For many holiday-makers, food is high on the agenda.

If you are on Phuket Island, Thailand, seafood should rank No 1 because no one leaves the island without tasting the fresh goodness of the ocean.

At Avista Hideaway Spa and Resort, you can request a sumptuous seafood barbecue platter to be enjoyed on any evening. A custom-built barbecue comes standard with each suite, along with an organic hanging herb garden.

For guests who prefer to focus exclusively on eating, Avista's chef is delighted to swing by your suite to set things sizzling.

Executive chef Tim Westaway cooks up our barbecue extravaganza on the rooftop of the Jacuzzi Duplex Suite.

Joining the team at Avista Hideaway in Phuket is a "dream come true" for Westaway, who made the move to the island resort after working with the Ritz Carlton Group for over a decade, in both California and Hawaii.

Originally from Los Angeles, he fell in love with cooking when he attended culinary school in New Orleans before moving on to work at the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel.

Since then, he has been combining food with his other love, travel. Working across the globe in various roles, including a period in London training under renowned chef Antony Worrall Thompson, Westaway had an adventurous role as one of the first American chefs to serve diplomatic officials within the former Soviet Union in 1989.

Westaway's trademark: blending refined, classic European fine dining traditions with the explosive culinary style of Asia-Pacific rim fare, using flavors and techniques from Hawaii, Southeast Asia, Polynesia and his native soil, California.

With that in mind, we could not wait to taste his creative creations.

First up is blackened ahi tuna in ponzu sauce, with baby mixed Phuket greens in Asian vinaigrette on wanton skin. The bite-size appetizer is slightly seared on the outside, leaving the middle part still rare and juicy. Although we have used ponzu, a common Japanese citrus-based sauce, as a dip with other food, this is the first time we've tasted it with ahi tuna. It will not be our last.

Westaway surprises us with a second appetizer - grilled giant tiger prawns from Phuket on a bed of Sicilian black spaghetti in saffron-Reggiano sauce. It's an art to cook the tiger prawns to perfection.

Most people tend to overcook them, causing the flesh to taste tough. But in the hands of Westaway, the mouth-watering seafood blossoms like spring flowers. The homemade squid-ink pasta was fresh and done to a perfect al-dente, with the saffron-Reggiano sauce adding flavor, color and smoothness to the delectable ensemble.

The jewel on the crown of the meal is Phuket lobster and US scallop thermadore with wild shitake risotto and wok-tossed asparagus. There is an explosion of taste when we bite into the creamy goodness of the lobster and scallop. Eaten with the shitake risotto and sweet asparagus, the flavors marry to form a perfect union.

For a divine end, a tantalizing dessert awaits. It is the popular Thai dessert mango sticky rice but with a Westaway twist.

The ingredients are the standard - fresh Thai mango, sticky rice and coconut sauce. But he rolls up the rice like sushi with mango tucked in the center. And, beside coconut milk, he adds strawberry and mango sauce.

After the coma-inducing, lip-smacking sweet end, it is time to crawl into bed for some sweet dreams. Avista makes it sweeter with a different nightcap every night, to surprise guests as they enter their suites.

(China Daily 06/02/2013 page16)