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Ginja Taste, located at the stunning JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Mai Khao, has a new Wild Food set menu that has incorporated authentic Phuket recipes with locally sourced ingredients, giving guests a real Thai cuisine experience.
With Chef Thom offering up dishes such as stewed pork with cinnamon, ginger and mangosteen (moo hong som) and Southern sour fish curry with ‘taling pling’ orange (gaeng lueang pla pak tai lea som taling pling), Ginja Taste is taking the Old Phuket experience to the next level with a dining table decorated like the streets of Old Town, with a Surin Clock Tower centerpiece, for groups of six or more. Chef Thom prepares each recipe with expertise and care, always welcoming suggestions and critique, and checking in on his guests to make sure everything is up to par and not to spicy.
For starters we were welcomed with incredible deep fried yellow tofu stuffed with bean sprouts. Very crisp and light, the tofu offered a wonderful buttery flavor that complemented the sweet and spicy dipping sauce made from an authentic recipe and named appropriately, ‘Mum’s Dipping Sauce’. This was an excellent way to wake up your appetite, as it was not too heavy, yet very flavorful.
Among the mains that we tried, two stood out among the rest – the red curry of cockle mushroom and spring chicken (gaeng krua hed klaeng kub gai baan) and the ‘pak mieang’ and white Mai Khao prawn in coconut milk (pak mieang tom kati kub goong saebueng). The red curry was incredibly spicy, but was perfectly balanced with a wonderful sweetness and cut with the tender pieces of mushroom and chicken. Though the dish packed a lot of heat, all of the flavor came through and left you wanting more!
The prawn in coconut milk, however, was vastly different and very smooth and sweet, with a subtle, yet rich, coconut flavor that melded elegantly with the fresh prawn. This too was a crowd pleaser and was paired with a lovely Shiraz sourced from a winery in Hua Hin.
The winner though, was hand-down the dessert – stuffed small bananas with shredded rice and palm sugar caramel. Each flavor and texture came together perfectly from the crisp, savory batter to the buttery sticky rice and subtly sweet and soft banana. This is absolutely a must-try on any foodie’s list, particularly if they are interested in authentic Thai sweets.
All in all, the Chef Thom’s Wild Food set was a wonderful walk down Old Phuket’s memory lane and certainly leaves one wondering why any of the recipes had changed in the first place. If you are looking for which restaurant in Phuket to try, or just want to know where to eat in Mai Khao, head over to the always beautiful Ginja Taste.
Written by Katie, E-Table Asia