napat said.
Customers were starting to return, but not to the same level as before the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.
DEVINDRAM | 17 April 2022 - 11:42:50