Sala Bua Restaurant - Karon Beach

My day job - manager of Sunrise Divers, a PADI dive shop at Karon Beach. The shop is tucked away in a little square called Karon Plaza, about 4 minutes walk to the beach. Next door to our shop is a family run hotel called Karon Place, and they have a restaurant attached called Sala Bua, open only in the high season from about mid October to end of April. Due to the very convenient location I find myself eating lunch there at least a couple of times per week.



The prices are not as cheap as the local restaurants nearby, but about on par with Mama Noi, just around the corner. Thai dishes go for between 89 - 129 Baht. They do also serve some pasta, burgers, sandwiches etc. - normal tourist fare. I tend to eat the Thai dishes - and there is a big menu to choose from. Having just eaten a big plate of Penang curry with Tofu, and having taken a few photos of my lunches the last couple of weeks, it's time to blog about Sala Bua!



It's normally quiet at lunchtime, busier at breakfast and in the evening, as the guests at Karon Place will often eat there. Although I do like to eat lunch at cheap local "hole in the wall" type places, I have been eating more at Sala Bua as the food is good quality (the cheap local places do often use cheaper meat cuts especially) and I am yet to get a bad meal there. Curries of all different kinds, salads, noodle dishes.. some of my favourites include those below :



(above) They call this the "Indonesian" salad



(above) chicken with cashew nuts in a noodle basket



(above) Khao Soi with chicken

I mentioned that I had a tofu curry today - there are quite a few vegetarian options on the menu and the owners are adherents to the strict vegetarian diet during the annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival. I like the variety of their menu, and the staff are always friendly - it's largely a family restaurant and the staff are the same now as 2 years ago.. family run places are often friendly as everyone feels that it's "their" restaurant and they don't employ young waitresses on minimum wage who look like they'd rather be home watching Ching Roy Ching Lan. See you at Sala Bua!