Best Restaurants in Phuket: Local, Seafood & Fine Dining (2026)

Phuket’s food scene is nothing like the tourist-strip image suggests. Spend your first day in Phuket Old Town eating at a 100-year-old shophouse and you’ll understand why serious food travellers make the island a dedicated culinary stop. The south has its own fiery, coconut-heavy cuisine, and the seafood is as fresh as you’d expect from an island surrounded by the Andaman Sea.

The best restaurants in Phuket span Raya and Tu Kab Khao for Old Town heritage Thai, Rawai Seafood Market for fresh catches cooked your way, PRU for Michelin-starred farm-to-table, and Tambu for award-winning progressive Indian charcoal cuisine.

Quick Picks

Best Restaurants in Phuket Old Town: Heritage Thai Done Right

Old Town is where the real Phuket food culture lives. The Sino-Portuguese shophouses date back over a century, and several restaurants in them have been serving the same family recipes for decades.

Raya Restaurant on Dibuk Road is the most famous. Opened in 1994 by Pa Kularb in a heritage mansion, it’s now a full-scale dining room that still fills up at noon every day. Order the kang pu — crabmeat yellow curry served over thin rice vermicelli — at 400 THB for a small portion. The moo hong, slow-braised pork belly with five-spice and soy, runs 350 THB and is worth every baht. Don’t skip the spicy Phuket prawns either.

Tu Kab Khao on Phang Nga Road sits in the Michelin Guide and charges about half what Raya does. The gaeng som pla (fish in a sharp turmeric-and-tamarind broth) is textbook southern Thai — intensely sour, deeply savoury. Sen mee gaeng poo — the crab-curry-with-noodles version specific to Phuket — is 180–250 THB here. The room is simple and the service no-frills, which is exactly the point.

One Chun Cafe & Restaurant has held Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition since 2019. It’s a shade more polished than the others, with a printed menu and air-conditioning. Good for first-timers who want an approachable entry into Phuket cuisine. The pad sataw (stir-fried stink beans with shrimp) is the dish to order.

Insider Tip: Raya gets packed from 11:30am to 1pm. Go at 10am for a quiet table or after 2pm when the lunch rush clears. Reservations are now accepted via email and third-party platforms — book ahead, especially for weekend lunch.

Street Food & Hawkers: Go Benz and the Night Markets

Phuket’s street food scene punches well above what most beach resorts manage. Go Benz Rice Porridge (joke) on Krabi Road has held the Michelin Bib Gourmand continuously since 2019 — one of the longest-running Bib Gourmand holders on the island. A bowl of thick, silky pork-and-egg congee costs 60–90 THB and is the right choice at any hour, breakfast through midnight.

The Phuket Weekend Night Market (Indy Market, Saturday and Sunday on Chao Fa West Road) is the best street food sweep. Walk the full length before committing: grilled pork skewers (moo ping), fried taro cakes, oh aew (Phuket’s signature grass jelly shaved-ice dessert), and rotating stalls of freshly made roti with banana and condensed milk. Budget 200–350 THB to eat well here.

For deeper local eating, popular Thai food dishes like pad krapow (basil stir-fry) and tom kha (coconut galangal soup) are everywhere, but in Phuket the version to seek out is kaeng massaman — a rich, mild Muslim-influenced curry that reflects the island’s diverse heritage.

Insider Tip: Go Benz is cash only and closes when the porridge runs out — typically by 2am. The late-night crowd from nearby bars keeps it going well past midnight on weekends.

Fresh Seafood: Rawai, Chalong Bay, and Laem Hin

The southern tip of Phuket is where to eat seafood without the tourist markup. Rawai Seafood Market works like this: walk the iced-seafood stalls run by the local sea-gypsy (Chao Ley) community, choose your fish, prawns, crab, or lobster, negotiate a price (expect 400–800 THB/kg for most fish, up to 1,500 THB/kg for large lobster), then carry your bag to one of the adjacent restaurants and pay a cooking fee of 100–200 THB per kg. You pick the preparation — steamed with lime and garlic, deep-fried with turmeric, or grilled whole.

Kan Eang@Pier in Chalong is the more relaxed, sit-down seafood option — a long-established restaurant on the bay with views of the pier and the limestone hills of Phang Nga beyond. The grilled barramundi is 350–450 THB and reliably good. It’s the better choice if you’re with children or want a full-service dinner rather than the market experience.

Laem Hin Seafood near Phuket Town has been a local favourite for years. Less known to tourists than the Rawai strip, it does brisk lunchtime business with fishermen and residents. The hoy tod (crispy fried mussel pancake) here is consistently better than what you’ll find at beach restaurants charging double.

