Best restaurants in Phuket

While fine dining chefs normally scramble to make the most of pricey imported ingredients, Jim Ophorst, the Executive Chef and Co-Owner of PRU Restaurant located next to the luxury resort Trisara, is one of the culinary masters in Thailand that creates Michelin Star culinary wonders out of seemingly “oridinary” produce. The secret to Chef Jimmy’s elevated fare lies in his holistic approach to cuisine and his source of ingredients. PRU gets most of its produce from PRU Jampa, an organic farm where they raise chickens for their eggs, farm fish, and cultivate a selection of fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs as well as source proteins directly from local farmers and fishermen engaged in sustainable processes. 

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Sardinian-born chef Alessandro Frau is credited for starting the “molecular” and “modern” dining trend in Phuket decades ago at his fine dining Italian institution Acqua, even before these concepts became trendy in the global culinary scene. Drawing in both devotees that cherish authentic Italian tastes or adventurous epicureans obsessed with modernized gourmet fare, Acqua reinvents centuries-old recipes into mind-blowing creations that still retain traditional Italian flavors. And we haven’t even mentioned the wine list. The restaurant boasts the city’s most impressive list of reds and whites, with over 450 selections of fine wines and vintage bottles. Acqua Restaurant has been awarded from 2010 until today from Wine Spectator as one of the Best Wine Lists in the world and as one of the Best Wine Selections in Phuket.  

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Suay means “beautiful” in Thai, and this is evident in the gorgeous details (think floral furniture, houseplants and lush gardens) that dominate Suay Restaurant Cherngtalay. For over a decade, chef-owner Tammasak Chootong, who honed his culinary skills at Michelin-starred kitchens in Germany, has been serving modern Thai cuisine in these stunning surroundings. Expect modern Thai creations made using Western cooking techniques and international ingredients. 

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Nooror Somany Steppe, an unofficial ambassador for Thai cuisine and the founder of Blue Elephant restaurants, has a keen set of eyes when it comes to selecting a location for each of her restaurants. Just like her Bangkok restaurant, which has become a landmark in Sathorn, the Blue Elephant outpost in Phuket is elegantly set in a refurbished Sino-Portuguese mansion that was once was the residence of Phra Pitak Chinpracha, a Chinese merchant who was in charge of the province’s tin mining industry during the reign of King Rama V. Apart from serving the signature dishes offered at all Blue Elephant restaurants worldwide, the Phuket outpost of Blue Elephant has perhaps the most impressive list of Peranakan staples in all of Phuket, courtesy of a collaboration with a Peranakan association and Rajabhat Phuket University.

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Nahmyaa at COMO Point Yamu has become renowned for delivering impressive and uncompromising southern Thai favourites. The traditional Thai influences extend to Nahmyaa’s interiors. Renowned Italian designer Paola Navone has borrowed the bright orange hue of Buddhist monk robes to decorate the entire restaurant, as evidenced by the cheery hues of the upholstery and the goldfish made with mosaics that dominate the restaurant’s walls. 

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If there’s one Thai fine dining restaurant that we love in Phuket, it’s Black Ginger at The Slate. A meal at this stunning dining destination is definitely one for the books. A complex of all-black wooden Thai pavilions that’s only accessible via a man-held raft is one thing; embellished interior decorations that make you feel like you’re inside an exotic temple is another. Not to mention chandeliers that glitter like stars in the dark sky and staffers clad in costumes inspired by ancient Phuket fighters. And the food? Well that’s definitely something else. 

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Options for Japanese fine dining on the island are limited, but Nama at the exquisite Amanpuri resort checks all of the boxes. Nama, which means “raw” in Japanese” (it’s also “Aman” jumbled up), introduces the culinary philosophy of washoku to Phuket. This traditional Japanese concept emphasizes the simplicity that’s intrinsic in Japanese aesthetics as a gateway to a kaleidoscope of flavors. Under the guidance of a Japanese chef, the kitchen creates amazing seafood dishes made with produce flown directly from Japanese markets, as well as carefully selected local ingredients. 

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Ask around Phuket Town for the best restaurant to savor the local specialties and Raya will most likely be the quick recommendation. Tucked in a Sino-Portuguese mansion, Raya is a decades-old restaurant run by Phang-nga-born Phuket local Gularb Jedsadawan. Surrounded by lush gardens, the wooden two-story restaurant features a non-air conditioned dining room clad in yellow hues and furnished with antique trinkets and colorful Portuguese-style tiles. The menu is a long list of Phuket specialties that make use of high quality ingredients which partly explains why most of the dishes are priced higher compared to similar restaurants in the area. 

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Phuket has long been called the Peranakan capital of Thailand. Sadly, there is a dearth of restaurants serving authentic Peranakan fare, a cuisine invented by the Straits Chinese who lived in merchant cities in the Malay Peninsula including Phuket, Malacca, Singapore and Penang. It’s the type of home-cooked cuisine Phuketians of old would eat within their walled rowhouses. The Charm Dining Gallery fills in the gap as one of the very few Peranakan restaurants in Phuket Town. 

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Long before refrigerators, there was the tu kap khao, a Thai-style food cabinet where parents kept drool-worthy treats to be enjoyed by the family. Memories of this antiquated appliance from his childhood was the inspiration for Teerasak Pholngam when he opened up Tu Kap Khao, a popular restaurant in Phuket Town that highlights recipes created and curated by his mother Lingee Somsak. The restaurant sits in a photogenic, white-washed setting set off by vintage-style, earth-toned furniture. 

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