Restaurant Review: Yai Yai Kitchen Serves Mouthwatering Phuket Style Thai Dishes

Yai Yai Kitchen is one of four food and beverage outlets at the Proud Phuket. It serves mouthwatering Thai dishes at lunch and dinner as well as an international breakfast buffet to hotel guests in the morning. It overlooks the hotel’s courtyard and swimming pools.

Proud Phuket is a family run hotel, and Yai Yai – which means grandmother in Thai – serves mouth-watering dishes inspired by the dishes cooked in the family matriarch’s kitchen.

This charming cafe is where most hotel guests have breakfast, and this is where I had breakfast on the first morning of my two-night hosted stay.

Breakfast Buffet

Breakfast Buffet – The breakfast buffet was typical of the hotel breakfast buffets served up across Asia.

There were hot and cold entrees, pastries, breads, salads, fruit juice – the list goes on.

A La Carte Menu

But it was the a la carte menu served at lunch and dinner that really captivated me.

For my last meal before checking out of the hotel, I otdered four dishes from the a la carte menu and washed them down with coconut juice, which was well-chilled and served in the coconut.

I ordered two meat dishes, a soup, and curry, and it was a very satisfying meal.

Fresh Coconut Juice

Fresh Coconut Juice – My lunch began with fresh coconut juice, which was well chilled.

Moo Hong Phuket

Moo Hong Phuket – stewed pork neck with black mushrooms and bok choy in dark soy sauce.

Mixed Satay

Mixed Satay – grilled beef, chicken, and pork that has been marinated in Thai herbs.

Pla Tom Som

Pla Tom Som – a Southern Thai sour soup with seabass that has been seasoned with tamarind.

Gaeng Klew Wan Moo

Gaeng Klew Wan Moo – green curry with crispy eggplant, red chilies, basil leaves, and a choice of chicken, pork, or fish.

The Ambiance …

Yai Yai Kitchen has indoor and outdoor seating, and the tables outside overlook the hotel’s lovely interior courtyard.

The Verdict …

The dishes were simply, but beautifully plated, and they were absolutely delicious.

My absolute favourite was the stewed pork neck with black mushrooms and bok choy in dark soy sauce.

This dish had obvious Chinese influences, and I loved it. The meat was flavourful and tender, and the sauce was rich and pungent. I loved eating it with a white rice.

The mixed satay was about the best satay I’ve ever had, and the dipping sauce was yummy.

I had really ordered more than one person could realistically consume at one sitting so I saved a few pieces of satay to consume that night at my next hotel.

The soup was refreshingly sour and delightfully pungent, and the sea bass in it was like velvet.

For the green curry, I opted for pork, and I was not disappointed. The sauce was rich, well-seasoned, and velvety.

Perhaps even better than the food was the friendly staff, who went out of their way to make me feel welcome.

I’ll give Yai Yai Kitchen two enthusiastic thumb’s up!