Phuket restaurants serve all kinds of cuisine but finding real Thai food can be a little challenging. The large majority of the restaurants in the island’s tourist areas, such as Patong Beach, Kata or Karon, have been adjusting their tastes to accommodate first-timers. You probably would never see Thai people eating in those places, and it’s usually a sign. Real Thai food is often found in more modest areas of Phuket, and we list some great Local Thai Restaurants here. Phuket Seafood is also famous, and you should try the real thing without paying a fortune by checking out our Best Local Seafood Restaurants list.
Ska Bar is a small but iconic Reggae bar built in the shade of an immense tree, right on the beach in Kata. This unique setting makes it a perfect spot to end your day on the beach, even if you are not a Reggae fan.
Sriwara is a new trendy but casual restaurant located halfway between Phuket Town and Chalong, not far from the famous Wat Chalong, serving excellent Thai food and some Indian-inspired dishes.
Roxane Cafe and Restaurant is a good venue right on the beachfront road of Patong, just across the street from the beach makes the place very convenient.
Punte Phuket is a beautiful food court serving local street food, hidden in the old streets of Phuket town, tucked in a dead-end street off Yaowarat Road.
Sugar and Spice is very popular for serving excellent traditional Thai food at the right price in Kata Beach. If, for some odd reason, you’re not in the mood for Thai food.
Delico Decoration Coffee & Restaurant is a small restaurant located along the Bypass road near Phuket Town, famous for its superb decoration.
Papazula is a popular live music bar and restaurant with Turkish influences on Phuket Road, in Old Phuket Town, just opposite Casa Blanca Hotel, just a few metres from the Sunday Walking Street Market.
Pa Mai Kanom Jeen (ขนมจีนป้ามัย) is a modest local Thai restaurant located at the intersection of Dibuk Road and Satun Road, just next to the famous Blue Elephant Restaurant in Old Phuket Town. Pa Mai has been a popular local place for decades.
Kaeng Liang Restaurant is a small place in a beautifully decorated old shophouse hidden on Krabi Road in old Phuket Town. The name Kaeng Liang is the name of a traditional spicy shrimp paste soup from central Thailand.
The Beach Cuisine is a seaside restaurant hard to find on Bang Tao Beach, open for lunch and dinner and serving excellent western and Thai food.
Molly’s Tavern is a well-known Irish Pub on the beachfront road of Patong Beach. Just 350 m from Bangla Walking Street, the bright red facade is an unmissable beacon for some good comfort food and great live music.
Beach Pig Phuket is a cool beach bar on Bang Tao Beach serving tacos, nachos, Thai food and cocktails; it is a perfect spot to end your beach day with a sunset over the Andaman Sea.
Inthanin Naithon is a tiny restaurant hidden on the soft sands of the beautiful Naithon Beach, near Phuket International Airport. The place is hard to find, but it is worth the effort.
Cafe Phuket Viewpoint is a really hard-to-spot Instagram gem hidden on the curvy roadside that connects Patong Beach to Kamala Beach. The place has been around for a long time but never was popular until someone realized that Instagram was a magnet for the young generation
Krua Pai Lin Restaurant (Sapphire) is a good and real local restaurant just before reaching the Kathu Waterfalls in Kathu
Carpe Diem on Bang Tao Beach is the latest Beach Club in Phuket, serving appetizing Mediterranean and Italian cuisine with creative cocktails and a long list of fine wines.
Located at Chivitr Hotel in Nai Harn, Samut is a trendy restaurant serving modern Thai cuisine focusing on local seafood prepared with local ingredients and spices.
Benny’s Cocktail and Grill is an understated gem hidden by the roadside in Bangtao Beach; opened in 2015 and specialising in meats but with many excellent other options, including Thai food.
Khao Tom Thanon Di Buk is a local restaurant famous for its morning rice porridge and noodle soup, located on Phang Nga Road in the back of Phuket Town, and only open from 6 in the morning to 12 pm. The restaurant has been listed three years in a row in the Michelin Guide for Thailand.
Hugo Hub Phuket is a beachfront common space, and coworking space located on Bang Tao Beach, an open-air food court concept with multiple food vendors operating as food trucks and stalls, each offering different cuisines.
Da Moreno @ Town is an excellent Italian restaurant and Pizzeria located on Yaowarat Road in the heart of old Phuket Town. Da Moreno @ Town is the fourth and latest branch of the very popular Da Moreno family of restaurants. The original one was in Patong, the second in Kathu and the third one in Koh Kaew.
Maimorn Forest is a locally well-known Thai restaurant, hidden from view in Phuket Town, next to Bus Terminal 1. The place has been open for decades and was recently renovated. The new layout is beautiful, with a bit of a forest theme and an artificial waterfall. The place is immense and you can choose which part of the restaurant you want to sit in.
We Camping Phuket is a local restaurant in Kathu, with a fun camping decor and a vast outdoor sitting area. Despite the name, the place is not related to camping at all.
Somtam Puma 2 Kathu is another hidden local restaurant we always enjoy in Kathu. The food is excellent and truly local, the team is great, it’s cheap, and the surroundings are fun. You can sit at normal tables, or one of those ‘salas’ most tourists find rather uncomfortable.
Smile Bar is a very popular beachfront restaurant and bars with a great location on Kamala Beach, just across the beach and the sea. The place has been renovated and is brighter and more welcoming with a brighter white design and two lines of immense coconut trees in front, the perfect setting for your Instagram photos.
