The Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort was the base for the one-week stay on Phuket Island . I wanted to put the entire review in one post but one post would be really long. This post reports on the breakfast buffet and evening lounge service.

Other posts from this Covid-19 Thailand trip:

Greetings From Thailand 

Thailand Trip – Part 1

Thailand Trip Part 2 – American Airlines Concourse C Admirals Club Charlotte, NC

Thailand Trip Part 3 – A Trip Down Memory Lane And A Tale Of Potential Disaster Over Lake Michigan

Thailand Trip Part 4 – Japan Airlines 777-300ER First Class Chicago, IL To Tokyo, Japan

Thailand Trip Part 5 – Japan Airlines First Class Lounge Tokyo Narita

Thailand Trip Part 6 – Japan Airlines 787-8 Business Class Tokyo, Japan (NRT) To Bangkok, Thailand (BKK)

Thailand Trip Part 7 – The Strange No Quarantine Quarantine, A Guide For Travelers To Thailand During Covid

Thailand Trip Part 8b – Grand Hyatt Erawan Breakfast Buffet

Thailand Trip Part 8a – Grand Hyatt Erawan Grand Club Room

Thailand Trip Part 8c – Grand Hyatt Erawan Club Lounge Review

Thailand Trip Part 9 – New Miracle Lounge – Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) Concourse A’s Stealth Priority Pass Lounge

Thailand Trip Part 10 – Thai Smile-domestic-a320-and-the-post-arrival-snack/e Domestic A320 And The Post-Arrival Snack

Thailand Trip Part 11a – Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort Hotel Review

The Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort is an oceanfront property overlooking the Andaman Sea and Kamala Bay. It fit the bill for this visit to tropical Phuket in a number of ways.

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For instance, it helped raise my World of Hyatt frequent guest status to Globalist for 2022 and I secured free daily buffet breakfast and access to the club lounge for complimentary evening drinks and snacks with a lounge access award that was expiring at year end.

Breakfast Buffet

A great breakfast buffet is my favorite way to enjoy my favorite meal and Hyatt hotels in Asia usually have outstanding breakfast buffets. These buffets are more like a light brunch in that they offer more than the usual breakfast fare.

The breakfast buffet is served from 07:00 – 10:30 daily in the Pool House Kitchen restaurant, which, as the name suggests, overlooks the huge infinity pool. On entering the restaurant guests were required to pass a temperature check. The remote possibility of a false temperature reading always created a little tension.

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Pool House Kitchen breakfast buffet

A smiling staff member or two warmly greeted guests as they entered. After the first day, they always welcomed me by name. Nice but not as hard as it would be normally. While I don’t know the precise occupancy rate for the 201 rooms and suites, judging by the scarcity of guests at breakfast and in other public areas, the hotel was much less than half full.

The restaurant has indoor and outdoor seating. I sat indoors primarily because it was closer to the food. This buffet was even bigger and fancier than the buffet at the Grand Hyatt Bangkok that I’ve raved about.

Pastries, fruit, cereal, pancakes, French toast, eggs cooked to order, yogurt, breakfast meats, charcuterie, salads, and Asian dishes such as congee, Khao Pad Goong, Kanom Jeen and dim sum were some of the items on the extensive buffet.  These photos show a bit of what was available.

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Make your own smoothie

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Kanom Jeen, was a new dish for me.  It is made with tender rice noodles, curry, vegetables and various types of sauces as specified by the guest.

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Egg station and baked beans, sautéed mushrooms, grilled tomatoes and hash brown potatoes

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Indian, Chinese and Japanese dishes

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Various types of noodles could be combined with beef, chicken and other ingredients and spices.

Everything I tried was superb.  Omelets, pancakes, eggs were all perfectly prepared in the open kitchens at each station.

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Eggs Florentine and potatoes.

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Silver dollar pancakes.

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Noodle dishes were healthy and delicious although a little hard to eat without making a mess.

I rediscovered French toast during this stay. It was some of the best French toast I’ve ever had. The cooks thoroughly soaked the bread in the batter and cooked the slices slowly. With syrup, butter and powdered sugar, the toast practically melted in my mouth in a tsunami of flavor.

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French toast – magnifique!

I enjoyed the buffet so much and wanting to try as many items as I could, I pigged out and regularly went back for second, third, and fourth helpings.  The staff probably thought it was my only meal of the day.  With the Asian dishes, the buffet functioned as kind of a light brunch.  I regularly skipped lunch.   

Spa staff were available for free mini massages on the terrace after breakfast.

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5-7 minute chair massages were surprisingly very relaxing.

Club Lounge

Evening drinks and appetizers were served in One 80 Degrees, a casual poolside bar with comfortable seating and Andaman Sea sunset views. The actual club lounge had yet to reopen after the extensive renovations that had taken place while the hotel was closed.

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Club lounge

The fare consisted of appetizers and hors d’oeuvres supplemented by any drinks you could think of from the bar.  Wait staff took orders and served food and drinks promptly and cheerfully.  Unlike the club lounge at the Grand Hyatt Bangkok, entrées were not available.  Two or three of the little appetizer towers were filling.    

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Hors oeuvres were served in sets of three.   

Covid was not much of a concern in the open-air bar.  Staff was always masked and guests generally were when not eating or drinking.  Hand sanitizer was available at each table.   

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I concluded the lounge service each day with a mini desert.

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Overall Impression

The Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort’s buffet breakfast made getting up something to look forward to, and I’m not a morning person. A hearty breakfast and a quick massage supplied energy and a positive attitude for tackling the day’s activities. In the evening, a bit of food and drink in the club lounge was a great way to wind down from a busy day and transition to evening plans. Thanks to the lounge access award, experiencing the fantastic buffet and unwinding in the cozy lounge was even more enjoyable because there was no charge.