Best Restaurant of 2009 contender: Photo Album
Telephone: 081 3673804
Open: 8am-11pm
Address: Beach Road, Patong, outside the Muslim Cemetery.
Style: Thai/international
Price range: Inexpensive. American breakfast (100 baht) sandwiches (60 baht) hot dog burger (80 baht) spaghetti Bolognese (120 baht) mushroom soup (50 baht) tom kha gai (80 baht) larb moo (80 baht) mixed vegetables (60 baht) spring rolls (70 baht) rice and noodle dishes (40 baht-70 baht) fried noodles with seafood (70 baht) pork with garlic and pepper (100 baht) beef bbq (100 baht) fish with ginger (250 baht) bbq crab (180 baht) Lobster 1kg (1500 baht with one day's notice) dingha beer (60/100 baht) coke (20 baht) cocktail (150 baht)
Specialty: Tom yum gung, curried chicken. Lobster, with one day's notice.
What the manager/chef says: Khun Yui says he has been operating a restaurant in Patong for 15 years , but it's quiet in 2009.
What Phuketwan says:
Times are tough but fortunately the chicken at Yui Restaurant remains tender. Driven by circumstances to contemplate a more subdued lifestyle, we mosey on down the pricing plateaus to a place where value is the order of the day. In Patong, the beach road is as close as one can get to a level playing field. This row of 20 pavement restaurants may look lone-star, but be prepared for five-star treatment. Oddly enough, real Thai street diners provide the very best service. A fresh young coconut (40 baht), for example, is served with the top slice of coconut meat cut away from the shell. Huh? Expensive restaurants wouldn't dream of doing that. And after the meal, a complimentary plate of pineapple pieces is served. Huh? This is a gift, something we are not being charged for . . . so much for the money equals quality theory. We've long been puzzled by the way the economy works. In our experience, the people who have least to give are usually the most generous. Those closest to the poverty line know the value of a laugh, and of everything else that really matters. At this roadside collection of Thai dineries, the food is excellent, and you will always be asked whether you want your order spicy or not. Many ''good'' restaurants fail at the basics. They could learn from the streets. The table may be wobbly, but everything else is rock-steady and fairly priced. We have the passing traffic, and there's plenty to see. If you need to be reminded what AC/DC sound like singing 'Highway to Hell' at full volume, simply wait a while. The Rock City speaker vans will be along soon, perhaps too soon. The food? Well, for good value, the cemetery sidewalk simply cannot be beaten. If we decided to picnic on a mat across the road in Loma Park, as many locals do, we could carry some of these excellent dishes across the road and take in the sea view. Next time, we probably will. How to find it: Just a long stroll from Soi Bangla past the Impiana and close to the Graceland Resort, the beach road diners occupy the footpath outside the Muslim Cemetery. If they disappear, the same eateries will probably be found back at the Loma Park restaurant centre, on the beach side of the road. That will mean prices have gone up to cover the rent.
Parking: On beach road? Are you kidding? Beat the tuk-tuks and take a car space where you can.
Phuketwan restaurant reviewers pay for their meals. If someone else does, we tell you so
