Baan Yin Dee Boutique Hotel

Extremely Disappointing

by Tina-Perth about Baan Yin Dee Restaurant

Well, we have eaten at this restaurant several times in the past - actually not for about a year. It used to be quite good, but that has certainly changed.

We went to Baan Yin Dee for a Wednesday night special Jazz Night. What a sham the whole thing was! Not only were we not notified that the evening had been cancelled, our table was not set up for our booking of 9 people. We were greeted at the door by some staff that remembered us from our stays, but do you think we could get anyone to sort out our tables? We were left standing around for about 7 or 8 minutes in the middle of the restaurant before we could finally convince someone to pull our tables together.

From that point it did not improve at all. We could not get any attention - not for a glass of water, a drinks list or a menu. Eventually a waiter came over and asked us what we wanted to drink. I wanted Champagne, so I asked for the drinks list, as we still didn't have one. The list was an extremely poor one, with only spumante, a low budget Australian sparkling and a couple of others priced at the same price as the Australian one, so I guessed they were of similar quality. There was one bottle for 5,000 baht, but I had never heard of it, so I gave it a miss. We ended up with some Chilean Red which was very average.

Getting the menu was just as difficult, we had to request them. We eventually received 3 menus at the table of 9 people until we had to ask for more.

Water was delivered to our table in plastic bottles, when pepper was requested, the grinder was plonked on the table for self-service. Empty plates were left on the table and they would come out with the next course with nowhere to place it down. Two of us had Lobster Bisque which came out cold and extremely strong. We asked for it to be heated and some cream to be added, which did actually make it very nice. Two of us ordered the Rack of Lamb, which were actually 3 lamb chops on mashed potato. The amount of edible meat per chop was about the width of a large walnut. The rest of the meat was solid fat. As a price guide, the lamb was 695 baht.

It was all rather embarrassing, as we had invited a good friend of ours (who is a restauranteur) to say thank you for some help. We had espoused the virtues of this restaurant to him. He didn't even finish his dinner.

Asking for the bill was another ordeal and took a very long time. We actually couldn't wait to leave.

The Thai People

by Tina-Perth

"Friends"

We actually met Naris in December when we were on the boat at the marina, but we didn't really get to know him then. We have become good friends this visit and see him pretty much every day. Naris is a supervisor at the Watermark Restaurant/Bar where we access the internet.

Naris invited Steve and I to his family's once yearly spirit-blessing ceremony at his house. It was a tremendous and memorable experience, one that we felt very honoured to attend. There is a bit of a write-up about it under my local customs tip which I edited to the bone to fit in, but I will rewrite it in two parts to portray the full experience as there wasn't enough room on one tip.

We had invited Naris & Kuat to Steve's birthday party, but they could not attend due to work commitments. They still thought to give him a gift though. This jigsaw took them 3-4 hours work each night after work (Naris did not have any days off last week). They then had it mounted and framed and brought it to the restaurant on their motorbike. It was given and received with much love.

These are the kinds of people we meet in Phuket. The openness, kindness and warmth of the Thai people is amazing - and endless.

Our first real experience of Thai people came through our best friends there - Nuch and Mai. Nuch is the Supervisor of Housekeeping at the Baan Yin Dee Resort and became friendly with us. One day we asked her about a driver to get us to Boat Lagoon and she said her husband Mai could drive us as he has a car. From that day the friendship grew.

As we have spent just over 4 months in Phuket in the past year, we have spent a lot of time with these guys - pretty much every day!

It was our anniversary in December and we invited Nuch and Mai to dinner to celebrate. They don't have much money, as they are supporting their children and families, but they still gave us a precious and special gift.

For Nuch and Mai's wedding, 11 years ago, Nuch crocheted two heart cushions to decorate the bed with and represent their union. Each one took her a couple of months to make. This is the picture of the cushion that Nuch gave us - saying that four hearts were represented by it now, hers, Mai's, Steve's and mine! We were blown away by the generosity and love shown by this kind gesture.