This restaurant, a favourite scuba-diver hangout (Le Grand Bleu, get it?), manages to pull off a combined Thai and French menu without dipping its fins into the dangerous waters of fusion cooking. And just as well, too, as much of the charm of this cuisine is in its simplicity. Daily recipes are changed according to what’s fresh and available on the island (it’s not as though the chef can nip out for a quick shopping jaunt) and as a result it’s a one-off with a complete lack of pretentiousness that is so often annoyingly prevalent in five-star hotel cuisine… and it’s all at half the cost, too.
Even the wine list, a 15-label international collection, features bottles for as little as 695 baht, and that’s cheap by Thai standards. We choose a hearty French rosé Terraces D’Azur that perfectly complements our dishes of fish filet in pesto sauce, fresh mixed salad, deep-fried battered shrimp rolls, mustard chicken and French fries.