Best Restaurants in Phuket (2026): Michelin Picks to Old Town Kitchens

Phuket is a better place to eat than its beach-resort reputation suggests. The MICHELIN Guide Thailand 2026 lists 62 restaurants on the island: one Michelin star, 18 Bib Gourmands and 43 Selected restaurants. A Phuket-born chef won the guide's national Young Chef Award this year. And in Phuket Town, the island's old Hokkien, Malay and Southern Thai food culture produces dishes you won't find in Bangkok.

The range is huge: a ฿50 plate of Hokkien noodles in an old-town shophouse and an 18-course tasting menu in Surin can both be the best meal of your trip. This guide covers 22 restaurants, organised by area, from Phuket Town and the Patong clifftops to the resort coast at Surin and Bang Tao, the quiet north and east, and the seafood south. Every restaurant was checked as open in October 2026, and the awards are taken from the MICHELIN Guide Thailand 2026, Tatler Best Thailand 2026 and the TOP25 Restaurants Phuket and Southern Thailand rankings for 2025.

The Quick List

Prices are converted at about ฿33.6 to USD 1. Most upscale Phuket restaurants add 10% service and 7% VAT (17.7% in total, shown on menus as "++"), and the figures above are before that charge unless stated. For every restaurant and hotel we cover on the island, see the Phuket directory.

Phuket Town

Phuket Town is where the island's food story is told best. The old town's Sino-Portuguese shophouses date from the tin-mining boom of the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Hokkien Chinese families settled here, and the cooking that grew up here mixes Hokkien, Malay and Southern Thai traditions: yellow crab curry with rice noodles, moo hong (pork belly braised with black pepper and garlic), o-tao oyster omelettes. The best meals cost a fraction of a resort dinner. From the west-coast beaches, allow 30 to 45 minutes by car.

Royd

Royd ★ 4.8 is the restaurant of the year in Phuket. Chef Suwijak "Mond" Kunghae, who was born on the island and won Iron Chef Thailand, received the MICHELIN Guide Thailand Young Chef Award 2026, and Tatler Best Thailand named Royd its Rising Star for 2026. The restaurant, a shophouse on Dibuk Road with about 20 seats and a counter, is in the Michelin Guide.

The tasting menu is contemporary Southern Thai, built on Phuket produce: torch ginger runs through it, alongside a Krabi-style fish curry and frog's legs with fermented rice noodles. Eight courses cost ฿3,950++ and five courses ฿3,290++ (about USD 118 and USD 98 before tax and service). Dinner is Thursday to Monday, with seatings at 5pm and 8:15pm, plus lunch at weekends. Book a few weeks ahead in high season.

One Chun

If you eat one local meal in Phuket Town, make it at One Chun ★ 4.4. It has held a Michelin Bib Gourmand for seven years running, and it cooks Phuket-style Thai and Hokkien dishes in a shophouse on Thepkasattri Road. The crab yellow curry with betel leaf and rice noodles (฿370, about USD 11) and the moo hong (฿265, about USD 8) are the dishes Michelin's inspectors single out.

Budget about ฿300-600 per person (about USD 9-18). One Chun is cash only and gets queues at peak times. Its sister restaurant, Chom Chan, is nearby and takes bookings.

Raya

Raya ★ 4.4 has been serving Phuket food since 1994 from a Sino-Portuguese mansion of around 100 years old on Dibuk Road, and it is still the most famous restaurant in town. The signature is mee hoon gaeng poo, a coconut crab curry loaded with crab meat and served with rice noodles. Moo hong and stir-fried sataw beans with prawns are the other orders.

Raya held a Bib Gourmand from 2019 to 2024 and is not in the 2026 guide, but the crab curry remains the town's benchmark. Budget about ฿300-600 per person (about USD 9-18). It is open daily from 10am to 10pm; arrive before noon at lunch or book for dinner.

Lock Tien

For decades, Lock Tien ★ 4.9 was a food court on the corner of Dibuk and Yaowarat roads. In 2025 the family behind it moved about 650 metres south to a single shophouse at 59/14 Bangkok Road, so older guides that send you to the corner are out of date. The menu hasn't changed: Hokkien fried noodles, o-tao, fresh po pia spring rolls and lo ba.

Most dishes cost ฿30-100 (about USD 1-3). It is open daily from 9am to 7pm, so plan it for breakfast or lunch.

Heh

Heh ★ 4.6, on Yaowarat Road, is the old town's best modern restaurant after Royd. Chef-owner Nattaphon "Oat" Othanawathakij, who trained in Melbourne and won Iron Chef Thailand in 2021, dry-ages line-caught local fish and cooks it over charcoal. It is in the Michelin Guide and on BK Magazine's Top Tables 2026.

