And more often than not, it's the busiest place in town. The answer lies in tourist statistics. But there's more. Western tourists in exotic places like to dine in sumptuous surroundings. They like good service, good presentation and when the food is a little strange the rest should be comfortingly familiar.
Ambience is important.
Then one man a man at that time with more that 20 years experience running restaurants around the world recognised this. And he opened Baan Rim Pa, just north of Patong. It's not unreasonable to credit Tom McNamara with changing the face of Thai dining on Phuket. I've been doing it all my life. There's nothing special about me.