Phuket, Thailand Has a Fine-Dining Scene That Rivals the Beach
Plus: the neighborhood to know in Athens, Japanese-made sunglasses and more recommendations from T Magazine.Welcome to the T List, a newsletter from the editors of T Magazine. Each week, we share things we’re eating, wearing, listening to or coveting now. Sign up here to find us in your inbox every Wednesday, along with monthly travel and beauty guides, and the latest stories from our print issues. And you can always reach us at tmagazine@nytimes.com.Eat HereThe Restaurants That Make Phuket, Thailand, a Fine-Dining DestinationLeft: Terra, a new restaurant in Phuket, Thailand, serves Italian food in the former Ban Nai Hua Ang Mo (British Merchant Association) building, built in 1898. Right: Royd’s Phuket lobster tail with dipping sauce.Left: courtesy of House of Tin Baron. Right: courtesy of RoydLocated on the Andaman Sea at the entrance to the Strait of Malacca, the tropical island of Phuket, Thailand, has long been known for its splashy beach resorts. But lately, its food scene has become just as much of a draw. It was named a UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2015 and has evolved over the past decade with a set of fine-dining destinations. The most recent addition is Terra, a modern Italian restaurant in a renovated 1898 Sino-Portuguese mansion built during the island’s tin-mining boom. It opened in January with two tasting menus featuring dishes like langoustine and shellfish emulsion with chestnut quenelles, and sole and sea urchin in an Amalfi lemon beurre blanc. It joins Royd, which in 2022 began welcoming visitors to a 12-seat table in a stylish 1970s shop house, where the Phuket-born chef Suwijak Kunghae riffs on traditional southern Thai cooking with dishes like tofu skin tart with smoked pig’s head and tamarind sauce, and squid with Phuket pineapple and southern Thai sour curry. At Pru, founded in 2016, the Dutch chef Jimmy Ophorst cooks dishes like durian and caviar, roasting the notoriously odoriferous Southeast Asian fruit, then turning it into a mousse that he garnishes with local roe. When you’ve had enough courses, try one of Phuket’s many small, inexpensive restaurants specializing in just one or two dishes. Krua Baan Platong uses local ingredients to produce Phuket comfort food like steamed pork belly with a southern Thai budu dipping sauce made with fermented anchovies; and Niyom Salt Grilled Duck is a simple roadside place serving juicy charcoal-roasted duck with a choice of spicy sour or tamarind dipping sauce.Wear ThisGlasses That Combine California Cool With Japanese CraftsmanshipLeft: a selection of Garrett Leight Blue Kinney and Hampton glasses in various hues. Right: Kinney sunglasses with their case and packaging.Courtesy of Garrett LeightWhen it comes to manufacturing quality eyewear, no one does it like the Japanese. But finding and trying on great pairs outside of Asia can be somewhat challenging. As a daily glasses-wearer, I’ve long relied on Mr. Leight, the limited-edition range of luxurious, Japanese-made pairs designed by Garrett Leight in collaboration with his father, Larry Leight, who’s best known for founding the brand Oliver Peoples in 1986. But now there’s a new, slightly less rarefied option if you’re looking to pick up a springtime pair of optical or sunglasses handcrafted on the archipelago: Garrett Leight Blue, which upgrades two of the company’s most popular, California-inspired silhouettes (the Kinney and the Hampton) with premium details like adjustable titanium nose pads, subtly filigreed metal arm-detailing and quality acetate that’s less likely to whiten or fade over time. Offered in a few off-kilter colors — think light pink or opal frames, with tinted, UV-protective lenses that have contrasting shades of deep oceanic blue or moss green — they’re also just plain fun, down to the cerulean faux snakeskin case that’s so bright it ought to prevent you from misplacing them. From $465, garrettleight.com.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
