Last month I took a short vacation to Koh Samui. I flew in the new jet of Bangkok Airways. It was a very short trip. I had hoped to take a little nap on the flight but the next thing I knew was that they announced that we were landing. You see I was use to flying in the ATR turbo-prop plan, which took just a little over an hour to get to the Island. So next time you are in a hurry to get to Samui ask Bangkok Airways what plan they were using to get there. Normally I never drive in Samui myself but this time I had wanted to go incognito and really do my own things. I stayed as usual at Samui Palm Beach resort, which is at present undergoing some more constructions.As always it was very pleasant to be there and I really enjoyed the quiet serenity of the resort. I was sorry not to have met the general manger Khun Fak who is having some problems with his knees but his staff took good care of me.

              It was nice to be amongst farang for a change because I think I was the only Thai quest at the hotel. How relaxing it was to have breakfast by the pool with the wind from the sea blowing and not needing air-conditioning.One of the reasons for coming to Samui was to revisit a restaurant, which had moved from its original location over looking a small beach to a new place, which was surprisingly pleasant and clean. You see, I liked the food at this restaurant so much that I recommended all my friends to go eat there. Not only was the food good at the original location but the place sat amongst the rocks on one side of the beach, overlooking it.

              What more could you ask, a perfect ambiance and good food. Then I wrote about this place and people went to eat there in droves. It became very popular amongst both Thais and Westerners who read my column. When the time came to renew the lease, they were told that it was not possible so Jubilee had to find a new place.All my friends called me to complain that they could not find it so I contacted the owner who told me that she finally found a place and have started serving her wonderful food again. I had to go to Samui to see for myself what the new location looked like. I was a little concerned that it would not have the same atmosphere as at the previous location but much to my delight the place was right on the beach this time and very clean. The tables and Sala sat under the coconut trees along the beachfront. It seemed very relaxing and I regretted not bringing my swimming trucks and towels because I could just hang out there the whole day, eating drinking, swimming and just lie back and relax!

              So what about the food? I as usual got carried away with telling you the back ground story of this place that I for got to talk about the food. Jubilee is know and has always been know to make the best and freshest fried crab with garlic. They make it so simply that anyone who has watched my television program when I visited this restaurant a few years ago would be able to recreate this dish at home! That is if you can get really fresh crab in you home town. I guess I need to give you some information about crabs.When I was studying in the USA at chef school and then working at my own restaurant the health department always specified that all crustaceans were to be sold either live or cooked.

              Dead uncooked crustaceans were not allowed to be sold in the USA because if hygiene. There is no such law in Thailand and if you want to get really fresh crabs you will have to be near the source. Luckily, Jubilee is on an island and they can get fresh crabs in everyday. They simply chop them up into manageable pieces, add salt, pepper and the all important Golden Mountain Brand seasoning sauce to the fresh crab pieces, dredge these pieces lightly in flour and deep-fry them in medium heat oil until crispy and golden brown.

              They take out the crab pieces from the oil and set them aside on absorbent paper and wait for the deep-fried crispy garlic topping which is liberally sprinkled the cooked crabs.The crabmeat is still sweet and succulent and I even eat the crispy outer shells as well. Their baked mussels with garlic and butter in a Thai earthen Khan Nom Krok dish is still very good particularly when you have garlic brad to mop up all left over garlic and butter sauces. There was a new dish they created which was a stuffed Phuket lobster whose meat has been taken out and cooked with onion, peppers and cashew nuts in a mild sweet and sour sauce.

              This was quite good but I told them not to over cook the lobster meat because it would lose the natural sweet flavor of the lobster and also make it tough. Some of the local dishes were just as good and correctly made for the southern Thai palate. That is to say that all their local Samui dishes were highly seasoned and very spicy. As I try their sour curry, I was sweating and crying. I love to suffer this way. The curry goes well with Thai omelet. I even tried their spicy stir-fry shark meat. It was very very good but beads of sweat were pouring out of my heat as I was eating it. Oh what heaven, but I forgot to bring my swimming trunk so I could not run off into the sea and wash off the sweat from my body.

              So if anyone of you want to go eat at Jubilee, don’t forget to bring with you your bathing suit, towels and sunscreen cream. The rest, good food, good ambiance and a clean beach, Jubilee already has it for you. So just lie back and relax. Spend the whole day there. What more would you want, sun, sand, the sea and good food. Ah what a life.

Jubilee
Address 404/1 Moo 1, Tumbon Maret
Samui Island, Surathani Telephone number 077 424 725
Hours 8.00-22.00 hours, Daily