What’s the best part about living with your parents?

Well, if your parents are assholes then the answer is nothing—you live with assholes for parental figures. But if your parents are relatively decent to amazing human beings then the best part is when you come home and there’s food on the table for you. Sure giving you a roof over your head, paying for everything until you get a job, and loving you unconditionally is grand but the food is pretty darn amazing. Living at home with mom and dad is what it’s like to stay at the Grand Mercure Phuket Patong, but without the constant reminder to clean your room and shower daily. You feel taken care of under their roof and you can always come back to great food even late at night. That was the case for Alicia, Brittany, Monique, and I after we finished an amazing day trip but were left starving. Instead of going to a place in the city, we decide to go to what felt like home and ate at the hotel’s restaurant Bubbles.

I’m honestly not sure why they named the restaurant Bubbles because there isn’t anything about the restaurant that is designed or feels like the word. Once I let go of the name, I was able to take in the décor of the restaurant. It was very pretty and inviting with the great emphasis on white, and its large circular layout. Brown wooden tables were decorated with complimentary colored napkins and white dishware and tables were topped with nice flower and candle arrangements.

The night we went they were having their buffet in addition to their regular menu. Since it was the night for both, we were able to order from either one or the two together. Considering we’re a family that loves to eat, we opted for the two. I started first with scanning the buffet. I loved that they had a nice array of different types of food from fruit, simple spring rolls, all the way to seafood being grilled right in front of us on the patio.

But if you know me (which by now, I hope you do), then you already know it was the desserts that caught my attention! Tarts, cakes, éclairs, and butterfly pea similar to those we got when we arrived were all on beautiful display. Did I take a couple? Hell no! I took an entire plate of them because it’s all you can eat. If I just happen to eat all of them, then that’s the restaurant’s fault for not being prepared. Kidding of course, I could never eat all of them. Besides that, the desserts were gorgeous and tasted just the way they looked!

After scanning the buffet, I made the decision to order from the menu. While everything that was out and on display was appealing, I felt like the menu route would be better for me. A few of my cousins thought the same way. To start, I got a cocktail. No point in being on an island and not drinking to celebrate being in paradise, right? My first of two cocktails was the Passion Fruit Mojito (260 baht, $7). Oh-my-gut! This drink wasn’t only pretty but amazingly delicious. The drink took the traditional white rum and lime, and added pulp from the passion fruit. I loved how easy it was to inhale this drink and the sweet yet somewhat tart flavor it had. I was tempted to order another, but decided to try something else.

The second drink I had was a Mango Bossa Nova Caipirinha (260 baht, $7). The drink took cachaça, sugar, and mango. Whenever I have cocktails, I feel like the bartenders over pour the liquor making it so much stronger than anything else in the glass. Here, there was a good balance of the liquor and the mango making it taste like juice out of the grocery store. It was simple to drink and tasted so refreshing in spite of it being such a hard liquor.

In between my cocktail sips and guzzles, my entrée arrived. I ordered the Chef’s Homemade Yellow Curry Noodles (350 baht, $10). The dish was made of the nicest “touched by heaven’s hands” noodles, a selection of seafood including shrimp and crab, and yellow curry. I loved the smooth yet chewy noodles, the abundance of seafood, the vegetables, and most the curry! The spicy and extremely flavorful curry made the dish absolutely unforgettable. It was peppery in the right places and sweet in the others. Add to that, when the shrimp swam in it, it created a delicious pairing that made me so happy I ditched the buffet! Just a piece of advice, this plate can get messy. As you try to eat the noodles, there will be points where you have to ditch being classy and slurp them. It’s at that point when the soup will splash and the veggies may splatter. Tuck your napkin in your collar and attack that dish like a champion. The prize at the end will be feeling full and satisfied.

Once we were all done eating, I was very pleased that we chose to eat at Bubbles. The food was delicious and the restaurant was so pretty. Even better was the staff was so sweet and accommodating. Since Alicia doesn’t eat certain types of meat, the staff went out of their way to make something just for her. It was that kind of service paired with delicious food that made it feel like we were eating dinner at home with family. Well, if our dining room was on an island that looked like screen saver photos.

To check out all the drinks and food my cousins got, peep the gallery below!