Seafood on Surin Beach

There are few better things in life than eating fresh seafood on the beach, with the sand between your toes – and on our first night of holiday in Phuket, we intended to do just that.

There are several bars and restaurants lining Surin Beach (all responsible for those ghastly sunloungers that mar the view of a beautiful beach). Many are nothing more than shacks with tarpaulin shelters, others are more established restaurants with painted walls, cushy furniture and trendy fixtures and fittings. What they all have in common is sea views, lapping waves, and fresh seafood.

We chose Pla Seafood on the basis that its tables were actually set out on the sand, not lining the road above as most of the others were. Once we were seated at our table and had our toes firmly dug into the sand, we ordered ourselves up a feast – A Red Curry with Prawns:


Stir Fried Squid with Sweet Chilli:


and a Barbecued Fish.


Unfortunately the Barbecued Fish was rather over-salted to finish, but the rest was pretty good. What really made the meal though was the ambience – the cool sand underfoot, the balmy evening air with a sea breeze and the gently crashing waves, all combined to make this a memorable evening and one of the highlights of our stay in Phuket.

Pla Seafood - http://www.plaseafood.com/

Beachfront Thai

My how time flies – after a hectic visit back to the UK for Christmas and New Year I am back in Sunny Singapore and ready to chow down again. Before we headed back to the land of grey skies and sub-zero temperatures, we had a relaxing weekend in Phuket to chill on the beach, paddle round the limestone islands, and of course to indulge in some Thai food.

We chose to stay at the Twin Palms resort on Surin Beach

and as soon as we had checked into our room, we threw on our beach gear and made our way down to the chic and trendy Catch Beachclub for a bite to eat. The Catch Beachclub is just how a beach club should be – comfy seating, uninterrupted sea views of the horizon, palm trees, chill out tunes, cocktails and good food…

Unfortunately it doesn’t have the background soundtrack of crashing waves like Bali’s Ku De Ta – and the sun loungers of Surin Beach are a bit of an eye-sore… but all that aside, this has the makings of a great beach bar.

The lunch menu is a mixture of Western – burgers, steaks, club sandwiches etc, and local favourites. Well who wants to eat a burger on their first day in Thailand? Not us that’s for sure, so we ordered ourselves up a selection of local dishes.

The Spicy Green Papaya Salad with Soft Shell Crab was superb. Mixing the tanginess of the papaya, heat of the chillis and beautifully crisp crab, this was a fantastic (and substantial) salad.

Goong Sarong is a local Phuket speciality of crispy rice noodles encasing fresh juicy prawns. It looks spectactular, with the crispy wispy noodles overflowing and the hidden prawns nestling within. This came served with pickled vegetables and a curry and honey sauce and was simply delicious.

And we finished off with everyone’s favourite – a Pad Thai – and a very good Pad Thai at that.

One of the joys of being in Thailand is definitely its food… and one of the joys of being on holiday is eating what you want, when you want. And so I ask you – what better joy than being on holiday in Thailand?

Catch Beachclub, Surin Beach, Phuket - http://catchbeachclub.com/