Long Dtai is on a small island just off Samui's Choeng Mon Bay. Just over a year ago, Cape Fahn Hotel opened to provide a discreetly splendid resort. Now it would like to announce that the hotel has opened Long Dtai, a restau-rant it hopes will be like no other. Long Dtai's food is in the hands of David Thompson, an Australian chef with an international reputation for cooking Thai food. Many of his other restaurants are well known, especially for their food and service, popular with critics but more importantly with happy customers. Long Dtai is his first venture into Southern Thailand and its food.
"Last year I went to Cape Fahn as a guest for a few days to escape and relax. It was Paradise itself. I really didn't want to leave. But when I did, I left with a contract and the inkling of what we might do to give meaning and merit to the venture.
"Sitting on the terrace overlooking the bay, I wondered about the prospects. I really didn't need to think too hard. The natural beauty and serenity of the place was so compelling it therefore must be at the very core of the restaurant ethos. With that premise, the rest was rather logical. Locally line-caught seafood from Samui and Surat-Thani, locally grown organic fruit and vegetables from the island and in the nearby provinces on the mainland. Of course, naturally, the cooking must be southern Thai, and proudly so.
"The south has such a luscious tradition of cooking and excellent eating so at Long Dtai we intend to serve our guests the best that the south has to offer. The menu is straightforward; not too long and determined by the local ingredients caught or delivered. But as some examples, a blue swimmer crab meat curry with betel leaves, a spicy yellow curry of tiger prawns with pineapple, a gentle lemongrass soup with red bream, chicken braised with 5 spice and black pepper, squid stirfried with southern shrimp paste and whatever the fisherman brings we will prepare and grill it, say a local mackerel or squid. And to finish, coconut crumble pudding, a southern pancake with local palm sugar or sun-dried bananas with local honey or some fresh fruit grown on Samui. The wine list cannot boast; it staunchly supports local producers. It also offers some fine wines from around the globe but all have been selected with Long Dtai's food in mind. Cape Fahn is a place to relax and unwind, a resort where guests come to be looked after luxuriously. It is provided with effortless ease. In its own way, Long Dtai intends to offer the same to its guests. The best food we can do, an inviting wine list, fantastic cocktails and great service.
"The restaurant opens 6 days a week at 6.30 pm and last orders are taken at 9.30 pm. We are closed on Wednesday.
"The bar on the terrace opens earlier, at 5 pm. Watching the sunset at Cape Fahn is magical and perfect way to begin a meal at Long Dtai."
