Food at the SALA Phuket Resort and Spa (A Dire Situation)

Our room at the SALA on a rare sunny and bright morning:

But it didn't matter that the sun didn't always come out and shine steadily because our room was just so lovely.  In the evening, our tub and pool seemed just magical.

Isn't that romantic?  That chandelier over the bathtub and the lights in the pool are strokes of genius.   However, the major problem with the resort is that their food was not very good.  At all.  And that is actually a pretty difficult feat in Thailand, I think.  We ordered room service on the first night and I was pretty appalled.


On the second night we headed to the small night market adjacent to the SALA to try some more "local" fare.  We ended up going to Krua Pru Jeh Son seafood three times during our stay.

The owner of the restaurant, who called Michael "boss," had an unhealthy obsession with firecrackers, wore a hot pink shirt and a cowboy hat and had a delightful grin and kind demeanor.  After lunch at his restaurant the second day, he let us borrow his scooter to go to Turtle Village (the nearby shopping mall) to pick up some fruit and groceries.  When we returned, he refused payment.  We were shocked that he just handed the keys to his motorbike to us, no questions asked!

On the first night I tried their shrimp with lime sauce, which was fantastic.

Michael had their red curry with chicken.

I also had their glass noodle salad (as I have been on a glass noodle salad kick this entire trip) but it was not as good as the one I had at Pasai Seafood in Koh Yao Noi.  But it was still good.

The owner brought over a plate of fried dough as a complimentary dessert.  It was very tasty.

I went to the same restaurant for lunch the next day.  I got a spicy and sour lemongrass and galangal seafood soup with glass noodles (see, the glass noodle obsession continues).  It consisted of mushrooms, squid, shrimp, tomatoes and my requested glass noodles.

This is a shot of the local market during the day.  The property of the SALA resort abuts the public beach and these vendors likely have some permit or ability to set up shop here.  Thank goodness they were there, because without them I think the SALA would have been too remote and it would have felt too sanitized and stifling without some of the local flavor and food.