PHUKET: If all the resorts on Phuket could somehow be placed in a food mixer to be converted into a cake, there would be layers of deeply serious resorts sitting darkly at the bottom all choclatey and filling, moving up through lighter, amusing textures to the sweet and easily crumbling icing.

Then there would be the cherry on top. As resorts go, Point Yamu by Como would have to be Phuket's cherry.

It's there to be admired, plump and delectable and perfect. Then, once the cake has gone, the cherry can be enjoyed and consumed.

Italian designer Paola Navone has been turned loose at the remote cape, which has the karsts and emphatic blue hues of Phang Nga Bay as background canvas for her work.

The resort has been a long time coming. It seems years ago that we were puttering in waters nearby, looking for dugongs among the sea grass.

Point Yamu was always going to be above the ordinary, distanced from whatever else was happening on Phuket, and so it turned out to be.

The 79 rooms and 27 villas are different to anything we've seen elsewhere on the island, not just because of Navone's input but also by extending the imagination to unnatural new horizons.

There are the fantastic daubs of nature's Phang Nga Bay canvas. And there are the Alice in Wonderland surprises of Navone's febrile mind.

While the resort remains service-oriented and practical to a high level of sophistication, the place at the point is exciting to wander for its sense of adventure.

This is quite some cherry. It will appeal to everyone who has had enough cake and is looking for something quite different.

Point Yamu by Como is a candidate for Phuketwan's Phuket Resort of the Year 2014.