Zen Japanese Restaurant (closed)

You are in Thailand so why do you want Japanese food? 

You may well be at Central Festival for a bit of shopping and subsequently want a bite to eat for to eat and it is well worth visiting.

This Japanese restaurant is a favourite of ours. We visit here because they have a good selection and is extremely convenient - there are a number of posts on this blog and they do not really vary.

There is an enormous selection of dishes - what you need to look at first is the set menu book.

With the set menus there will be with this - a bowl of plain rice, Miso Soup, a tiny side dish of something. It is definitely a good mixture to have - we always have one or two of these.

Then there are the menus that have all the side dishes - our favourite of these is the Gyoza - deep fried wontons - wonderful, but we ate them before I was able to take a photograph...

Then there is the drink - we are extremely boring and we have a great number of green teas whilst we have our food - always worth a visit.

Website: none

Facebook:  none

Phone Number: none
Email: none

Approximate price: $$$$$ 

Address: Central Festival, Phuket Town

Hours: 11am - 9pm

 

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Uptown Restaurant - coffee

This was a welcome stop as I walked from Rang Hill into Phuket Town.

The coffee was traditionally Thai - it was very strong and very sweet (i did ask for more) - exactly what i needed at that point. Whilst I sat there I did see that it was a restaurant and that there was a big selection of dishes.

Although at that time (10 am) the restaurant was deserted. Willy from Phuket 101 has visited the restaurant and has taken some photographs - have a look.

This seems to be convenient if you are going shopping in the Expo Markets along the road.

Website: unknown

Facebook:  unknown

Phone Number:  076 215 359

Email: unknown

Approximate price: $$$$$ 

Address: opposite Thavorn Grand Hotel, Phuket Town

Hours: 10am - 9pm

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Tung Ka Cafe (ทุ่งคา-กาแฟ)

This is a restaurant in a great many guidebooks and we have been a number of times. It is on the top of Rang Hill in Phuket Town which means that the restaurant does have a wonderful view.

- but we had to feed the monkey first

There does seem to be some sort of development at the moment and they are adding something to the side of the hill - which does mean that the interesting walk to the entrance of the restaurant is spoilt.

You walk down a number of steps to reach the actual restaurant - well I do think that they are railway sleepers and this gives it a little bit of a exploration to it.

- in fact the last time we visited there was a snake in the bushes here and there was a sign in Russian which indicated that you should not climb on the hand rail of the stairs.

The best dish out of everything I think that I forgot to take a photograph of - deep fried whole prawns and vegetables - delicious.

Then there was the stir fried prawns with turmeric and lemongrass all in a coconut cream - delicious.

There were a number of other dishes that we had but I cannot exactly recall what they - were but they were reasonably good - we did enjoy it all (ordering the battered fried prawns and vegetables again). This is really a good inication that the food is reasonably prepared recently - crisp and dry - lovely.

Then there was an iced coffee

Once you walk into the restaurant you realise that it is actually quite large and can seat quite a number - I have never seen it full though.

The food is always average to good and there really is quite a large selection of dishes.

Website: none

Facebook:  none

Phone Number:   076 211500

Email:  none

Approximate price: $$$$$ 

Address: Rang Hill

Hours: 10 am - 11 pm

Previous visits

 1) December 2012 - coffee

 2) July 2012 

 3) November 2011 - coffee

 4) February 2011

 5) June 2010 

   


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Palai Seafood (or Parlai)

We like to go out for dinner and we like to choose different restaurants and a popular one in the South Phuket area is Palai Seafood.

You are able to walk along a long promenade adjacent to this restaurant and many other similar restaurants - Palai Seafood is very this because there is a car park adjacent to it - we walked along the entire promenade and return back to the beginning!

The set up for Parlai Seafood is similar to almost every fish serving restaurant in Phuket - there are tanks close by to the kitchen where you are able to choose your crab and / or fish and it can be this specifically that you eat.

I do not see much advantage of this but Jemma does find it entertaining walking around them - especially when the crabs move.

This was a selection of dishes which we had and the food was good and it was not expensive. 

The deep-fried fish was quite obviously fresh because it was crispy and the fish did not fall apart - as it would have done if it was deep frosted.

The Song Tam was great and there was just the right balance for us all - although we did ask for more lime juice with ours because my wife does enjoy it with a sour taste AND a kick.

The salads were also freshly prepared - very nice. I think that the only thing that stays in my mind was that the service was not particularly good. I think that we were the only small group there at this time and the staff seemed to be busy enough with what they had already.

We would certainly visit there again and I was a little surprised that there was so much little information about this restaurant on the Internet but it is mentioned in this list from PhuketSerenity - amongst others - Asia Web Direct and is usually busy.

Website: 
Facebook:  
Phone Number:   
Email:  
Approximate price: $$$$$ 
Address: 
Palai Beach is rather easy to find. Coming from Chao Fah East, turn onto Pa Lai Road, it is easy to find because it’s the same road as Phuket Zoo. Follow the road all the way down, Phuket Zoo will be on your right. When the road comes to an end, you are at the beach.
Hours: ?

   

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