Open: 10am-midnight

Telephone: 089 6972337

Address: Soi Loma, Loma Park, Patong, Phuket.

Style: Thai and Western food, music.

Price range: Tourist prices. tom yam goong (180 baht) chicken noodle soup (150 baht) mushroom cream soup (120 baht) chicken sandwich (160 baht) potato wedges (90 baht) massaman guy (180 baht) penang gai (150 baht) chicken satay (120 baht) steamed rice (20 baht) tuna sandwich and french fries (140 baht) beef burger (200 baht) spaghetti bolognese (250 baht) tuna salad (190 baht) grilled pork chop (350 baht) grilled t-bone (420 baht) fish and chips (260 baht) brushetta (120 baht) All cocktails (130 baht) phuket paradise, gin, sangsom, curacao, pineapple juice, lime juice, syrup (180 baht)

Specialties: Music.

WE CAME for breakfast and we stayed for lunch. The Barefoot Beach Shack is a visual delight, the kind of place that will always encourage passersby to stop. As it happened, we couldn't find breakfast in the menu and it was close to lunch anyway. After ordering, a wander around showed that great imagination had been applied in decorating the shack. Not too many restaurants on Phuket are as fun to be in as this one. Patong's beachfront is highly competitive, and we'd had to escape the siren call of several touts to get this far. What we first noticed was the ashtray on the table. Now, smoking and food don't go together, so it's best to let the customer ask for an ashtray if they wish to smoke and eat. There's a tissue dispenser too, but we can see that it's empty. No effort was made to fill it during our stay. And there are no toothpicks, as standard as fish sauce at most Phuket restaurants. The Thai beef comes served on a dark plate, which is unusual because dark dishes look their best on white plates. The rice, served on a white plate, would have also looked great if the plates had been switched. The taste, though, rates better. It's good. The other order, a salami and bacon sandwich with french fries, does not do quite so well. The fries are limp and the lightly toasted bread appears to have come from a pre-sliced loaf. It's not freshly cut. The shack scores with its creative decorations but does less well with the food and service. From what we hear, and with ''buckets'' of alcohol placed ready to drink, the Barefoot Beach Shack could be a whole lot more fun at night.

How to find it: Take a left turn from the Patong one-way as Loma Park looms. There's a taxi group on the corner and it's at the end of that soi.

Parking: Not easy to find. Unfortunately some locals park between the shack and the beach, which means the Barefoot Beach Shack sometimes becomes the barefoot shack.

Phuketwan reviewers pay for their own meals. If we don't, we tell you. The Barefoot Beach Shack is a candidate for Phuketwan's Good Value Phuket Restaurant of the Year 2013.