Having looked at the couple of other “local” restaurants, we have decided to eat here in the hotel, which has a great menu. But the one thing missing is a good selection of seafood, and given the loads of fishing boats you see every night it seemed a shame. But we spot the only other Western people in the restaurant tucking into a seafood mountain one night so decide to investigate. No, we are told, it’s not on the menu, but yes we are told, it’s available. So we book it – the “seafood bucket”. Arriving at the restaurant, we move towards a table on the edge of the pool as usual, but no, we were shown to a special table that had been laid out on the pool deck at the edge of the beach. Surrounded by a semi circle of tea light candles with the bright stars twinkling above, we were told proudly that this was where our candlelight dinner was to be held. The only slight jar on the surroundings was the sight of an army of maintenance men mending the Jacuzzi behind…. Obviously, seafood here needs to be eaten at the beach..... The hotel is empty – the only other people in the restaurant were a British couple. Carole and I were seated miles away being waited on hand and foot by an army of staff at our candlelight table – bizarre! We did feel slightly foolish but the food was great. A bowl of spicy Tom Yam soup, followed by a huge plate (not a bucket…) of sea bass, squid and huge tiger prawns. We topped this off by indulging in two glasses of expensive wine each rather than the one we normally ration ourselves to. But don’t get too concerned with our lack of wine consumption – we always make up for our low consumption at dinner with a glass or two from our private store back on our pool deck with our feet dangling in the warm water having a good old gossip – lovely!
