La Gritta Phuket

Phuket is known as a popular honeymoon escapade, but how often do you actually find a romantic restaurant on the island? We found one, nestled within Amari Phuket, one that serves up a menu filled with delectable choices of homely yet near to fine-dining kind of standard Italian cuisine that's set to impress any date, or even if you just need a night out with friends.

With a choice of indoor and alfresco seating, we highly recommend you sit outdoors if the weather permits and if you want to get a little bit of breeze. If you need the air-conditioning though, it's a no brainer - head on inside.

Helmed by Chef Patrizia Battolu, who brings an wealth of experience having spent a majority of her career in Italy, she currently leads the La Gritta team with her authentic Italian and excellent culinary skills. We had a chance to speak with the lovely chef that personally came out after her service to ensure that every table was enjoying themselves.

To start off the meal, grab a cocktail or two from their exquisite one-of-a-kind cocktail menu. The Mango Sticky cocktail resembled the characters you would get if you were devouring the classic Thai dessert, except that this was in liquid form - from coconut to mango and somewhat a tinge of rice (we don't know from where). For something tangy to the palate, the Thai Passion is also a great choice.

For starters, we had the Insalta Di Mare, highly recommended by the chef herself. It also happened to be one of our favourite dishes of the night. Plated beautifully in a complete circle was lobster, king prawns, scallops and crab avocado. I'm allergic to seafood but this was so impressively described, I had to try a little. The seafood was fresh and the sweetness from each ingredient came through without much or little seasoning.

If you like your Gnocchi, you have to try La Gritta's version of this classic Italian dish - Gnocchi Spuntature E Salsiccia. Think soft pillowy handmade potato Gnocchi bathing in a generous amount of homemade spicy tomato pork ribs and Italian sausage base. If you have been eating chewy Gnocchi your whole life, this is going to be a game changer, because they are meant to be soft and pillowy - just like how they do it at La Gritta.

The Fungi Porcini was also a crowd pleaser, with ample truffle scent that will whiff up your nose once it reaches the table, or maybe 5 seconds prior. Using an assortment of mixed forest mushrooms, drizzled with truffle oil and topped off with Taleggio cheese, we liked this dish very much, except that we recommend it for sharing because the truffle can get a little intense after your fourth of fifth spoonful.

If there is one dish you have to order at La Gritta (well, unless you are vegetarian or don't take beef), it has to be this Wagyu Tomahawk. Perfect for feeding 3, or even 4 persons, this steak was seared so perfectly, we couldn't find any fault with it, literally. Served in a 1kg portion, the entire piece of meat has great marling and fat to meat ratio with a slight beautiful char on the outside. Paired with a medley of sauces, this is one dish you definitely won't want to be missing out when you visit.

Now while we mentioned earlier that it is difficult to find a romantic restaurant in Phuket, I think we also forgotten to mention that a good Italian place is pretty hard to come by. La Gritta nailed almost everything on the menu that we tasted, and safe enough to say - we highly recommend visiting if you need the Italian fix whether or not pizza, pasta or a fantastic piece of meat off the grill.

La Gritta

Amari Phuket
2 Meun Negen Road
Patong Beach, Kathu
Phuket 83150
+66 7634 0106-14
www.amari.com/phuket


This was an invited media session.

Rim Talay Phuket

Rim Talay located at Amari Phuket serves up both an international buffet and a spread of delicious continental dishes as part of their a la carte menu. We were famished as soon as we touched down and checked-in and they recommended us to try out this all-day dining for lunch!

Offering both indoor and al fresco seating, there's also a pool bar where you can chill and get a cocktail or two, or even food served to you while you are soaking up the sun or making some splashes.

For a start, the Tom Yam Going packed a nice fiery punch without being overwhelmingly spicy. The serving size was a good sharing portion and it came with good-sized prawns that soaked up every bit of the yummy soup. 

The Phad Se-ew Moo is also one to try if you like your noodles. The stir-fried noodle option comes with a choice of pork, beef, chicken or prawns and comes served in a claypot. It has a slight char taste to it and each strand of rice noodle was evenly tossed and flavoured with the specially made in-house soya sauce that they use for this dish. If you'd like something lighter, the glass noodle option is also equally great!

For the staples, head straight for the classic Kao Pad Going with either pork, beef, chicken, crabmeat or seafood. This classic Thai fried rice comes served with a sunny-side up and despite it looking normal, packs a burst of flavours with each mouthful!

Another rice option is the Pad Kaprow Gai that's actually a protein stir fried with holy basil. It also comes in a variety of options including chicken, beef, shrimp or seafood with rice and a perfectly cooked sunny-side up on the side. Point to note though that it came excessively spicy, so let them know to tone down on the spiciness if you need to. 

Our meal at Rim Talay pretty much satisfied our cravings from authentic Thai cuisine, since it was the first day we were in Phuket. We also felt that the prices for every dish was very pocket-friendly, despite being located within the resort itself, making it a great dining option if you are lazy or don't feel like heading out. 

Rim Talay 

Amari Phuket
2 Meun Negen Road
Patong Beach, Kathu
Phuket 83150
+66 7634 0106-14
www.amari.com/phuket


This was an invited media session.