With the Thais, food is almost a religion. Phuket, however, takes the culinary experience to altogether new heights! It is a food lover's paradise. Not surprisingly, Phuket's restaurants are particularly famed for their scrumptious and rather inexpensive seafood - seafood that you can have cooked exactly the way you like it. Of course, there are other delicious options as well.
Thai cuisine has always been reputed for its subtle flavours and fresh ingredients.
Just reading our Phuket restaurant guide will make you hungry! So after shopping for some cheap souvenirs in Phuket, relax and taste a variety of dishes from the restaurant of your choice. You can also find out more information about food and cuisine in Thailand as a whole.
Phuket Restaurant Guide
There are quite a few Western and Asian cuisine options, so you are sure to find something that appeals to your palate and purse. A delightful way to satisfy your palate is to breakfast at the hotel you are staying in, feast on a lunch of noodles at a roadside stall and then sip fine wine as you dine in a stylish, air-conditioned restaurant.
And for those in-between times, there's an assortment of delectable little titbits to choose from. Barbecue chicken, sticky rice, banana fritters, and luscious tropical fruit - whatever the time of day, there's always some delicious goodie to appease those hunger pangs!
Thailand is reputed for its tempting array of street fare. But don't worry if that is not your cup of tea. Most restaurants offer traditional Thai food, so you are not likely to miss out on Thai cuisine by not eating on the streets.
Seafood
To visit Phuket without sampling its seafood is to have never really visited Phuket! Fresh picks of squids, prawns, crabs, fish, oysters and lobsters from the Arabian Sea are the favourites.
You can choose to have your dish fried, grilled, sautéed, roasted, baked or steamed. Whatever the style of cooking - Chinese, Thai or Western, the final result is guaranteed to be a mouth-watering affair!
For an exotic dinner, try one of the seafood restaurants along Patong Beach Road. You can choose from a variety of Thai and Western preparations, depending on your budget. As a bid to lure visitors, many restaurants display a wide range of fish at the entrance, the display cabinet often being a fishing boat!
The Kan Eang Seafood restaurant located beneath the trees of the beachfront is highly favoured by the local inhabitants of Chalong. You will also love the freshly cooked marine fare sold by the vendors at the night market in Phuket town. They are stationed on Ong Sim Phai road, near Robinson's Department Store.
Chinese Food
If you like Chinese cuisine, Phuket has many options. Most restaurants and good hotels in town and along the Patong beach offer excellent Chinese food. For sukiyaki lovers, there are two branches of the MK restaurant, which is famed for its outstanding sukiyaki.
Western Food
Many of the good hotels in Phuket specialise in European food. The restaurants of different nationalities found along the beaches and in some of the high-end hotels offer genuine Western fare. Carrying with it a whiff of Mediterranean culinary expertise, you'll find the a la carte menu quite appetising.
Local Thai food
The local food brings together the best of Chinese, Malay and Thai cuisines. Phuket town has scores of shops and restaurants serving inexpensive local food, and often at much lower prices than at the beaches. You can also feast at the food stalls dotting the roadsides, markets and beachfronts.
Phuket's delicacies
Here are some of Phuket's local specialities, dishes that are different from those available in other parts of Thailand:
Khanom Chin
A favourite breakfast with the locals, Khanom Chin consists of rice noodles, served in a curry soup of shrimps or minced fish. It can also be eaten with beef or chicken curry. Though Khanom Chin is readily available all over Thailand, the Phuket version is reputed for its richer flavours and generous helpings of fresh vegetables.
Noodles
Phuket specialises in two types of fried noodles. The Mi Hun or Mi Hokkian (amoy noodles) is a delicious concoction of noodles fried with bits of pork, shrimps, green cabbage and shellfish, while the Mi Sapam, originally from the Sapam village, is served with a topping of seafood and gravy.
Ho Mok
Usually eaten with steamed rice, Ho Mok is a steamed fish curry with vegetables. Crab or any other type of seafood can also be used. The ingredients are steamed in either a foil container or banana leaves.
Curry
Most foreigners associate Thai curry with chicken and beef. Instead, if you are in Phuket, you should try the Kaeng Luang. A curry made with fish and vegetables, it is a favourite southern dish, in spite of its rather sour tang.
Namphrik Kung Siap
Sweetened crisp shrimps served with spicy shrimp paste and fresh vegetables, this is one Phuket specialty that you'll love.
Tao So
A small type of moon cake, the Tao So is an extremely popular Phuket speciality, and is often carried home by tourists.
Pineapples
The Phuket pineapples are luscious, sweet and firm to the touch. Best of all, they are easy on the pocket.
Cashew nuts
Phuket abounds in cashew nuts and the various types of delicious cashew snacks are a testimony to the boundless imagination of the Thais when it comes to food. Salted and roasted cashew nuts, garlic-flavoured cashew nuts, cashew nuts coated with honey and chocolate are some of the most popular types.
