Jinda kitchen — Restaurant in Choeng Thale

I don't often leave reviews - but here I felt I had to!

This was our favourite restaurant in Phuket. The area it is in is surrounded by 5* Hotels - and whilst a lot of the food in them is fantastic, they lack authenticity and are often European menus at European prices.

That said - Like most westerners who are travelling - I'm dubious about walking into random restaurants in hot climates/beachy holiday areas, as it can be a complete lottery for food quality/hygiene if you fall into a "tourist trap." - So we did our research.

The reviews here looked good so we checked it out - and WOW. I am so glad we did!

We ended up eating there or getting takeout probably 7-9 times over the two week stay. It became our go-to.

Jinda is a family run restaurant, where they really take great pride in their restaurant and remembering/looking after patrons. (perhaps we were predictable - but even from the first visit they always welcomed us by knowing which core "favourite" dishes we were likely to order, and which drinks also.)

Everyone is greeted with a smile. Service is very attentive and courteous - but never overbearing, and they speak good English. No one will hover over your table, but they will be casually observing from afar to see if you need something when you look up.

The restaurant is completely covered, so in the lunch time you are sheltered from the sun nicely, and whilst of course there is no air-con in this kind of building - there are ample fans for airflow, and as soon as we sat, the family always made sure we were comfortable with fans/drinks - The shelter keeps the restaurant at a very comfortable temperature, even when its scorching hot outside.

It's very charmingly decorated - and kept impeccably clean. There is an incredible amount of pride on display here.

There is also a pool table and a dart board to keep you entertained.

Now onto the food: In a word, Sensational.

The Fried Squid is probably the best we've had anywhere at any price point. I'm not sure how they are doing it, but it manages to be perfectly soft inside, and crispy on the outside - and never chewy.

The Pad Thai is also great, along with the Tom Yum, Panang, Massaman, morning glory and Thai Green Curry. You can always choose how spicy you want the curry/soup dishes - For those of us who wanted extra spicy, it certainly was! For those who wanted something milder, that was respectfully delivered.

On the last day there I walked up to the kitchen and I saw them making the spring rolls by hand. I'd assumed they would be something that had been prepared before hand and just deep fried, but seeing them making them to order by hand, explained why they tasted so fresh and so good! It amazed me that they were able to deliver the food so quickly, when also making everything fresh.

At the time of our visit, we paid less for a 5 dish meal here than we had paid for two coffees and a water at a hotel, and since the food was consistently fresh, delicious, and the service was always amazing - we often popped here before heading to another part of the island, or when coming back from a trip - knowing we were going to have another great meal.

We ate at several restaurants on the beach around Kamala+ BangTao - and some very high end restaurants and hotels too. We ate a lot of very high end food, but nothing at any price point charmed me quite as much as Jinda.

On two occasions we also ordered food from here, they delivered the food quickly, and it was hot and well packaged.

My reason for writing this in depth review is that Jinda is not on the beachfront. If it was, it would have a roaring trade every day - but as it is not, the walkup/footfall is nowhere near as high as some of the other places which have a lot of people passing by, who offer far less enjoyable food or attentive service.

For those willing to take a 5minute walk - the rewards await you with outstanding service and incredible food. I hope in reading this, more people will visit Jinda so that the restaurant can thrive - as it is the first place I want to visit when I...

Had dinner here one rainy evening as I was nearby and the reviews had been good. Unfortunately, it wasn't a nice experience for me. The 1 star is for the food and that's it. The food is ok and portions are quite generous. I ordered Tom yum seafood soup with rice and a coconut shake. Both were okay but there's plenty of good Thai food around with great service. I asked for the Tom yum to be less spicy and they agreed.

I was expecting friendly service as mentioned by the many reviews here but I felt very unwelcome here. I placed my order with a Thai lady at the bar.

When my order came, I was served by an older Thai lady who appeared angry and upset at me for no reason I can fathom. She looked at me and said something in Thai to the lady who took my order and proceeded to glare at me with anger and hostility. Throughout the whole time, I kept smiling and saying "khop khun ka" (thank you) repeatedly, to which this older lady continued glaring angrily at me and barely grunted in response. After the angry old lady left, I glanced in the direction she came from and saw yet another Thai female staff who had come out and was looking at me. Was I the first Asian customer they had? I don't think so and hope not...

I noticed the lady at the bar who took my order was much more friendly with all the other Caucasian customers than with me. When I spoke some Thai to her, she looked at me with a serious expression but when a Caucasian couple said exactly the same Thai words to her, she laughed and chatted with them. She also asked them about the food which she never did with me even though we both paid the bill minutes apart from each other. This lady did smile abit at me but it felt very forced and perfunctory, unlike other places where they are genuine.

In all, even though the food was decent, I cannot recommend this place as the service was terrible and I felt unwelcome and discriminated against because I was Asian which is ironic as Phuket is in Asia. During my meal, I was the only Asian customer in the entire place and I notice most of the raving reviews here are by Caucasians. Maybe they prefer Caucasian customers to Asians.

Do note that at night, the path to the restaurant isn't lit so it can be very dark. It poured heavily when I was there so I had to watch out for deep puddles and oncoming traffic amidst the pitch black roads.

When I first entered the restaurant, I almost turned back because it looked somewhat seedy due to the loud customers (mainly young Thai ladies with drinking male Caucasians) at...

Not an extensive menu, but good fair. We had Pat Thai, calamari and cow pat gai. All very good.

And good fruit shakes.

All at reasonable prices [for Phuket].

But the icing on the cake, was that as we ate a monsoonal downpour occurred and the lovely lady gave us a lift back our hotel down the road. Unbidden!

Now I’m not suggesting they drive everyone home who eats there. But to me this is quintessential Thai hospitality.

Kap...