Baan Bang Pat, Phang Nga
Open: Daily for lunch and dinner.
Telephone: 087 2807473 087 6260070
Address: Baan Bang Pat, a mangrove village in Phang Nga, about 90 minutes from Phuket.
Style: Seafood, seafood, seafood.
Price range: Amazingly reasonable. Two people can order five seafood dishes for 600 baht, total. Three people can order seven larger dishes for 900 baht. And if you want to try the homestay, it will cost you 1000 baht with all meals included. That's right, a room plus breakfast, lunch and dinner, all for 1000 baht.
Specialties: Local black octopus, curried crab, boiled crab, shrimp, deep fried sardines, shellfish, steamed bass. If you catch it, they'll cook it.
What Phuketwan says:
This is Heaven on a stick for Phuket seafood lovers, but Heaven actually lies a bit of a drive off Phuket, at Baan Bang Pat. We've hunted down the freshest and best seafood around the region but nothing compares to Baan Bang Pat. This is the best, the freshest, and in the most authentic surroundings. A friend acted as guide and noted that in the months since she visited, the two village restaurants had grown to three. Eight kilometres off the main Phang Nga-Krabi road, the stilt village (heaven on a stick?) is reached over a narrow concrete bridge. Baan Bang Pat has yet to become a high-gear tourist attraction but the wheels have been set in motion, For now, it's a charming Muslim fishing village where the locals go about their daily activities in an unaffected way and the food is just fantastic. The area has a reputation for environmental preservation and does all the right things as far as trash is concerned. A sign warns that drugs are banned, and so is alcohol, although red and white grape juice is available with meals. This place would make an excellent stopover for anyone travelling between Phang Nga and Krabi who wanted to experience local culture up close. There are fishing trips available on longtails and an elevated concrete pathway winds through the mangroves nearby. The main homestay is a new building at one end of the boardwalk. You're welcome to share a family home, if you wish. Fabulous food that will probably not last at these kinds of prices forever. How to find it: Drive to Phang Nga Town, take the turn right to Krabi, drive eight kilometres and turn right for Baan Bang Pat, opposite the Bang Toei Hospital.
Parking: The village car park, on one side of the narrow footbridge, is being enlarged to take more cars.
Phuketwan reviewers pay for their own meals. If we don't, we tell you. Baan Bang Pat is a candidate for Phuketwan's Phuket Restaurant of the Year 2012.
In fairness, there are quite a few excellent and reasonably priced seafood restaurants on Phuket, though I will try and sample these reviewed in the near future.
What definitely puts me off though, is that I enjoy either a cold beer or glass of wine with my meal. Dining out for most westerners is an occasion to relax and enjoy the company of friends and/or family, which usually includes the modest consumption of alcohol.
Posted by Phil on July 16, 2012 18:31
Editor Comment:
Alcohol is not yet a prerequisite for relaxation, enjoying the company of friends and family, or indeed a necessity in dining out for ''most Westerners.'' Choice is what life is all about and there's no problem for you, then, Phil, in sticking to your regular haunts, or making a small sacrifice to eat great seafood.