Dok Bua Vegetarian Restaurant is a modern restaurant kept cosy and it is located on the corner of a T-junction in Phuket Town. A beautiful front porch full of colourful plants and a small water fountain catches your eye when you are approaching the restaurant, this makes a comfortable outdoor sitting area with a neat table setup.
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Loukthor Vegetarian Restaurant, located near Jui Tui Shrine in Phuket Town, is particularly popular during the famous Phuket Vegetarian Festival. There are a few vegan and vegetarian restaurants on that same Ranong Road, but this one is excellent. They offer cook-to-order dishes such as fried rice and stir-fried noodles.
Boat Bar and Restaurant is a long-established venue with a golden location, right by the beautiful beach of Kamala Beach.
Go Fresh Organic Cafe is a popular vegetarian restaurant located on the scenic road in Soi Naya, near Nai Harn Beach, in a calm neighbourhood. Despite it being a ‘roadside’ restaurant, you won’t see many cars passing by, letting you enjoy the sounds of nature and your food.
The Place is a casual restaurant with a great location on the beach road of Patong Beach, just next to Baan Lamai Hotel. The restaurant serves a wide choice of French, Italian and Thai dishes.
Vegetarian House is a fantastic place to experience authentic vegetarian Thai food in Phuket, and it is conveniently located on the roadside of Chaofa Road, in Chalong. The large yellow banner and flags, indicating vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Thailand, are clearly visible from afar.
Rock Salt is an upmarket restaurant built on the rocky end of the beautiful Nai Harn Beach, south of Phuket. The view is fantastic, the Mediterranean cuisine is excellent.
Tann Terrace Phuket is a beach bar, a restaurant, and a small boutique hotel. Set in a unique location on the beach at the south end of Karon Beach. The restaurant serves Thai, Italian and Western dishes with a wide range of drinks and cocktails.
The Good View is a superb restaurant serving good Thai food on the beach of Nai Yang at a good price. A perfect place for a holiday lunch and to relax at the end of the day with a cold drink, waiting for the sunset! The team is friendly and always very welcoming, day or night.
Esan Bar, despite calling itself a bar, is an excellent and affordable Thai restaurant serving Isan food from the northeast of Thailand. The restaurant sits by the busy roadside on the outskirts of Phuket town,
O Cha Rot is an unassuming local restaurant, but it serves one of the best noodle soups in Phuket Town, so good that it made it to the Michelin Guide in Phuket. The restaurant has no decoration whatsoever, white wall, stainless cooking station and stainless tables.
We Cafe Chaofa is a large restaurant that serves a vast array of international, western and Thai dishes at a very good price, located not far from Wat Chalong.
Red Clam in Kathu, or Hoi Pai Daeng in Thai, is a local restaurant serving good and simple Thai food, perfect for sharing with your friends at the end of the day, the way Thai food is best enjoyed. The restaurant is modest, but the setting is fun, with a vast open-air garden with open tables and those typical bamboo huts so popular in Thai restaurants. In case of rain, there is also a large covered area in the back.
Crust Restaurant is an excellent Italian venue located on the outskirts of Phuket Town. The food is very well priced and so good that the restaurant was mentioned in the Michelin Guide for Phuket several years in a row.
Tasak Seafood is a modest but excellent local restaurant serving inexpensive seafood in a beautiful seaside location in Paklok.
Wanlamun is the most popular Thai sweets and Thai desserts restaurant in Phuket Town. The restaurant has been open for decades and serves an astonishingly large choice of local sweets you probably didn’t even know existed.
Day & Night of Phuket on Dibuk Road has always stood out for its striking design and buzzing atmosphere, but on our most recent visit, it was the food that really impressed.
Krua Ohm is a small and modest local Thai restaurant in Kathu with a mention on the famous Michelin Guide for two consecutive years.
Suay Cherngtalay is a popular and excellent restaurant serving modern Thai cuisine with a creative touch by chef Noi Tammasak (Suay means beautiful in Thai). The restaurant is very inviting, divided into two areas.
Ta Tuay is a little-known local restaurant, hidden not far from the Sarasin Bridge in the very north of Phuket, near Sai Kaew Beach. Ta Tuay serves excellent local food and dishes from Phuket.
Grind Cafe Phuket at Junkyard Theatre is a surprisingly beautiful restaurant and art gallery hidden on the busy by-pass road near Phuket Town. Chances are, you probably drove in front of it and didn’t know that such a special place existed, and we didn’t know either! The cafe has long been known as the Underwood Factory but only started to get noticed recently.
Coconuts Café is a lovely little bakery and restaurant hidden in a small lane of Chalong, in the south of Phuket Island. The coffee shop is a tiny house on stilts, with a garden surrounded by a vast green natural landscape and immense coconut trees.
Arva is an authentic traditional Italian restaurant at the iconic Amanpuri Resort on the private Pansea Beach. The restaurant serves excellent, sustainable Italian cuisine. Arva is the perfect place to treat yourself and your loved one to a unique and unforgettable dinner in Phuket.
Pine Beach Bar is a beautiful venue on the sand of Kamala Beach and part of the prestigious Intercontinental Phuket Resort. With such a wide strip of soft white sand and a beautiful landscape, the north end of Kamala is an ideal place to spend the afternoon.
Surf & Turf by Soul Kitchen is a small Thai-German-owned restaurant listed the Michelin Guide. The menu is short but changes monthly, and Chef Tom takes great pride in composing European-Thai dishes.
Jadjan is an excellent local Thai restaurant hidden on the outskirts of Phuket Town. Not many travellers know that a former chef from a 5-star hotel in Bangkok runs it.
