Explore Thai food in Phuket with guides to local restaurants, street food, and authentic dishes. Discover where to eat classic and regional Thai cuisine on the island.
Sabai Corner is a beautiful Thai restaurant hidden in Phuket, not far from Kata Noi Beach. Only a few dedicated travellers will find it or try to find it. The food is good without being exceptional, but you will discover the magnificent panoramic view of the nearby sea.
Khun Jeed Yod Pak Restaurant is an institution in Phuket Town and one of the best local restaurants on the island. It is open as far as I can remember, which is more than 20 years now. It became famous for a dish Thai people love called radna.
Som Chit Restaurant is famous for its delicious Hokkien Noodles Soup, and people from Bangkok who know about it would stop here for lunch when they visit Phuket Town.
Post Views: 11,631 Taokhun Seafood Restaurant Taokhun Seafood is a hidden restaurant on the east coast of Phuket located somewhere near Phuket International Airport. This… Read More »Taokhun Seafood Restaurant near Phuket Airport
Bangla Street Food is the latest opening in Bangla Road, the heart of Patong nightlife. Street food is a smart move in this part of town. Bangla Street Food opens late, and it’s really casual. So it’s actually the perfect place before AND after the party. This is something really fantastic about Patong: you can party until 3 or even 4 am and still enjoy some seafood.
Kalim Rim Lay Restaurant is a little-known restaurant serving good honest Thai food and seafood at a good price. Best of all for some of you, it is located not far from Patong Beach, just past Kalim Beach. Rim Lay is a very relaxing spot to enjoy lunch or dinner with spectacular sunsets if you are lucky to get one as we did.
Tu Kab Khao is a popular Thai restaurant in Phuket Town that serves great southern Thai food. Give yourself a chance to try their selection of dishes that are typical of Phuket. Tu Kab Khao received a Michelin rating from the new Michelin Guide for Phuket, a sign of excellent food.
Aek Rawai Seafood Restaurant is one of the few local seafood restaurants peppering the roadside of Rawai Beach. This small restaurant doesn’t have any particular sign and it doesn’t attract a mass of hungry tourists, but this is where we love to go for a real seafood lunch or dinner.
Lock Tien food court in Phuket Town is a place every person living in Phuket long enough knows. It doesn’t look like much but with 50 years old history, it’s probably the oldest food court on the island. What really matters is that Lock Tien serves some real Phuket specialities.
What can be better than eating right on the beach when on holiday on such a beautiful island as Phuket, but such restaurants have become hard to find? Actually, there used to be quite a lot of places where it was possible, but after ‘the big cleanup’ of 2015, most restaurants and beach clubs were found to be illegally built and therefore removed.
The Beach Bar Phuket is a local restaurant half-hidden on Panwa beach, away from most tourist crowds. Once a modest wooden shack, the restaurant grew in popularity and now displays a long row of tables and plastic chairs.
Peang Prai Restaurant (Krua Piang Prai) is an excellent local venue in a green nest next to Bang Pae waterfall. Mostly unknown to tourists because of its remote location, Peang Prai is one of the two great places to have lunch if you happen to be in the area.
Baan Chom View is one of the popular Thai restaurants hanging high above the beautiful beach of Kata Noi in the south of Phuket and serving a vast choice of Thai food and a few western dishes.
Post Views: 27,368 Thai and seafood by the sea in Karon On The Rock is a beautiful open-air seafood restaurant built on the rocks at… Read More »On The Rock Restaurant Phuket
SILK Restaurant & Bar at Andara Resort Phuket is an upscale and much-talked-about Thai restaurant set in a beautiful and elegant design that overlooks Kamala Beach. With polished wood, high ceilings, warm tones and an elegant design, Silk Restaurant is instantly pleasing to the eyes.
Khao Rang Breeze is one of the three popular restaurants sitting at the top of the very scenic Rang Hill in Phuket Town.
