Palm Pavilion

SETTING

The restaurant is in the beautiful gardens of what used to be the old, colonial-style Railway Hotel. Seating can be indoors with air conditioning in a renovated old conservatory or outside with the lovely beach adjacent.

FOOD

The Australian chef here has created a very special, very appealing menu. With a reasonable number of choices, but still leaving one trying very hard to make the favoured selections. The ambience is superb, with contribution from the beautiful table settings, offerings of wonderful freshly baked bread, impeccable service, the sounds and breezes of the sea, and the magnificent large trees nearby. To the point where almost any food will do, but to the restaurant’s credit, the dishes here are also great. One very tempting appetiser, tangerine crab meat salad, is a dish full of flavour, with the crab meat tender and freshened with the subtlety of the tangerine fruit. A sorbet is then offered to clean the palate prior to the entree. An interesting selection for the main course is grilled whole barramundi fish partly because it is a favoured fish in Australia but one not often seen here. The fish is fresh and flavourful, and is a good opportunity to try something different. Finish off with some excellent dessert selections.

WINES

A very good list of excellent wines from both the old and new worlds. The prices are higher in line with those of hotel restaurants, but then the range is also more extensive.

SERVICE

It would be very hard to find fault with any aspect of the service. Everyone in attendance is as pleasant and professional as one can hope for.

PRICE

You get what you pay for. The pricing is that of a five-star hotel and a three-course meal for two without wine comes to about 3,600 baht.

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