David Pritchard
If there is one thing above all else Phuket is the most underrated for, IMO it would without doubt be food! We are absolutely blessed with an abundance of world class, award winning chefs of all nationalities, tastes, styles and budgets. Italian food is the one food above all else I consider myself the toughest critic of and I’m relieved to say I have found a handful of amazing Italian restaurants in Phuket, each excel in different ways, but first a little bit about why Italian food is slightly special to me… (or skip down to this particular restaurant for today)
I rarely find Italian food that appeases me, I will drive anyone crazy with my generally miserable feedback when it comes to most Italian restaurants, especially overly commercialized varieties! I believe this is due to a slightly weird spaghetti bolognaise journey of discovery I once went through…
For some reason during my university years, I got obsessed with spaghetti bolognaise… Everyday for nearly a month I was either cooking different recipe’s and sharing with my housemates for feedback, or going to a different Italian restaurant in my then location of Newcastle City England; on a mission to find the very best rendition of what at the time was my favorite Italian dish of all time. I wanted to find the very best version and perfect the cooking of it myself!
During this obscure and mildly morbidly obese period of my life I discovered a few key things about Italian food that are IMO absolutely set in stone facts!
Trimming the fat to all that really matters, the very best Italian recipes are the ones that have existed for centuries, the dishes that have been past down through generations of family members, tried and true, simple recipes that get their amazing taste from the highest quality Italian ingredients, that eaten alone even would taste amazing… but when combined in the right combination are truly to die for. So Italian cooking is about sourcing the right high quality ingredients, and following the traditional recipes which can be found on various Italian government websites, written in Italian.
The version of the dish I actually love I realized I need to pronounce correctly as: “Ragù Alla Bolognese”, not the English spelling of Spaghetti Bolognaise, which may indeed cause you to end up with an English version… The best version can be found written in Italian at the Chamber of Commerce, Bologna, Italy. If you ask nicely… maybe the lady I’m about to tell you about will share it with you!
On boat Avenue… Cherng Talay I have found an Italian Chef, who has previously managed the team that won the Iron Chef Malaysia… her ethos is to stay true to Italian tradition, making the Italian classics while sticking to the traditional recipes and methods… She gets annoyed if you try to interfere with any of this which is a great sign of a passionate chef who cares about her cooking!
That’s Chef Bruna head chef at Luca Cini on boat Avenue.
After eating there a number of times I think she no longer believes me when I tell her every dish I try is the best Italian food I’ve ever eaten! It’s true though… Some of this food almost brings me to tears it’s so good! They import all the highest quality Italian meats and cheeses, and Bruna makes her own fresh pasta’s and sauces for what is usually just pure, divine heaven, unadulterated, ridiculously delicious and saucy goodness, usually washed down with some of Italy’s other famous exports of the red or white variety! Unfortunately we can’t go into detail of grape products within Thai law but we can tell you they have the largest selection of that Italian product in Phuket and Luca Cinì the “Osteria” owner has spent his lifetime studying the science of “grape products!
Luca Cini can be found on Boat Avenue in Cherng Talay, map location below and they also do home delivery.
Call them or add on line/watsapp to book now: +66948044461