Nikita’s Beach Restaurant has always been a long-time favourite among expats or returning visitors, serving Thai and seafood for over 20 years. Hidden by the sea under large trees at the very end of Rawai beach, Nikita’s would be easy to miss if it wasn’t for a wooden sign by the road.
Laem Hin Seafood is one of the best-known local seafood restaurants in Phuket. Built mostly on an immense wooden terrace on the east coast of the island, Laem Hin is huge but it can get pretty full on weekdays dinner and even more on weekends.
The Pad Thai Shop is a tiny restaurant on the side of the back road of Karon Beach. It’s so small and modest; you would drive past it without paying much attention if it wasn’t for its growing reputation and a large yellow signboard that says ‘The Pad Thai Shop’.
Kanom Jeen is a traditional Thai breakfast dish that’s particularly popular in Phuket and southern Thailand. It consists of fresh, thin white rice noodles served cold or at room temperature with a curry of your choice. Common options include fish curry (Nam Ya Pa), beef curry (Kang Nua), chicken curry (Kang Kai), or sweet prawn curry (Kang Nam Prik).
Sizzle Rooftop Bar and Restaurant is a romantic place at the top of the Avista Hideaway Phuket Patong in the south of Patong Beach. Just to set the tone, you need to know that this hotel is part of the MGallery by Sofitel, an award-winning luxury resort.
Phuket street food is fun, cheap, and a great way to experience simple real Thai food. It definitely is more authentic than in tourist restaurants you find in Patong Beach. It’s fast and a lot cleaner than you might think.
Number 6 Restaurant ‘Up The Hill’ is one of the most popular places in Patong Beach, we all know that. But did you know that there are two Number 6?
Romsai is a little restaurant well hidden from view, with a beautiful view of the sea and a nearby beach. Serving local Thai food for lunch, definitely has a fun mood, feeling like being far from Phuket.
Raya Restaurant is a unique restaurant combining all the right ingredients to make it a perfect local experience. They serve great food in a superb setting in an old Thai house kept just the way it has always been, with no excessive renovation but well maintained.
Phuket floating restaurant ‘Kruvit Raft’ is one of the most original ways to enjoy dinner when you get tired of your ‘Same Same but Different’ Thai food restaurant. Try this unusual but popular place floating between Phuket Island’s east coast and Maphrao Island.
Panwa House is a white Sino Portuguese restaurant surrounded by palm trees, right on the secluded beach of the Cape Panwa Hotel on the east coast of Phuket.
Mor Mu Dong is quite an unusual restaurant in Phuket. If you enjoy eating off the beaten tracks where many locals go for a great lunch or dinner, Mor Mu Dong is your place. Every Phuket resident knows it, and you have to count the cars in the parking to know that something special is cooking here.
Exotic Thai fruits in Phuket range from the well-known pineapple or even watermelon to the most surprising ones like the weird-looking Dragon Fruit, the huge pungent Durian or the enormous Jackfruit.
Pan Yaah Seaview Restaurant on Patong Beach is a little gem you should reward yourself with if you choose to spend your holidays in Patong Beach, in a romantic place with a sea view, good food, not overly touristic.
Eating fried insects in Phuket and Thailand seems to be the ‘ultimate cultural challenge’ for most visitors. How many of you tried these crunchy snacks from street carts? A few. How many actually liked them?
Blue Elephant Phuket is a high-end Thai restaurant built in a renovated Thai house set in an immense garden in Old Phuket Town. Pracha Phra Pitak Chinpracha Mansion is a fantastic old mansion that used to be a governor’s house, but was abandoned for a long time.
Thanoon Seafood Restaurant is perfect for spending a half-day in a unique location, a breezy place right on the beach of a stunning bay in the very north of Phuket Island. Thanoon Seafood has found itself a little golden spot no one had thought about before: next to the Sarasin Bridge connecting Phuket to the mainland. This small bay benefits from a gentle breeze with amazing views of both the open sea and the new bridge on the other side.
