We love Thai food and were so excited to arrive in Phuket. We had mentally prepared for the best Thai of our lives, actually in Thailand. We have a great local Thai restaurant in Auckland, so expected this and the rest. We ate as we went and tried the food in Karon, Patong and Phuket Town. Here’s our findings.
Red Chopsticks
The smartest looking restaurant on the main street in Karon, and there’s a fair few to choose from. Tidy and modern with masses of street appeal, the bright signage stood out and while we walked past it on our way up the street on our nightly walk about, we couldn’t walk past it again on our way back.
The menu presented lots of Thai favourites, with a few extra delights we hadn’t before come across. We both were really happy with our meals, the seating, the service and had few complaints. If you are a food snob however, this is a chain as we found out the next day when strolling through Patong.
47 Karon Rd. Karon Muang Phuket 83100
Bai Toey
We had eyed this little gem of a place up the night before we actually ate here. Tucked away off the street, which runs parallel with the beach, Bai Toey is one of several eateries to choose from on the little laneway it sits on. While it wasn’t particular busy the night we ate there, we struggled to figure out why, with all the walls of the restaurant covered with generous praise of past patrons. Actual.
The food was good, but perhaps not as good as we would have liked based on the cuteness of the restaurant. Maybe we just ordered the wrong thing, or maybe our standards were just set a little high before we stepped inside. In saying that, we would probably go back, the atmosphere is great. Turns out it’s got 4.2 stars on Google, so others clearly think it’s worth a visit too.
192/36, Patak Rd, Karon, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83100, Thailand
Patong Night Market
We were in Patong on a Friday night, not really looking to revel in food, but instead enjoy the tack and the clichés (Ping Pong shows not included). As it turned out, we stumbled across one of the best food night markets ever, right outside the main wet market in Patong, Banzaan Fresh Market. We hadn’t planned to have our dinner here, but the smells were something else and we couldn’t say no to the beautifully cooked and marinated chicken leg skewers straight off the bbq.
Mike chose a piece of corn, he was hoping it would take him back to the barbecued corn of the Gili Islands, but sadly it fell slightly short. The thing with eating street food is that even if something is not the best, there’s still room and money to try a little something else. We indulged in some donuts and other sweet treats here to. Everything is incredibly cheap, you could probably do a degustation-style meal. Would recommend this place for sure.
181 Rat-U-Thit 200 Pee Rd., Patong, Kathu, Phuket, Thailand
Raya
So after walking past and deciding it looked more than good enough to eat at, we discovered Raya is one of Phuket Town’s most famous restaurants and a favourite of the locals in particular, keeping true to the Phuket-Thai style of cuisine. It is a slightly pricier option, being a little premier of sorts, but we managed to share a couple of mains and keep the bill down. Also everything is relative. Maybe a little pricey for Thailand, still cheap for home.
I think it was the gorgeous house the restaurant is located in, which caught our eye first and made us go in. We weren’t disappointed by the interior, which is a lovingly restored Sino-portuguese house. The atmosphere was nice, it proved to be busy even at lunchtime with large groups sat around the tables of the restaurant and the staff were pleasant and well-trained.
The menu is fairly large, but the first page displaying ‘popular dishes’ sure helped and we chose the Crab Meat with Coconut Milk (400-600baht) and Steamed pork with pepper and garlic (Phuket style) (250baht). Both were excellent choices and would definitely recommend you try this place yourself. I very much doubt you’d be disappointed.
Mueang Phuket, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83000, Thailand
Aunty Wan & Pia’s
Mike and I took it upon ourselves to do a strenuous walk. By strenuous I mean, a two hour walk up a hill in the sweaty heat of Phuket.to the Big Buddha. This meant by the time we came down, we weren’t just hungry, we were starving. There like a sign on the corner of where the walk starts and finishes, was Aunty Wan & Pia Chicken Rice Restaurant. It was really the incredible smelling pork on the bbq that made us go inside.
Once inside, they were more than accommodating and turned on the fan for us, and provided us with fanta and coke, cool from the fridge. To eat, we got two plates and shared them, because it was too hard to choose. We went for the pork on rice and a Pad Thai. Both really simple and really, really tasty and cheap. It won’t get the restaurant décor of the year award, but they’re usually the best ones.
Cnr Patak Soi 14 and Patak Road, almost opposite the Siam Commercial Bank. F
