Phuket Restaurant Guide

Phuket restaurants offer an almost unlimited opportunity (and way too many to even begin listing here) to please your palate. The variety of options, menus and atmospheres is as delectable as it is daunting. Being an island you'd expect that the Phuket seafood to be out of this world, and it is. In addition to delicious Thai food there are as many different cuisines as there are visitor nationalities; Chinese, Indian and European restaurants (especially German, Swiss, Scandinavian and Italian) are all well represented.

Below you'll find our recommendations. Be advised that PhuketHotels.com does not accept any advertising, sponsorship or freebies to be listed here so we can be completely objective. When it's our money on the table this is where spend it. Be advised that when we write that a restaurant is cheap or expensive it is relation to other restaurants on Phuket. The scale is $ (almost free) to $$$$$ (very expensive). BTW, good value doesn't always mean cheap.

Local Cuisine

Thais love "their" food and so do millions of others around the world. Combining sweet, sour, salty and spicy flavors, it is full of creativity, richness and variety. As in the rest of Asia rice is the staple. Pork and poultry are favourite meats and from the surrounding seas comes an astounding variety of delights.

That said, a proper Thai meal should have harmony between the flavours and textures. For example, a typical Thai dinner may consist of a soup, curry dish or spicy salad and a meat dish with vegetables. If the soup is spicy then the salad will not be and so on. All items should be served at the same time to allow the diner to experience how the flavours compliment one another.

The food is often prepared in a wok and features pepper and garlic. Lemon grass is another popular spice while Thai green and red curries are legendary. A word of caution is in order however; the tiny red or green peppers known as Prik Kee Noo, have been known to cause blisters on the lips and palate. Hotter than hot they should not be consumed on an empty stomach.

That said, just to get you started, below we have outlined some of Thailand's most popular dishes:
- Goong pad phed: fried prawns with chili paste
- Pla pad king: seabass with fresh ginger
- Gaeng phed gai: chicken curry
- Gaeng phed: duck served with vegetables
- Khao obb sapparod: fried rice in pineapple
- Khao soi: curried noodles
- Kaeb moo: crispy fried pork
- Pak tom ka-ti: vegetables in coconut milk
- Khao neo mamuang: sticky rice with mango.