Tunk Ka Cafe is one of our favourite restaurants in Phuket Town, a long-established hillside place beautifully built on top of Khao Rang Hill, with striking panoramic views of Phuket city. Tunk Ka Cafe is a romantic place, with three separate terraces framed with large trees, and a nice breeze flowing through always keeps the place cool.
Natural Restaurant Phuket looks at first a bit confusing. Locally known as ‘Tamachart Restaurant’ it has been a long-time favourite for many Thai and expats.
Savoey Seafood Restaurant might not be the best seafood restaurant in Phuket, but if you don’t want to or can’t drive outside Patong beach and don’t feel like dining in a food court, it’s a good place for a seafood dinner.
What Phuket Phuket Specialities should you try, and where to find them? We already shared our Best Local Restaurants and Best Classic Thai Dishes, so here are 10 really local specialities dishes, or their popular Phuket variation.
Big Chicken Restaurant (Thung Thong Restaurant) is one of our three favourite venues in Kathu. If you drove past the Phuket Country Club in the past twenty years, you certainly saw that massive chicken statue on the side of the road.
Phuket Uptown Restaurant is not exactly what we would call a ‘local restaurant’, it’s just a little too clean and too westernized to be considered so and a good third of the customers are usually farangs (foreigners). But the food is good, the prices are right and the staff is always friendly.
Tom Yum Goong is one of the pillars of Thai Food, probably the best-known Thai dish in the world around, and there are, of course, countless variations possible.
Had enough tourist food and want to try real Phuket specialities? When visiting Phuket Town, if you have a bit of time and are curious about Phuket’s real local food, you have to stop by Lor Rong Market.
Kopitiam by Wilai is a recently renovated restaurant serves classic Thai food in an old-style Chinese shop on the most popular street in Phuket Town. Thalang Road changed from just an old busy street to a full-scale tourist attraction, bars and restaurants have started to appear like flies on honey.
Kin Dee Restaurant Phuket is not exactly what you would call a ‘local’ restaurant in the pure sense of it, but it’s not a touristic place either.
Kaab Gluay is one of the few authentic local Thai restaurants in Patong Beach. The food is delicious and well priced, and the staff is always amiable.
The Boathouse restaurant on Kata Beach, offers a blend of Southern Thai and Western cuisine, serving both lunches and fine dinners. Guests can choose between indoor and outdoor seating, enjoying a romantic dining experience with the stunning backdrop of the Andaman Sea.
One Chun Restaurant is one of the best Thai restaurants in Phuket Town. Serving southern Thai and uniquely Phuket cuisine without compromise. They first succeeded with locals who are not easy to impress when it comes to their food: great food, reasonable price, fun atmosphere, excellent service and good location.
Kampong Kata Hill is a bit touristy with mixed reviews, but if you travelled that far to discover Asia and you are looking for more than ‘just food’ while remaining within an acceptable budget.
Bon Island (or Koh Bon) is located just south of Rawai Beach in Phuket and is just a short longtail boat ride away. A few sandy beaches pepper the coast of this tiny island, and despite being so close to Phuket, it is not too busy with tourists.
We had ’10 Typical Phuket Dishes’ and ’10 Best Really Local Restaurants’, and even ’10 Fried Insects for Gourmets’ now we need to move on to serious business: ’10 Hardcore Thai Food, only for the Brave’… Will you dare?
Thai food in Phuket is delicious, varied and cheap. You can enjoy it by the street, on the beach, in surprisingly excellent local restaurants and even at fancy Michelin restaurants. Phuket also has many specialities you should try, but remember that some dishes can be seriously spicy!
Thai food is popular and famous worldwide and doesn’t need to be introduced anymore. If you reached this page, you probably already tried some and heard plenty about it.
The best seafood in Phuket is mostly in local restaurants, which are sometimes away from tourist places, but also in some more upmarket restaurants around the island. Of course, the seafood you will find in Patong, Kata, Karon is good, but local restaurants have a little more.
