At the newly minted restaurant Hom, Phuket’s local produce is celebrated in an impressive 10-course tasting menu

In recent years, Thailand’s resort island of Phuket has witnessed an influx of impressive and noteworthy restaurant openings, a trend that intensified since Michelin inspectors began making their rounds in 2019. In their quest for the stars, each tells a story of provenance, heritage, diversity and discovery. Hom, at the sprawling Intercontinental Phuket, is no different. Even if it opened quietly in April this year, its ambitions are writ large in its magnificent setting: A grand whitewashed pavilion replete with multi-tiered spires. To get there, one must traverse a long misted and mirror-tiled walkway before ascending a flight of stairs as if journeying to the heavens.

Hom’s Portuguese chef de cuisine Ricardo Nunes describes his restaurant as a “produce-first” concept. It is, undeniably, a concept trotted out by fine dining chefs across the world, and in this case, the produce that comes first comes from across Phuket. Like at countless restaurants of its ilk, visits to local farms, building relationships with local producers, using produce at the peak of their ripeness are par for every course served. Now add to that familiar song a baseline of fermentation techniques contributed by resident fermentation specialist Mateo Polanco.

Nunes and Polanco have come to Phuket to stake out fresh territory for creative expression. The food they create is telling of their fascination with what their new home has to offer. There is caviar from Hua Hin cradled in a young coconut shell and moated by a pool of macadamia sauce brightened with coconut cider. Local rock lobster is marinated in shio koji to yield delicate flesh sweetened by kumquat kosho and a citrusy sauce given complexity with the use of fermented plums. Earthy tendrils of local black crabmeat form the filling of a rissole, a friable half-moon pastry made of nothing but reduced milk. “We cook the milk down in a crepe pan till it becomes a thin skin,” Nunez said. I suspect he was putting it simply.

Which brings me to one refreshing aspect of the dining experience: The lack of chef-splaining that often comes with this kind of meal. Rather than put diners through a long spiel about the fermentations and origins of the produce, Hom’s genteel servers offer simple descriptions with every dish they bear. As she set an artful plate of fish before me, the server matter-of-factly explained that it was a local black grouper and its foamy dressing “a pandan sauce”. Happily, the food speaks volumes for itself. I’d never tasted pandan sauce quite like this before: Unmistakably fragrant, deeply savoury, and pleasantly acidic. Later on, Nunez explained that these vibrant nuances came from the addition of lacto-fermented green mango juice and mustard seed oil.

Surprising flavours like these speak of an opportunity for adventure and a chance for the kitchen to display its culinary versatility. Unshackled by the burden of tradition that a native Thai might feel when faced with the produce of his homeland and helped along by the smart injections of creative fermentations, Hom feels like it is expanding and redefining the spectrum of what’s available to delight the palate.

LOVING THE PRODUCE YOU’RE WITH

The produce of Southeast Asia has long played second fiddle (if any fiddle at all) to the produce of Europe and Japan, which is celebrated in this stratosphere of the dining world. Like much of the region, Phuket’s tropical climate and warm waters yield produce that is vastly different. Phuket lobster is not as delicate or sweet as its Brittany cousins, the local duck is heavier, with thicker skins. But why even compare them in the first place, Nunez asks softly when I point them out.

“I don’t want people to come and say, ‘oh, it’s good, but it misses caviar or truffles or uni,” he said. “I hope that diners who come to visit us come with an open mind and just enjoy. There is so much potential in Thai ingredients. Yes, the lobster may not be as sweet, but what’s better or different about it? The duck skin is tougher, but because of all that fat, it is tastier.

“It’s a fair exchange. You get something else in place of what you’re used to,” he added. At THB3,750 (S$143) for a 10-course tasting menu, it is a gastronomic journey of discovery that seasoned diners should be happy to take.