Friendship Beach Restaurant and Resort

Along the shoreline between Chalong and Rawai you can find Friendship Beach Waterfront Resort. I guess this place could go in the hotels and the restaurant section, but it's the food I am interested in! It's a quiet spot, but can be busy at the weekends, as it's a popular place with expats and their families as well as guests at the bungalows. You'll find plenty of seating around the pool and right by the beach with a view across Chalong Bay. The resort is a couple of hundred meters down from the main Chalong-Rawai road, so you get no traffic noise, no cars. In fact the only traffic I saw was horses from the nearby Phuket Riding Club!



Now, it's not the cheapest place to eat - but I think 70 Baht for Thai food is OK when you're by the beach! The menu is quite extensive with a mix of local and "western" food with daily specials. I notice that their web site claims "No MSG". There is also a western chef. We only went for snacks today - I had some delicious Apple Pie...a friend ordered Nachos - a huge plate with cheese and cream. I had a couple of glasses of cold draught Heineken. They also have a bit of a wine list. Meanwhile the kids could play in the pool.

 

In the late afternoon, the live music starts. I've been there a few times over the years. Today we had a Thai band playing Jazz. Another time the music was more kind of Bossa Nova (not the kind of thing you expect to hear in Thailand). Another time (a few years ago), a Thai girl was singing Celine Dion songs and she was so good I thought they'd put a CD on!

It's a relaxing spot for food or drinks and snacks, oh and they do have accommodation too! There are not that many places in Phuket which are small scale and right on the beach. OK, the beach is not the best. Chalong Bay tends to be a bit murky as it's very shallow, but it's certainly uncrowded and you have the pool a stones throw from the waterline anyway. Friendship Beach also makes a good stopping off point if you're making a tour around this area of Phuket (Chalong, Rawai, Phromthep etc).

• Friendship Beach Website
• Friendship Beach Accommodation and Rates
• Friendship Beach location on Google Earth
• Phuket Riding Club