Kin Dee Restaurant

Kin Dee Restaurant Phuket

Kin Dee is a long-established Thai restaurant hidden in the quiet northern part of Phuket, not far from Mai Khao Beach. It’s been around for more than 20 years, run by a local chef who uses ingredients from nearby farms and her own garden. The restaurant is quite charming, surrounded by trees and wooden walkways, with an open-air dining area that feels very local. The food is authentic, rich in southern flavours, and beautifully presented without being fancy. It’s the kind of place we always recommend if you want real Thai food away from the tourist crowds. We went there for lunch and found this excellent little restaurant overlooking the jungle near Mai Khao Beach.

We drove all the way to very north of the island, near the ‘police check point’ and found this nice simple restaurant in a tiny side road going nowhere. High above the mangrove, Kin Dee Phuket is built in a surprisingly green and peaceful setting… very relaxing for a week end! Only a dozen bamboo tables are set on a wooden floor terrace and orchids are growing everywhere. It’s hard to say where the plants stop and the outside vegetation starts. Nothing sophisticated, just the right amount of tropical feel with an refreshing view on the quiet waters of the mangrove.

Food at Kin Dee Phuket is good, not too spicy unless you ask for it, so first timers can enjoy it without having to drink more than necessary. Yet it’s not touristy and you get to experience real Thai food without having to feel treated ‘special’. As usual we tried the most Thai dishes we could fin on the well illustrated menu. It usually tells you everything you need to know about the place: ‘Yam Hua Plee’ a delicious creamy banana flower salad, some very nice and fresh ‘Pepper Crab’ and a ‘Poh Tae’ that translates as ‘Ship Wreck Soup’, a delicious and very local clear spicy and sour fish soup made of many mixed ingredients, hence the name.

Kin Dee restaurant also offer Thai cooking lessons everyday, costing 800 Baht per dish and can even take you to local market to learn what to buy and how to buy. So if you happen to stay in one of the hotels in the northern part of the island, this might be your chance to give a try to real Thai cooking.

Overall we had a unexpected great lunch… the place has a great balance of green mangrove peacefulness and good Thai food and I would definitely recommend Kin Dee. It is less spicy than local joints and would please most travellers. Now if you feel like eating hardcore Thai food, you can drive further, past the check point, and go to the huts along Haad Sai Gaew Beach, it’s really basic but you will eat like locals!

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