Insider Tip: At Rawai, prices for the same species vary between stalls. Check two or three before buying. The stalls closer to the car park entrance tend to price higher for tourist foot traffic; walk further along the waterfront for better rates.

Phuket’s food scene pairs well with its beaches. Read the things to do in Phuket guide if you’re planning a full itinerary around the south.

Fine Dining: PRU, Tambu, and Baan Rim Pa

PRU at Trisara in Choeng Thale is Phuket’s only Michelin-starred restaurant — one star plus a Michelin Green Star for its sustainability practices. The name stands for Plant, Raise, Understand: the kitchen is supplied by Pru Jampa, the restaurant’s own organic farm. Tasting menus run 12–16 courses; as of 2025–2026, dinner menus start at around 4,500 THB per person (++), with a Friday–Saturday lunch experience at around 4,000 THB. Service is dinner Tuesday–Saturday and lunch Friday–Saturday. The farm-sourcing angle isn’t just marketing — the seafood comes from Thai fishermen the restaurant has long-term relationships with, and the wild honey is sourced from Phuket’s forests.

Tambu at Avista Hideaway Patong won Asia’s Best New Restaurant at the World Culinary Awards in 2024 and is listed in the Michelin Guide. Chef Saurabh Sachdeva — Iron Chef Thailand winner — serves progressive Indian charcoal cuisine in a rooftop tented-palace setting inspired by Mughal court cooking. Expect a 7-course tasting menu of around 1,500–2,000 THB. Book at least two weeks out.

Baan Rim Pa on the headland above Patong has been Phuket’s go-to for upscale Thai dining since 1991. The cliff views across Patong Bay are the draw, and the tom yum goong here is the refined version of what tourists think they’ve eaten everywhere else. Mains range from 450–1,200 THB. It’s the better choice than Patong’s beach strip for a proper sit-down dinner — just don’t come for the Patong nightlife after, as it’s a 10-minute drive away.

Insider Tip: PRU requires a reservation well in advance — the restaurant has limited covers and fills on weekdays as well as weekends. Email or book through the Trisara website rather than third-party platforms.

Quieter Beaches: Kata and Karon Alternatives

Kata and Karon sit between the Rawai seafood south and Patong’s chaos to the north, and they’ve quietly developed a decent mid-range dining scene.

Capannina in Kata is the best Italian on the island — not a Thai recommendation, but it’s genuinely good pasta at 300–500 THB per dish, and it matters when you’ve eaten Thai food for a week straight. For Thai, the small restaurants along the back roads behind Kata Beach serve reliable som tam (green papaya salad), pad thai, and grilled fish at 100–200 THB per dish without the beach-view premium.

Boathouse Wine & Grill at Kata Beach is a reliable fine-dining option at the 800–1,500 THB mark with an extensive wine list. Better value than Patong’s fine-dining equivalents. Pair a meal here with the luxury hotel scene nearby if you’re in the area.

If you’re visiting with children, the best family resorts in Phuket often have on-site restaurants that work better than driving across the island at meal times — worth factoring in when booking accommodation.

How to Eat Well in Phuket

Get a local SIM or eSIM first. Maps and translation apps save you significantly when navigating Old Town and the night markets. The best eSIM for Thailand options are available before you land and cost around 300–500 THB for a week of data.

Go for lunch over dinner in Old Town. The heritage restaurants do their best trade at midday. Raya, Tu Kab Khao, and One Chun all close by mid-afternoon on quieter days. Dinner options are thinner on the ground in Old Town than at the beaches.

Cash at hawker stalls, cards everywhere else. Markets and street vendors are cash-only. Mid-range restaurants accept cards but occasionally add a 2–3% fee for international cards. Withdraw cash at one of the ATMs in Old Town before heading to Rawai.

Grab a taxi or rent a scooter. Phuket is large. Rawai is 40+ minutes from Patong by road. Budget for Grab fares (150–250 THB each way between major areas) or rent a scooter at around 300–400 THB/day if you’re comfortable riding.

Ask for the spice level honestly. Southern Thai food is the spiciest regional cuisine in Thailand. Pet nit noi (a little spicy) still means significant heat by most international standards. Mai pet (not spicy) is your safer starting point at places like Tu Kab Khao.

9Verdict: Phuket’s dining scene rewards the travellers who move past the beach-resort restaurant and into Old Town for lunch. The combination of serious heritage restaurants — Michelin Bib Gourmand holders Tu Kab Khao and Go Benz, plus celebrated local institution Raya — a singular Michelin Star fine-dining experience at PRU, and one of Thailand’s best seafood markets at Rawai makes the island far more interesting to eat on than its resort reputation suggests. Skip Patong for dinner. Eat in Old Town at noon, hit Rawai for a seafood dinner, and save PRU for a special occasion. Rating: 9/10