The Pacific Club Resort and its "Dining Room" Restaurant Phuket

By Adrian Byzant

I shall speak here in the first person because I've known Eric Conger, the proprietor of Pacific Club Resort, for well over a decade. Both of us came to Phuket about the same time - late '80s - and both got involved in the restaurant business - Eric as patron, your correspondent as critic. It is only fair, then, to state frankly that, in my humble opinion, I've encountered no other restaurateur on this island who can claim such high degrees of consistency, quality, and value for so long as Eric. Not only has he ALWAYS provided excellent food at fair - nay, bargain-prices; he has broken new ground in every category, actually leading the local industry in a number of ways; and that despite the fact that his bankroll is backed not by a giant multi-national, but simply by the legions of happy diners who have provided his custom over the years.

Eric now has three operations: the original Karon Cafe; Las Margaritas, which specializes in tropical and popular Tex-Mex recipes; and the new Pacific Club Resort and Spa, a 32-room hotel where the spacious Dining Room serves a remarkable array of fine food - including dishes from Northern India, Mexico, Thailand, America and Europe.

For the new hotel, Eric created a dream plan on his computer. He has long operated the upper floors of his two restaurants as small hotels. But the Pacific Club Resort and Spa was to be a full-featured hotel with everything "five-star" as he is wont to say. He thus designed in whatever he felt had been left out or compromised in his earlier facilities. "This is the culmination of Eric sittin' up on the hill trying to make things better," he said during a tour.

Externally, the hotel design is reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's comfortable 'prairie style' and characterized by jutting verandas. Sharp corners - as in Wright's landmark Johnson's Wax Laboratory Tower - are avoided. Lavish use of greenery suggests nothing so much as the hanging gardens of Babylon.

A 30m asymmetrical pool stands on - rather than sinks into - the roof, giving bathers a panoramic view of the Andaman Sea, and of the mountains amid which the hotel nestles. To ensure that no one's foot is burned while walking barefoot in the sun, Eric laid cool sand-washed pebble composite tiles. Smart-thinking extends even to the pool and Jacuzzi water: the Anti-Bio purification system breaks down bacterial spores before they spawn, using ultra-sound. "The hydro-therapy here is one of the best things about this place," said Eric proudly, "because it's all clean water, basically spring water."

Rooms are spacious and luxuriously appointed with teakwood moldings floor and ceiling; rounded 'soft' corners; granite and tile flooring; leather sofas; big screen TVs; microwave ovens; and huge, esthetically pleasing, artistically designed, and ergonomically sound baths, featuring overhead 'rainwater' type showerheads. Abundant use of 45-degree angles and glass windows ensures that living spaces are open and airy; all rooms have ocean or mountain views. Moreover, though Eric's rooms are as luxurious as any on the island, his prices are remarkably low: the tariff for 120 sq. m. two-bedroom suites is a third or less than those of similarly appointed rooms elsewhere. "I'm really getting control," he said of his costs, "while everyone else is going up, I'm knocking out all the fat."

Savvy travellers are taking notice: Pacific Club Resort now rates tenth in a survey of 203 hotels by the authoritative Trip Advisory Website.

Dinner in the Dining Room is likewise worth writing about. We couldn't taste all 140 items on the menu, but enjoyed a fair sample. My notes follow below:

We started with cocktails. I ordered a Mai Tai, served in a whole, hollowed out, pineapple, and made as in the best Hawaiian tropical cocktail establishments - with a multiplicity of fine rums, and fruit juice instead of 7-Up. Diners can construct their own salads at the impressive salad bar. We sampled the Russian/Thousand Islands and the bleu cheese dressings. The former had just the right amount of tang; the latter was thick with well-molded cheese.

Appetizers included two Northern Indian dishes, Onion Bhaji and Sizzling Indian Chicken Tikka Masala Curry. "We had some Indian guys staying with us after the tsunami," Eric explained, "so now we're doing Indian food." The Masala was loaded with remarkably fresh and tender chicken, and the herb-sauce base was distinctly flavoured and delicious. In fact, this is one of the best Masalas I've had. Onion Bhajis are something like red onion rings, wrapped up as knitting balls. They are better flavoured than onion rings - rather tangy - and the presentation is undeniably impressive.

Eric has always been proud of his Jumbo Shrimp Cocktails. Ours was attractively presented with Russian dressing; shallots; pickles, Tabasco and Worcester sauces; and nice, fat shrimps. Excellent!

Although best known for his steaks, Eric has long been aware of the growing demand for vegetarian food. He responded by adding to his menu roughly 20 vegetarian dishes. "They're in all sections of the menu, so people aren't restricted," he said. We had the Eggplant Parmigiana as one of our main dishes, with bean curd instead of Ricotta cheese - a tasty and filling alternative.

Although many restaurateurs in Phuket purchase their lamb from New Zealand, Eric gets his from Australia. Why? "Australian Tatiara lamb is the highest quality, and I can get it chilled not frozen," which is not good for meats. "There isn't any chilled New Zealand lamb available in Thailand," Eric asserted positively. "So I don't understand how places can advertise 'fresh' New Zealand lamb - unless by 'fresh' they mean 'frozen'." Our Cajun Herb-Spiced Lamb Chops were indeed superb, and had even my normally lamb-hating dinner partner eyeing the last chop jealously.

The Fettuccine Shrimp Alfredo is based on a bed of pasta blackened with the ink of cuttlefish. Ours was a really rich, wonderful dish, flavoured by nutmeg and Worcester sauce, and the best black pasta of several I've had in Phuket.

Perhaps most impressive, though, was the Beef Filet Balsamico: a filet mignon steak wrapped in bacon and topped by a sweet, caramelized Balsamic reduction sauce. The beef was unusually tender and flavourful, and came - wonder of wonders - from Thailand. Eric said it was the first Thai-grown beef he has encountered good enough for his restaurants. It is indeed a fine steak, nearly two inches thick, but because it's from Thailand he can sell it in the 300-baht range, with crisp corn, carrots and asparagus, and a naturally buttery baked potato on the side.

The Dining Room also serves a full menu of sandwiches, burgers, breakfasts, and Tex-Mex dishes; other than the steaks, most are priced from 80 - 200 baht.

For dessert, we had the "relatively low-cal" New York Semi-Chiffon Cheesecake with Raspberry Saboyan sauce; Chocolate Amaretto Ice Cream Cake; and Apple Strudel with Raspberry Sauce a la Mode, all priced at just 95 baht. The first was most beautiful; the second, called the '7 Deadly Sins' by its creator, chef David Levine, lived up to that moniker; the Strudel took a close second in appeal, as far as I was concerned, to the Amaretto. One word could be used to describe them all, though -"Wow!"

The same exclamation might be used to describe the whole of Eric Conger's truly remarkable new hotel; and if the past is any barometer of the future, we can only expect that Pacific Club, like his other operations, will keep getting better and better.

Pacific Club Resort & Spa: 16 Patak Rd. Soi 24, Karon Beach, Muang District, Phuket 83000. Tel.: 076-398-350/2