Best Restaurant of 2008 contender
Telephone: 076 360803
Open: 7am-10pm
Address: 68 Moo 2 Thepkassattri Road, Kohkaew, Phuket City 83200.
Style: International/Thai favorites.
Price range: Resort prices. Bar snacks, spring roll with plum sauce (95 baht) Chunky fries with rock salt (95 baht) soups (150 baht) Angus beef cheeseburger (395 baht) Ploughman's lunch for two (750 baht) salad nicoise (250 baht) pastas (250/275 baht) roast duck (350 baht) poached salmon (395 baht) lamb chops (475 baht) chicken massaman (225 baht) crab curry (295 baht) tiramisu (125 baht) chocolate brownie with ice cream (150 baht). Chilean wine by the glass (240/290 baht) Cocktails (250 baht) Singha beer (120 baht). All prices plus seven percent VAT and 10 percent service charge, with VAT also on the service charge.
Specialty: Breads, cakes, croissants, sweets, chocolates, icecream. Sunday brunch.
What Phuketwan says: ''Weatherproof'' becomes an important word on Phuket in the wet season. Let's face it, the season may be green to some but to most of us, it's wet. Staying dry is difficult at times. So it's a pleasure to be able to swing up the long driveway to the Royal Phuket Marina, nose down into the underground carpark close to a stairway, and emerge almost at the restaurant entrance. And at Les Anges, the entrance display of cakes, icecream and dessert treats under glass quickly tells you what the specialties are here. Venturing away from those may be a more realistic test. Fish and chips with tartar sauce, tomato sauce and garlic mayonnaise (295 baht) comes with the sauces each in cute angel's wing dishes. The menu says fish and chips but the chips turn out to be long cuts of jacket potato. So far, so good. Sad to say, the fish has been cut into similar-sized pieces then battered beyond redemption. Although fish and chips is a basic dish, frying the batter on the fish to perfection involves considerable skill. The batter has to be crispy in parts, but never overdone. The flesh inside should be tender and soft. By opting to slice then batter the fish, Les Anges puts presentation at a premium and sacrifices taste. The result is far from the melt-in-the-mouth treat it should be. The batter is hard and, cooked in pieces, the fish has no discernable flavor. That's a pity because from all accounts, Les Anges usually does better without the batter. Quite a few marina employees go here regularly for lunch, which is always an encouraging sign. However, at these prices, every meal simply must hit the mark. Value for money is what we all insist upon, unless somebody else is paying. The patisserie is an enchanting space. A comfortable sofa rolls down one side, topped with silver and gold cushions. Pictures of cherubs and angels hang on the walls. It's stylish, yet casual and pleasant. The cakes offered on a small tray after the meal looked delectable, but we somehow managed to resist temptation. We have two offerings of our own that we hope the management chew upon. If Phuketwan chose to open a bakery and promote its quality, we would serve bread with every mains order, especially at these prices. And it may not be a European tradition, but we would follow Thai custom and have a selection of toothpicks on every tabletop. That said, the East to West smoothie (lychee, strawberry, yoghurt) was delightful, but at 170 baht plus 17 percent, perhaps a little expensive.
How to find it: Royal Phuket Marina is off Thepkasattri Road, the main road between the airport and Phuket City, not far from the Bypass Road tee-junction. Coming from Phuket City, you have to drive about half a klometre on towards the airport before making an awkward U-turn.
Parking: Underground, spacious, dry.
Phuketwan restaurant reviewers pay for their meals. If someone else does, we tell you so
Telephone: 076 360803
Open: 7am-10pm
Address: 68 Moo 2 Thepkassattri Road, Kohkaew, Phuket City 83200.
Style: International/Thai favorites.
Price range: Resort prices. Bar snacks, spring roll with plum sauce (95 baht) Chunky fries with rock salt (95 baht) soups (150 baht) Angus beef cheeseburger (395 baht) Ploughman's lunch for two (750 baht) salad nicoise (250 baht) pastas (250/275 baht) roast duck (350 baht) poached salmon (395 baht) lamb chops (475 baht) chicken massaman (225 baht) crab curry (295 baht) tiramisu (125 baht) chocolate brownie with ice cream (150 baht). Chilean wine by the glass (240/290 baht) Cocktails (250 baht) Singha beer (120 baht). All prices plus seven percent VAT and 10 percent service charge, with VAT also on the service charge.
Specialty: Breads, cakes, croissants, sweets, chocolates, icecream. Sunday brunch.
What Phuketwan says: ''Weatherproof'' becomes an important word on Phuket in the wet season. Let's face it, the season may be green to some but to most of us, it's wet. Staying dry is difficult at times. So it's a pleasure to be able to swing up the long driveway to the Royal Phuket Marina, nose down into the underground carpark close to a stairway, and emerge almost at the restaurant entrance. And at Les Anges, the entrance display of cakes, icecream and dessert treats under glass quickly tells you what the specialties are here. Venturing away from those may be a more realistic test. Fish and chips with tartar sauce, tomato sauce and garlic mayonnaise (295 baht) comes with the sauces each in cute angel's wing dishes. The menu says fish and chips but the chips turn out to be long cuts of jacket potato. So far, so good. Sad to say, the fish has been cut into similar-sized pieces then battered beyond redemption. Although fish and chips is a basic dish, frying the batter on the fish to perfection involves considerable skill. The batter has to be crispy in parts, but never overdone. The flesh inside should be tender and soft. By opting to slice then batter the fish, Les Anges puts presentation at a premium and sacrifices taste. The result is far from the melt-in-the-mouth treat it should be. The batter is hard and, cooked in pieces, the fish has no discernable flavor. That's a pity because from all accounts, Les Anges usually does better without the batter. Quite a few marina employees go here regularly for lunch, which is always an encouraging sign. However, at these prices, every meal simply must hit the mark. Value for money is what we all insist upon, unless somebody else is paying. The patisserie is an enchanting space. A comfortable sofa rolls down one side, topped with silver and gold cushions. Pictures of cherubs and angels hang on the walls. It's stylish, yet casual and pleasant. The cakes offered on a small tray after the meal looked delectable, but we somehow managed to resist temptation. We have two offerings of our own that we hope the management chew upon. If Phuketwan chose to open a bakery and promote its quality, we would serve bread with every mains order, especially at these prices. And it may not be a European tradition, but we would follow Thai custom and have a selection of toothpicks on every tabletop. That said, the East to West smoothie (lychee, strawberry, yoghurt) was delightful, but at 170 baht plus 17 percent, perhaps a little expensive.
How to find it: Royal Phuket Marina is off Thepkasattri Road, the main road between the airport and Phuket City, not far from the Bypass Road tee-junction. Coming from Phuket City, you have to drive about half a klometre on towards the airport before making an awkward U-turn.
Parking: Underground, spacious, dry.
Phuketwan restaurant reviewers pay for their meals. If someone else does, we tell you so
