Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Patong, you will find a quaint and charming, but not so small, restaurant in Kalim called Home Kitchen Restaurant. With amazing décor made from refurbished goods and furniture, this must-try restaurant is the brainchild of the family Underwood and all of their creative glory.
Upon entering we were greeted with a warm welcome from Zachary Underwood, who graciously showed us around the vast, yet cozy space as he told us of its creation.
Previously an old family home, the building was destroyed in the devastating 2004 tsunami, which rocked the shores of Phuket. However, making something positive out of tragedy, the family restored what was left and created what is now known as Home Kitchen Bar & Bed.
Serving incredible international cuisine and amazing signature cocktails, Home Kitchen is a jack of all trades, serving as a cocktail bar, restaurant, boutique hotel and art space!
Just up from Patong Beach, this eccentric and fun eatery offers stunning waterfront views of Kalim Beach; dim, intimate lighting; and a classy, shabby-chic atmosphere. We were very excited to try everything they had to offer, so when the San Francisco-style crab tacos with mango chutney, wild rocket and balsamic-vanilla reduction came out, we were immediately blown away! In fact, we ordered one more, just for good measure.
The fresh crab was super light and the mango ripe to perfection and melded incredibly with a quick squeeze of a lemon! And, I am not entirely certain whether the basil olive oil was purely for decoration, but you should also probably put that on there too! Another amazing starter is the rum-cured Wagyu beef carpaccio rolled around wild rocket, artichoke and chimichurri, atop a crostini with shaved parmesan. It sounds so fancy, but is so simple and the basic flavors create an art all on its own! And if you can decide whether you should start with the tacos or carpaccio, I say get them both – you will not be disappointed!
As far as mains are concerned, a good start is to try the 10-hour slow-roasted pork belly. Amazingly tender, slightly sweet, slightly salty, to say this dish is excellent would be an understatement – just listen to what it contains – potato/truffle cigar, red onion marmalade, poached asparagus, crispy shoestring carrots and red wine demi glace…enough said! However, the absolute must-try is the Scandinavian-style lightly grilled gravlax (cured salmon) with creamy potatoes flavored with dill, horse Radish and mustard, served with snow peas and lemon. A wonderfully light and fresh tasting dish, with the potatoes offering a nice texture and heft as the lemon tied all of the flavors together. Needless to say, we ordered another one of these too!
The desserts on offer are equally amazing, with the molten chocolate lava cake served with sea salt-caramel ice cream being the top pick! However, you must not miss out one the signature cocktails, as creative and unique as the space itself!
We could go on and on about what we loved about Home Kitchen, and the great thing is there is so much more left to try. We will definitely have to go back for round two!
If you want to know where to eat in Patong or just need some incredible cuisine and atmosphere to boot, Home Kitchen is where you need to be!