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Published on January 6, 2008

One restaurant, if you can call a shack by the roadside a restaurant, serves a Malay-Chinese dish called ba-go-tae - braised pork in a herbal broth - that is really delicious. You eat this stew of sorts with a bowl of rice. They serve it in an earthenware pot, piping hot. No seasoning is required because the broth is rich with multi-layered flavours. I recommend this shack of a restaurant for a quick lunch.

The second restaurant is Italian. Owner Chef Gianni and his lovely Thai wife took a small Chinese-Portuguese store and decorated it in Gianni's inimitable style. The result, La Gaetana, is a small jewel of an Italian restaurant. With only 30 seats, the interior has a cosy and romantic feel. The restaurant is divided into two sections - the front dining room with a small bar counter under a wooden staircase and the back of the restaurant with an open kitchen and dining space for those who like to smoke.

But I keep rambling on about the restaurant and the atmosphere without mentioning the food. Yes, the food absolutely matches the atmosphere. When you visit, Gianni wants you to feel that you are eating in his home. I dined here twice on my last visit to Phuket.

 For the first course, we had salmon and beef carpaccio with crusted bread in a shocking pink bread basket! The salmon was very fresh and the beef sweet and very tasty. I found out later that most of the raw materials the chef used in making our meal were imported. Then we tried the portobello mushroom topped with seared Canadian scallops and gorgonzola cream sauce. Heaven! That was the only word that came to mind. The cream sauce was rich, but didn't overpower the delicate taste of the scallops. The earthy taste of the mushrooms went very well with the gorgonzola cream. They make their own pasta, served to us sauteed in lamb ragout! The succulent meat was complemented by a perfectly cooked al dente pasta flavoured by the ragout sauce it absorbed. Although I've been indulging in a lot of foie gras over the past few months, I couldn't resist trying Gianni's pan-seared foie gras with raspberry sauce. I was given a huge piece of foie gras that was crispy on the outside but melted on the tongue. It was heavenly! Once done, I was scrabbling for my cholesterol-lowering medication. But only after I'd finished everything on my plate!

There are so many dishes to write about, but suffice it to say that eating at La Gaetana is an experience to be remembered. You need to bring someone special to try this restaurant. The food is great, the atmosphere is perfect and you are really taken care of by the capable staff and the chef himself. What more could you want? Go try this place out if you have time.

      Reservations are recommended.