A very special hotel of just ten suites. A very special restaurant of only fifteen seats. Our recent stay at Phang Nga’s exceptional Iniala Beach House was capped off with an equally unforgettable dinner at the hotel’s Aulis Phuket; Simon Rogan’s 15-seat chef’s table concept. A restaurant quite unlike anything else around, and the first in this province to earn a Michelin star.
Beginning life in the English Lake District in 2016 — named for Finnish chef and artist Aulis Lehtimaki, an early collaborator on Rogan’s three Michelin-starred L’Enclume — the concept has since expanded to London and Hong Kong, before arriving here in 2023. At its heart, Aulis is Rogan’s way of inviting guests behind the scenes; a chef’s table built around his deep reverence for seasonality and local provenance, with each outpost exploring hyper-local ingredients to develop and perfect its own distinct flavours and techniques. In Phuket, that earned the team a Michelin star in under a year.
And with good reason. An impressive space, befitting the haute design hotel that houses it, the intimacy of Aulis Phuket lies not in its scale but in its approach. Head chef Charlie Wilson and his team, alongside restaurant manager and Michelin Guide Service Award-winner, Arsen Brahaj, walk you through each plate. Its ingredient, its provenance, the stories and the processes by which it reaches your plate. It’s immersive in the truest sense.
Set within a lush garden, part of which makes up their own small-scale growing operation, we’re greeted by the enigmatic Arsen Brahaj, who seats us in the comfortable lounge space for a welcome drink and a series of ‘snack’ starters: a crisp and fresh guava tartlet with yellowtail fusilier and iced balls of Thai gin and cucumber; a decadent caramelised truffle pudding with black garlic and a hefty head of Forest Tail cheese shavings; the delicate Khon Kaen jasmine wagyu tartare with Mun Dang potato, “Chul Farm” horseradish and “Katian Farm” hen’s egg yolk; and a “Klong Phai Farm” chicken wing with Thalang honey mead, kaffir lime leaf and pickled jalapeño.
A welcome drink and series of starter ‘snacks’ see us underway in the lounge.
Those farms the menu lists among its ingredients? That’s all part of Simon Rogan’s steadfast approach to sustainability. Alongside the on-site operation managed by head grower Prachak Bussarawit and the Iniala Beach House team — that turns out seasonal produce from seed including peanuts, lemongrass, pandan, green chilli, purple spinach and more — local and small-scale suppliers across Thailand are closely worked with.
There’s nearby Katian Farm that supplies produce such as lemons, galangal, green papaya, guava, oyster mushrooms, and blackberries; Green Garden, an organic farm in Chiang Mai run by Soontorn Ruttanasook and Parichat Phakaya, which supplies finger lime, fennel, kinome, and samphire among others; Catch & Co, a sustainable fishing operation run by Kriangkrai Wongjan whose two-boat team use only rod, line and small cages to bring in grouper, coral trout, amberjack and snapper among others; Caviar House, a local producer of caviar from Hua Hin; and ArunSupa Farm, a small family operation in Khon Kaen raising Thai Wagyu on their own jasmine rice bran, antibiotic-free. And that’s just the half of it.
The chef’s table experience is now in full flow; provenance, plates and performance.
‘Snacks’ over with, we’re off to the chef’s table, which is 15 seats that share a front-row view of all the action taking place on the pass; the team enthusiastically presenting a show-and-tell of key ingredients and a breakdown of the processes undertaken before arriving under your nose to gleefully devour.
Local squid tenderised in coconut milk for two days, paired with smoked and dried tomato from the garden outside is first up, Brahaj pairing it with a crisp white wine from Sicilia. Fermented jícama from the Nakhon Sawan province with burnt onion, parsley, jasmine rice vinegar, and bergamot is the delectable base for a scoop of that Hua Hin caviar; we’re shown pickled radish from the garden, pickled Katian Farm oyster mushrooms, and Rayong 5 cassava (a starchy root veg) that make up a difficult to describe but utterly delicious dish; and an impressive looking day boat coral trout, caught by Catch & Co just up the coast and dry-aged in-house, is as exciting on the palate as it is a part of the kitchen theatrics.
The immersion into the Aulis concept is executed with perfection — the level of detail in the sourcing, the preparation, the presentation seriously impressive — and what arrives on the plate as a result is food that leaves a lasting impression. Brahaj moves through it all with ease; pairing each course with precision, his knowledge of both food and wine every bit worthy of his accolades.
56-day wagyu, three desserts, a Thai sake … and still thinking about it a month later.
Next up, and paired with a rich Uruguayan red, is the main, main course. 56 day-aged “ArunSupa Farm” jasmine wagyu striploin with Chinese kale, miniball pumpkin and Thai spices accompanied by a jasmine wagyu brisket doughnut with rose apple and sesame. Over a month has passed, and it’s still on my mind. A trio of desserts along with some more kitchen theatrics follow: frozen Ratchaburi yoghurt with Chiang Mai strawberry, aerated calamansi, cilantro, finger lime and kinome; “Jartisann” ash goat cheese with Phuket pineapple, Phrao macadamia and condensed goat milk; and Pa Khlok 90% dark chocolate, Phuket mulberry and sacha inchi praline. Paired with a sato, a kind of Thai sake made exclusively for the restaurant by Rai Na Rak farm, the dedication to provenance remains resolute throughout; all rounded out with a brew from Phuket’s Honest Coffee Roasters.
In short, Aulis Phuket is a remarkable achievement from a remarkable team. An intimate concept transported from the English Lake District to the shores of Phang Nga, executed with the kind of care and precision that Michelin stars are made of. Fifteen seats. Hundreds of ingredients. One unforgettable meal.
Photography © We Heart / courtesy Aulis Phuket.
