5 of the Best Restaurants in Phuket

Home to powdery beaches, upscale hotels and spa havens, Phuket is Thailand’s most popular island for a reason. Yet aside from green-tinted waters, memorable day trips and unforgettable nightclubs, the kingdom’s largest island boasts some fine restaurants and shops with local and western food. From low-priced chippies and steak eateries to noble mansions – here are five of the best restaurants in Phuket, two of which are TAGTHAi partners.

Steak Ao-Kae

Six hundred meters from Phuket Town Central Market, Steak Ao-Kae is a fish-and-chips-shop and steak restaurant in one. Nodding to Chinese traders staying in Phuket in earlier centuries, Steak Ao-Kae’s logo features a junk, a Chinese sailing boat with square sails and a flat bottom. The Chinese style continues in the restaurant with red fabric lantern tassels hanging from the ceiling. 

Whether you sit inside or outside, the atmosphere is homey, not least because of the wooden ceiling, hanging plants, and wood tables for about 20 people. 

Aside from juicy steaks, you can tuck into crispy pizzas. Or, if you’re a vegetarian, Steak Ao-Kae also offers vegetable salad with carrots, beetroot, tuna, corn, cucumber, raisins, and job’s tears, a broad-leaved, branched grass.

Steak Ao-Kae isn’t one of the app’s benefits yet, but TAGTHAi is planning to include two sets in the City Pass: pork chop and chips or spaghetti with French fries. Both will come with herbal juice. For the time being, ring the guys up at +66 (0)84 062 85 32 and reserve a table at Steak Ao-Kae, one of the best restaurants in Phuket Town.

Blue Elephant

Built in Sino-colonial style, Phuket Town’s Blue Elephant is an architectural masterpiece that blends well with the nearby mansions telling the story of tin barons. Outstanding is not just the exterior. Walk through one of those arch entrances, and you step into a bygone era. Hardwood floors, wooden window frames, chandeliers, and Thai ornaments catch your eye wherever you look.

Certainly, the design is part of the dining experience. Famed for its spicy Thai food, Blue Elephant offers such great variety that you can find a “heat level” guide on the menu. So what to eat in Phuket? Order duck confit if you like it sweet and savory, and the traditional Thai King’s Dish, a piquant scallops soup, to season your day.

The service is stellar. You’ll see genuine smiles and obliging waitstaff that goes above and beyond. Ask them anything – they’re English speaking – and the guys answer all your menu questions you’ll likely have.

To complete this fine dining experience, order Belgian dark chocolate mousse and feast on it! As an aside, vegetarian and vegan options are available. Oh, and just in case you’re eager to recreate what you’ve eaten, join the on-site cooking classes.

Hickory

Rooted in nature, Hickory sits amid cacti beauties and rubber trees. It’s a roofed, open-air Phuket restaurant with a sandbox that makes it family-friendly, and there’s some indoor seating area, too. Plenty of wood and plants surround you as you order what Hickory is known for: homemade German sausages. 

As this dine-in and kerbside pick-up eatery near Boat Lagoon Resort Kokaew is a TAGTHAi partner, you can get various sets. While Set A caters to vegetarians with honey lemon salad served with an iced ocean drink soda, you can get meaty meals like beef cheek massaman in garlic butter roti, delicious pan-fried bread. Set E includes a spicy Thai-French sirloin salad and Set D, a cheeseburger with Leberkäse (liver cheese), corned beef, pork, and bacon, is for those who love German food.

Hickory isn’t one of the app’s benefits yet, but TAGTHAi is planning to include it in the City Pass. For now, call Hickory at +66 (0)89 730 77 27 to make a reservation and enjoy both the quirky setting and food that represents Phuket’s multiculturalism.

Kopitiam by Wilai

One of those places to eat in Phuket that you shouldn’t miss is Kopitiam by Wilai, an unassuming, fan-cooled eatery with reasonably priced Thai and Chinese food. Situated in the heart of the Old Town, Kopitiam creates that Old Phuket feel with simple wood chairs, decades-old island photography, and pops of crimson and Chinese-inspired gold hues.

Kopitiam’s Chinese and Thai cuisine includes noodles sautéed with egg, sea bass, and prawns, as well as the Phuket-style salad with tofu, boiled egg, crispy noodles, and a sweet-and-spicy sauce. Aside from these well-liked meals, the restaurant offers unique beverages like chrysanthemum juice, butterfly pea flower drink, or ginger iced tea brewed with fresh ginger. Either of these goes down well with their tasty noodle and rice dishes. 

The authentic Baba-Nyonya (Peranakan) cuisine attracts a mixed crowd. Show up here, and you’ll meet anyone from styled young ladies to local Chinese retirees.

The Pad Thai Shop

Hiding in a side street in the Karon Beach area, the aptly named Pad Thai Shop is a small, low-key eatery. Yet, it’s one of the best restaurants in Phuket. Try Pad Thai here, and you’ll understand why this is Thailand’s national dish that foreigners love. While the stir-fried rice noodle dish isn’t particularly difficult to prepare – it’s typically made with shrimp, chicken, or tofu with scrambled egg, peanuts and bean sprouts – Pad Thai Shop has perfected the technique. The restaurant serves hundreds of plates of the dish each day.

You can try other dishes too in this modest restaurant with brick tones and a tin roof. Yet, arguably the best is Pad Thai. It’s not a secret; both locals and tourists come here day in and day out.

Aside from eating your way through the city and visiting the best restaurants in Phuket, be sure to do “5 of the Most Exciting Things to Do in Phuket.” You’re practically guaranteed to find out why Phuket is Thailand’s most popular island.