InterContinental Phuket Resort Connects Two MICHELIN Keys with Hom’s Three Worlds

Words: Pasuta Phongam Photos: Pasuta Phongam

InterContinental Phuket Resort Connects Two MICHELIN Keys with hom’s Three Worlds

At the Two-MICHELIN-Key InterContinental Phuket Resort, a beachfront Club stay, afternoon tea and hom Restaurant’s fermentation-led tasting menu trace a path between Kamala Beach and the Sawan Pavilion.

InterContinental Phuket Resort stretches from a forested hillside to the edge of Kamala Beach, occupying one of Phuket’s most compelling meetings of landscape and architecture.

The 221-room resort holds Two MICHELIN Keys, the Guide’s distinction for an exceptional stay. Its appeal goes beyond beachfront luxury: the property draws its central idea from Traibhumikatha, the ancient Thai cosmological text that describes three interconnected realms—underwater, human and heaven.

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Designed by Bangkok-based Habita Architects, with interiors by PIA Interior, InterContinental Phuket Resort translates this mythology through buildings, gardens, water and art.

A subterranean passage connects the hillside accommodation with the beachfront zone, while the white-and-silver Sawan Pavilion rises above the property like a contemporary celestial landmark.

The public spaces are deliberately theatrical; the rooms take a calmer approach, using warm timber, a composed palette and generous glazing to keep the tropical landscape in view.

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For this visit, Chomp Magazine stayed in the Club beachfront zone, only a few steps from the Andaman Sea. Its position changes the pace of the stay: the beach, pool and room are close enough to move between almost instinctively.

Mornings begin beside the water, while the private terrace offers a slower vantage point as Kamala Beach settles into the afternoon. In a resort of this scale, such immediate access to the shoreline feels particularly valuable.

Club InterContinental adds a more private dimension. Afternoon tea is served in the lounge as an easy interlude between the beach and the evening ahead, bringing together savouries, pastries and sweets with a choice of tea or coffee.

The setting is intimate, overlooking the resort’s greenery, and the service is attentive without placing ceremony ahead of comfort. It captures the wider character of this Two-MICHELIN-Key Phuket resort: visually accomplished, but designed to be lived in.

The hotel’s Three Worlds narrative reaches its most concentrated expression at hom Restaurant. Set within the Sawan Pavilion and approached through a garden and lotus-pond walkway, the MICHELIN Guide-selected restaurant occupies the resort’s defining architectural space. The exterior may suggest a grand Thai sanctuary, but the dining room is smaller and more immersive, bringing the scale back to the table. Here, the mythology shaping InterContinental Phuket Resort becomes the framework for a fermentation-led tasting menu.

Hom is now led by Chef de Cuisine Marcelo Baruch alongside R&D Chef Guillem Aran. Born in Brazil, Baruch has worked at Nusara, Rosewood São Paulo and Lanhyai, developing a style that connects South American and Asian references through classical European technique. Aran, a graduate of the Basque Culinary Center, has worked in Spain, Denmark and Bangkok, including time with the research and development team at Alchemist. His focus on fermentation, sensory research and alternative ingredients gives hom an unusual degree of technical enquiry.

Their latest tasting experience takes its name from Tribhumikatha. Across nine sequences, land, water and the spiritual realm are interpreted through local produce, fermentation and shifts in texture. These techniques are integral to the kitchen rather than used for effect, allowing familiar ingredients to appear in less expected forms while keeping the menu closely linked to its Phuket setting.

Tiger prawn, Andaman fish and scallop open the menu with a direct reference to the surrounding sea.

The sequence then turns to tofu, caviar and white chocolate, a combination that crosses salinity, richness and sweetness without relying on an obvious culinary category.

Mushroom and beef move into a darker, umami-led register before taro, sunchoke and cashew fruit place roots and overlooked plant ingredients at the centre of the plate.

At hom, a split prawn takes centre stage on warm terracotta, its coral-and-white flesh punctuated by small accompaniments in green, ivory and pale pink. Generous spacing and earthy ceramics give the presentation a sculptural clarity.

Duck naem khao follows, drawing on Southeast Asian fermentation and miang kham culture while incorporating ageing and grilling techniques developed through the chefs’ international experience.

Crab and rice return the menu to the coast through a more elemental pairing, before blackberry and mead mark the transition towards corn, kombu and caviar—the final savoury sequence, connecting produce from land and sea.

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The Unique hom Pairing follows the menu through six wines selected by Restaurant Manager and sommelier Watchara “Bird” Leelao. Grace Gris de Koshu 2024 from Yamanashi begins the progression, followed by AMI Bourgogne Blanc Aligoté 2023 from Maranges and Domaine Bott-Geyl Galets Oligocène Pinot Noir 2016 from Alsace. Viña Real Gran Reserva Especial 2017 introduces Tempranillo from Rioja Alavesa, while Domaine Giachino Persan 2022 brings a less familiar expression from Savoie. Valdespino Pedro Ximénez El Candado Sherry from Jerez closes the pairing with greater weight and concentration. Rather than matching every course individually, the six labels establish a distinct tempo across the nine sequences.

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After dinner, we returned to Sipping Tiger, the resort’s botanical-led, zero-waste bar. The menu remains the same as during our previous visit, yet its focus on regional produce, house infusions and repurposed ingredients remains closely aligned with the property.

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Den It Again combines locally aged agricole rum with guava, five spice and fortified wine. Leaf & Brine turns oyster gin, kaffir lime-infused vermouth and oloroso sherry into a distinctly saline interpretation of a Dirty Martini, while When Night Falls brings together bourbon, Italian amaro, caper brine, orange and chocolate bitters, finished with cigar smoke. Dessert Island provides a softer conclusion through pandan-aged rum, the resort’s exclusive Silver Needle tea and upcycled coffee liqueur.

InterContinental Phuket Resort works best when experienced as a connected composition. Traibhumikatha informs the architecture, the passage between hillside and sea, and hom’s culinary direction. A beachfront Club room places Kamala Beach within a few steps; afternoon tea adjusts the pace; dinner inside the Sawan Pavilion gives the resort’s mythology flavour and form.

The final drink at Sipping Tiger completes a stay in which design, hospitality and gastronomy are not separate amenities, but parts of the same considered world. InterContinental Phuket Resort Reserve: https://www.ihg.com/intercontinental/hotels/us/en/phuket/phukb/hoteldetail Contact: +66 76 629 999 | icphuket.info@ihg.com Location: 333, 333/3 Moo 3, Kamala Beach, Kamala, Kathu, Phuket 83150 Socials: Instagram | Facebook Hom Restaurant Reserve: hom Restaurant | reservations@hom-restaurant.com | +66 76 629 956 Socials: Instagram | Facebook Sipping & Tiger Reserve: +66 76 629 999 ext. 8510 | sippingtiger.bar@ihg.com Socials: https://www.instagram.com/sippingtiger/