Founder Tom McNamara first came to Phuket in 1988 to fish! Having been to Bora Bora and enjoyed the experience, he decided that Phuket must be ripe for gamefishing. Unfortunately, when he arrived, all local gamefishing experts told him that there were no marlin in The Andaman Sea around Phuket ... on his first trip he caught a 280-pound marlin. Tom basically gets what he wants.

Having had one stroke of good luck, he thought that Phuket may be the place to find more, so he stayed. Many years later, Baan Rim Pa Piano Bar and Restaurant, and her two sister restaurants Da Maurizio Bar Ristorante and Joe's Downstairs are a tribute to the man's tenacity, attention to details and love of all things culinary.

Tom previously owned and ran restaurants in New York City, France, England and The Caribbean. Each had its own design, theme and flavour. In Phuket he decided that the only way to provide completely authentic Thai food was to search for recipes originally cooked only for the Thai Royal Family... authentic Royal Thai Cuisine. To achieve this, he managed to track down descendants of the original chefs for past Thai Royal Families. These recipes were only previously put together in The Grand Palace. His home at the time, on a small rocky outcrop overlooking Kalim Bay, became host to the many friends who popped by to try out these fabulous "new" recipes. Home turned into restaurant and Baan Rim Pa was born. The rest, as they say, is history.

In November 2008 Tom passed away after a long battle with cancer. Tom's family along with close friend Khun Das who has managed the restaurants since their inception will carry on his legacy for many years to come.

When Das joined as General Manager at Baan Rim Pa, there was only one restaurant to oversee. How times have changed! Das now oversees of three world-class restaurants Baan Rim Pa, Joe's Downstairs and Da Maurizio Bar Ristorante in his role as Managing Director..

After training in his hometown, Bangkok, Das secured a position in the Thai Restaurant of The Oriental Hotel. Here he met Charlie Amatyakul, the Head Chef at The Oriental and they became firm friends. A few years later, Tom McNamara stayed at The Oriental for three months, asked Charlie to help create Baan Rim Pa's Royal Thai Cuisine menu and was recommended Das at the best person to manage the restaurant.

In the evening, Das can be seen walking around the four restaurants, making sure all is well. He is still totally hands on and often arranges V.I.P. events for large parties, many of which have special requests, not all of them straightforward. "We try to provide a personalised service", he says. "At the end of the day, I am satisfied if the customers leave after having had a very good time and, of course, that the staff also feel happy and have done their best".

The Baan Rim Pa Restaurant Group is considered to be the best of its kind on Phuket Island, and we all strive to live up to our reputation and the many awards we continually receive. We are proud of our history and what we have been able to achieve over the years as Phuket has grown and developed. We hope you enjoy your visit with us.

Australian born Sue Ultmann has lived and worked in Asia for more than 20 years. Before moving to Asia she spent 18 years as Associate Publisher of Australia's leading travel industry publication "TravelWeek" magazine. This position sent her to many corners of the globe, promoting, writing and handling the advertising and marketing for the magazine. With offices and staff in more than 23 countries Sue's knowledge of working with many nationalities has assisted her since she decided to make Thailand her home. When joining the Baan Rim Pa Group of Restaurants, she took charge of advertising, marketing and public relations for the three restaurants.

Sue has been involved in bringing several television shows such as The Great Outdoors Australia, BBC's Holiday show, The Travel Channel USA, Travel Asia and Beyond and Destination Thailand, just to name a few, along with many travel writers from all over the world to film and write about the group. Making the Baan Rim Pa Group's name known worldwide is her main goal.

Randy was born in the San Francisco, California, USA but has lived and worked in Asia since 1997, He has brought his wealth of knowledge in wine to the Baan Rim Pa group.

His expertise cover all facets of wine knowledge and appreciation and range from conducting seminars concerning all fields of the wine industry at various venues in the USA and as well as being an experienced wine judge, owning and operating two retail wine and gourmet food shops in the San Francisco Bay Area and was G.M. of D&M Wine and Liquors in San Francisco, a substantial retail outlet which became the number one champagne retail outlet in the United States.

Several years ago Randy decided to come to Thailand and started a wine wholesale company and has been involved in importing and distributing selected wines along with his own private label which he blended.

Randy continues to conducted wine seminars and training for the enthusiastic wine sommeliers at Baan Rim Pa Group teaching them every aspect of wine knowledge and appreciation. He also chooses all of the wines for the award winning cellars of the group and continues to keep Baan Rim Pa group at the forefront wine in Phuket.