Thai & European @ Mom Tri's Kitchen, Phuket

We arrived in Phuket on Friday evening, and after a good night's sleep, a big breakfast and a morning visit to the beach, we headed off to enjoy lunch at Mom Tri's Kitchen at the Villa Royale. I'd read that this hotel is one of the best known in Phuket, cleverly situated in the rocks between two of the nicest beaches, and home to one of the best restaurants - and I was eager to check it out during our trip to Phuket. I made reservations for a table online, and my requests and notes about the boy's allergies were handled promptly and well.

The lovely view we enjoyed during our meal:

Villa Royale was designed and built by Mom Tri, a renowned architect, so it goes without saying that the restaurant was very nice: beautiful landscaped gardens leading down to the restaurant on one side, and gorgeous sea views on the other. The service was excellent, and we were well-looked after by the waitstaff who ensured that we were comfortable (placing a fan near our table to cool us down after our 30-minute walk from our hotel in the midday heat and humidity, and making sure our glass was always topped up with water).

The bread basket and the accompanying tomato dip and olive tapenade. It was a lot of carbs, but we needed to replenish the energy expended from our walk. You can just see the stroller to the left of the post, where our son had fallen asleep as soon as we started our walk, and he remained sleeping until we were almost done with dessert - granting us some sort of a date:

Hubby got a Blue Lagoon cocktail:

And I ordered a Virgin Margarita:

Although the lunch menu was more limited than the dinner menu, there were still quite a number of both Thai and European dishes to choose from (no less than 6 pages), catering for a wide range of taste buds. After flipping through the pages of the menu, we decided to make things easier for ourselves and order one each of the Special Western Set Lunch and the Special Thai Set Lunch (990THB each). Both sets had four courses, with two choices for the main course. Beautifully presented, the food was delicious.

Starter

Kata Noi Crab Cake - Andaman fish, blue crab and buffalo mozzarella cake with sun-dried tomato aioli, mango and coriander relish. Hubby and I really enjoyed this, as the crab cake was mostly crab and fish and no additional fillers such as breadcrumbs. The mango was sweet and the coriander wasn't too overpowering:

Por Pia Sod - fresh spring roll with shrimp, vegetable and peanut sauce. This was a refreshing starter with crisp vegetables and a light sauce that didn't overpower the subtle shrimp flavour:

Soup

French Onion Soup with Gruyere croûte. Delicious and rich, but a bit too salty for me:

Tom Klong Talay - spicy herbal soup with seafood in a broth flavoured with roasted dried chili, tamarind and Asian shallots. Typical Thai flavours in a bowl: slightly spicy, sour and sweet, and fragrant from a good combination of herbs and lemongrass. There were plenty of tasty seafood, including a large mussel that was pleasantly tender and not rubbery:

Main

For his main course, hubby chose Duck Mango - roasted breast, mango & ginger sauce served with roasted root vegetables. Crispy skin and tender breast with a delicious mango sauce. I knew that duck and orange make a good pair, and now I know that duck and mango work great together too:

For my main, I ordered Goong-Pla Chu Chee - prawn and fillet of fish with creamy curry sauce served with jasmine rice. This was simply beautiful: tender, moist fish and large, juicy prawns in a delicious curry rich with coconut cream. Not even a drop of curry was left on the plate:

Dessert

Duo Chocolate Mousse Cake - dark and white chocolate mousse cake. This dessert was dense and not too sweet, unlike most mousse desserts I've had in the past. I only wished it was more chocolatey. :

Tempura Banana - deep fried Phuket banana with toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream. YUM! This is the gourmet version of one of my favourite childhood street-side snacks, goreng pisang. Even hubby, not a fan of fruit fritters (the result from years of working at a fast food shop that served banana and pineapple fritters), said that this was good ("as far as banana fritters go", he added):

From the Children's Menu

The 3-year-old woke up from his nap in the stroller just as we were finishing dessert, so we ordered his lunch. The kitchen was careful to exclude the ingredients he is allergic to, and the fried rice that arrived was so tasty that both hubby and I took more than a taste and a prawn each, and the boy surprised us by eating more than he usually does when eating out.

Fried Rice with Prawns from the Kid's Menu (220THB - a great value because the serving size was generous):

Hubby and I really enjoyed our little 'date' by the sea. Obviously all this don't come cheap, especially by Thailand's standards, but the cost reflects the high quality and standards of the food, service and atmosphere. We have definitely spent more at equivalent restaurants in Australia, Japan and Hong Kong, and a meal at Mom Tri's Kitchen was well within our budget. I highly recommend this restaurant for special occasions in Phuket.

Mom Tri's Kitchen
Mom Tri's Villa Royale
12 Kata Noi Road
Kata Noi, Phuket 83100
Thailand
Tel. +66 (0) 76 333 569