A Japanese Café and Patisserie in Kathu
Chez Mori is a small Japanese café and patisserie in Kathu, run by a Japanese chef who has lived in Phuket for many years. The food mixes Japanese cooking with Western comfort dishes, a style the Japanese call yoshoku. The shop also has a glass cabinet of homemade cakes that change through the week. I found both the cakes and the daily specials worth the short drive off the main road.
A Small Kathu Hideaway
The shop hides on a quiet street in Kathu, with a few tables outside under a covered terrace and a small air-conditioned room inside. The inside is bright and simple, with pale wood, a long padded bench and one deep red wall behind the counter. You take your shoes off before stepping into the dining room, just like in Japan. A lit glass cabinet near the till holds the cakes and pastries of the day.
The Patisserie
Chez Mori began as a made-to-order pastry kitchen, and the cakes are still the heart of the place. The choux cream is a good one to start with at 50 baht, crisp on top with a soft filling inside. The Mont Blanc is piped with chestnut cream over a sponge base and topped with candied chestnuts. The cabinet changes often, so what you see one day may be gone the next.
Japanese Comfort Food
Beyond the cakes, the kitchen sends out a full menu of Japanese and Western comfort food. The Wagyu hamburg steak comes with salad and a rich sauce at 230 baht, and you can add extra beef for 120 baht. The slow-cooked Japanese curry is 160 baht, and the mentaiko cream spaghetti is 230 baht. There is also a teishoku set meal with rice, miso soup and a small starter for 90 baht, which is good value for a quick lunch. To start, try the mentaiko cheese baguette at 80 baht or the ebi fry at 70 baht.
The Daily Specials
A handwritten board lists the daily specials, and this is where the kitchen has more fun. On my visit it included roasted beef don at 280 baht, a roasted beef plate at 320 baht, and omurice with truffle mushroom sauce at 260 baht. The spaghetti with Wagyu beef ragu, slow-cooked for eight hours, was 260 baht. The cold mixed ramen, called hiyashi chuka, was 220 baht, and the deep fried mixed seafood with tartar sauce was 290 baht. The specials change often, so ask what is on that day.
Drinks
For drinks, there is coffee, plus homemade sodas and fruit teas. The passion fruit soda is a nice cold one in the heat, with real fruit sitting at the bottom of the cup.
Chez Mori is easy to drive past, but it works well for a slow lunch or an afternoon coffee and cake. It is the kind of small neighbourhood spot I like, where one person clearly cares about every plate and every cake.
Chez Mori Info
Location: Kathu
Address: 2/149, Kathu, Kathu District, Phuket
Hours: 11.30 am – 8 pm (Closed on Tuesday)
Phone: 081 894 4730
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