Jungle Local Thai Foods
Kin Dee Restaurant Reviews
During my recent vacation in October 2011 when my parents were visiting from the UK, we have the opportunity to try a new restaurant quite a few who had been "on the list". On the day we visited Kin Dee, the weather is not so good, one of the days of the low season which does not have Sun Rain looks a bit patchy, we know that if we just drove north we might find an area free of rain!So we do not have any specific plans for where to eat .. just drive and see where we end up. East coast looks a bit wet north from Phuket Town so we headed further and passed through heavy rain with kids complaining about hunger in the back of the car ... we though to head over the bridge to Phang Nga and eat at Sea Samchong which is our favorite.
But once we reached the northern end of Phuket I remember Kin Dee, although could not remember exactly where to find it! We kept an eye open for signs .... and ended before the police checkpoint Tha Chat Chai we see "KIN DEE LOCAL FOOD" - do a u-turn before the checkpoint and headed to a little side road into the trees, into Phuket countryside easy to find on the island.
A restaurant with Sang Som advertising is a sure sign of a local restaurant. Sang Som is a Thai brand of rum, reasonably priced and the taste was not too bad mixed with coke or soda. We pulled into the small parking lot ... no one else was there .. it open? Fortunately yes, if the children would have been desperate! The restaurant is built from wood, bamboo and canvas roof. It was built on stilts right in the trees and it certainly looks very nice.
So we took a table of "best" and hungry scanned the menu. I realized immediately that this "local restaurant" is not cheap for the locals - most dishes are 150 Baht or more, and as we .. how to say ... cheap smart locals we were a little surprised. Looks like their target audience may be customers of some nice resort in northern Phuket JW Marriott, Sala Phuket, Holiday Inn or Indigo Pearl to name but a few. If you stay there, 150 Baht will be cheaper and of course I admit that 150 Baht only 5 Dollar / 3 Pounds / 4 Euro and thus it is cheaper than eating in the UK, but we are not tourists :)
For anyone who is not as cheap as we are, I suggest Kin Dee! A small restaurant that is very unique, very green, tranquil and naturally, there was a little creek / river bottom and mangroves exist everywhere orchid. The view from our table ...
One of the reasons I have enjoyed doing this blog - it stops me (and my dear wife) from being lazy! Of course we have our favorite places to eat, but sometimes we try a new restaurant either because they look attractive, or they have been recommended by a friend or just "blog Phuket"! I forget the pictures of food at Kin Dee - my mother had green curry, children devour their fried rice, and I ordered their "Kin Dee salad" rather good.
Good eating experience, I am not sure if we would go again, only the price is a bit high for us - (! And we did not order the more expensive dishes) bill is over 1500 Baht for 4 adults and 2 children, were definitely some would think cheap. Actually, while the food was not local prices, drinks are almost the same as other restaurants. Beer is 60 Baht, which is pretty standard. Kin Dee restaurant has a character and I think most people will like it.