A Sunset Table in Cape Yamu
On the east coast of Phuket, an old colonial house keeps the best long lunch on the island.
Phuket's west coast belongs to the beach clubs and the cliff hotels. Its east coast — quieter, mangrove-edged, looking out toward Phang Nga Bay — belongs, on Saturdays, to a single colonial-era house in Cape Yamu.
The lunch starts at one. The chef does six courses around what came in that morning: blue crab, sea bass, banana flower, a long stew of pork shoulder. The view is the lagoon at high tide and a green island in the middle of it. The pace is two hours.
It is reservation only and the table count is twelve. The east coast does not catch the tourist trade. That is the point.
On the east side of Phuket the day is twice as long.
Drive over from your west-coast villa for the afternoon; we hold the table and brief the driver.