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By Kit C. Cauw
Pistachio crusted lobster skewered with cinnamon and served on
grilled baby pumpkin. Salad of chilled black crab with Hass avocado
fan. Char-Grilled straw mushrooms with rocket sprout salad and Asian
pesto. This is spa dining with gusto and it's only the first course.
Banyan Tree Phuket is the most exclusive resort in the heralded
Laguna complex. Tonight the resort is filled to almost ninety percent
occupancy, but you wouldn't know it. We arrived in late afternoon
to have a look around and found the grounds' common areas virtually
deserted. Our host, Director of Food & Beverage (F & B),
explained why: the 121 villas are spread out over a very large area;
guests tend to hide away in their own private slice of paradise.
Who wouldn't? Each unit has a private pool and/or Jacuzzi. The room
services are also extremely sophisticated, very conducive to in-villa
dining. "We don't see many of our guests" he said.
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For those who do make it down the neatly landscaped walkways to
the main building, there are a number of tantalizing dining choices:
Banyan Cafe, which serves light snacks while overlooking the golf
course; Watercourt Restaurant, offers creative international cooking
with a slight touch of the Mediterranean; Saffron, the resort's
signature restaurant serves sumptuous Thai and South East Asian
cuisine and finally, Tamarind, here by the spa and main pool, specializing
in fusion, healthy spa cuisine and seafood. Additionally, "Sanya
Rak" Thai dinners can be arranged on a traditional long-tailed
boat cruising the lagoon to traditional Thai music.
The Director of F & B at Banyan Tree Phuket advised us that,
"this used to be a wasteland. The lagoons were a relic of the
tin mines. They are very deep. Nobody believed the mess could be
cleaned up." Now, of course, to look at Laguna Phuket, one
can hardly believe the area was ever anything but picturesque and
lush.
The employees are very well cared for in Banyan Tree Phuket. This
has led to the development of excellent staff, who are very supportive
and eager to learn. Staff centers and dining rooms, on-site day
care and air-conditioned tour buses for commuters are all major
perks. Not one Laguna staff member lost his job during the SARS
crisis. The first resort to recover from the recession was the Laguna
Phuket.
Over cocktails, we were advised which restaurant most appealed
to us. Enjoying the collision of cultures upon my dinner plate,
I didn't even have to mull the options. So, here we are, soaking
up the joy that is Tamarind Spa Restaurant.
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Soft ambient music, the sounds of birds, and running water enhances
the mood, as does the swimming pool, radiant with sparkling sapphire,
aquamarine and turquoise hand-made tiles lining its bottom. Stunning
flower arrangements blossom throughout the restaurant and neighbouring
spa lounge. The ceiling is of cathedral scope, its height further
emphasized by the low, relaxed chairs. Cotton textiles cross the
square table in lieu of a full tablecloth. The restaurant is classy
and intimate. Placemats are constructed of slate and bamboo. The
appetizers arrive on square plates that appear like a puzzle when
all the dishes are assembled. My favourite dish, the crab &
avocado, arrived on a raised platter. My girlfriend refreshes herself
with a cold ginger infusion while I sip a coconut/carrot juice blend
from a tiny goblet, which I refill from a dainty decanter.
Food at Tamarind is on the lighter, healthier side, but our host
was careful to point out that the restaurant caters to other palates
apart from guests who are on specific diets. Certainly lobster is
not on a low cholesterol diet. Neither, I expect, is lamb. Between
courses, pineapple sorbet is served to cleanse the palate. Then
our main dishes arrive. I am treated to lamb loin with eggplant
and yams, possibly the richest of the restaurant's offerings, while
my girlfriend enjoys kingfish steamed in spinach with a sauce that
resembles Thai yellow curry. All of our food lives up to its descriptions
and the lovely setting.
As we linger, sipping herbal teas and prolonging our pleasure with
a coconut tapioca pudding topped with sour grape jam, a sprig of
mint and candied orange rinds, we take the tiniest of bites, in
part to preserve the artistic integrity of the dish and its delightful
contrasting colours; in larger part because Tamarind is a setting
which we don't want to get up and go home. I think I understand
just how the guests here feel, the ones who can't bring themselves
to ever leave their villa. I could be perfectly content, perfectly
happy, to stay right here for a very long time.
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