The menu is à la carte, with dishes from about ฿219 to ฿499, so allow about ฿1,000++ per person (about USD 30). Heh is closed Tuesday and Wednesday, serves dinner from 5pm on the other days, and adds lunch at weekends.

Blue Elephant

Blue Elephant Phuket ★ 4.7 occupies a restored Sino-Portuguese mansion on Krabi Road, built by the tin baron Phra Phitak Chinpracha. It is the grandest dining room in the old town. The menu combines Royal Thai cooking with Phuket recipes, but the cooking school is the stronger reason to come: classes cost about ฿2,800++ per person (about USD 83). Book ahead from December to March.

Patong, Kalim and Tri Trang

Patong itself is the island's party strip, and most of its restaurants cater to volume rather than quality. The serious dining sits just outside it, on the cliffs at Kalim to the north and around the bay at Tri Trang to the south. Both face west, so book for sunset.

L'Arôme by the Sea

L'Arôme by the Sea ★ 4.7 ranked No. 1 in the TOP25 Restaurants Phuket and Southern Thailand awards for 2025, and it is in the Michelin Guide. Executive chef Maksym Chukanov, who has worked at Noma and Ikarus, cooks a seafood-led modern French tasting menu with Asian flavours, fermentation and grilling, and there is a vegetarian tasting menu too.

The clifftop dining room faces straight out to sea. It opens daily from 4pm, with the last seating at 9:45pm. Request a window table for sunset when you book.

Baan Rim Pa

Baan Rim Pa ★ 4.2 has served Royal Thai cuisine for more than 30 years. It moved from its original cliff at the end of Patong Beach to a new site on the cliffs at Kalim in about 2015, and the candlelit terraces looking back over Patong Bay are as romantic as ever.

The cooking is traditional and polished rather than inventive, and the wine list is long. It is open daily from noon to 11pm. Online bookings need 24 hours' notice; ask for a terrace table at sunset.

Tambu

Tambu ★ 4.7 serves progressive Indian food from a rooftop tent at Avista Hideaway, above Tri Trang Beach. Chef Saurabh Sachdeva, an Iron Chef Thailand winner, cooks over charcoal, and his shiso leaf chaat has become the restaurant's signature. Tambu ranked No. 5 in the TOP25 awards for 2025 and is in the Michelin Guide. The main offer is the eight-course Roots 2.0 tasting menu. It is open daily from 6pm, with lunch at weekends.

Ta Khai

Ta Khai ★ 4.6 is the Southern Thai restaurant at Rosewood Phuket ★ 4.7 on Emerald Bay. It has been in the Michelin Guide for six consecutive years. The seafood comes from tanks on site, and the gaeng pu (crab curry), moo hong and deep-fried white snapper with fish sauce are the dishes to order. Prices are high for Thai food (a grilled beef salad is ฿999, about USD 30), but the setting and cooking match the resort. It is open daily from 6pm to 10pm.

Surin and Kamala

The bays between Surin and Kamala hold two of the island's most ambitious tasting menus, both within a short drive of the Surin and Pansea resorts.

The Smokaccia Laboratory

The Smokaccia Laboratory ★ 4.9 is the most inventive restaurant on the island. Chef Luca Mascolo calls himself a "culinary scientist", and his tasting menus are playful and close to zero-waste. The smoked focaccia with mortadella foam that gives the restaurant its name is the dish everyone remembers. It ranked No. 2 in the TOP25 awards for 2025 and is in the Michelin Guide.

Nine courses cost ฿5,500++ and 18 courses ฿6,900++ (about USD 164 and USD 205 before tax and service), with vegetarian and vegan versions at the same price. It is open Thursday to Monday, with seatings from 6pm to 7:30pm.

hom

hom ★ 4.7, at InterContinental Phuket Resort ★ 4.8 on Kamala Bay, builds its tasting menu around fermentation and Thai produce. It won a Tatler Best Thailand Spotlight Award in 2026, ranked No. 4 in the TOP25 awards for 2025, and is in the Michelin Guide.

The kitchen changed in July 2026: chef de cuisine Marcelo Baruch, formerly of Lanhyai in Bangkok, now leads it, and the new Tribhumikatha menu comes in six or nine courses. Dinner is served Tuesday to Saturday from 6:30pm. The same resort's Jaras, which serves a seasonal Thai tasting menu, also won a Tatler Spotlight Award in 2026.

Bang Tao, Cherngtalay and Nai Thon

The northwest coast, from the Laguna complex at Bang Tao up to Nai Thon, is where Phuket's top resort dining is concentrated. If you're staying at Laguna, Surin or Layan, all three restaurants here are within 15 minutes.

PRU

PRU ★ 4.4, at Trisara ★ 4.8, is Phuket's only Michelin-starred restaurant and also holds a Michelin Green Star; both were retained in 2026. Executive chef and co-owner Jimmy Ophorst cooks almost entirely with Thai produce, much of it from the restaurant's own farm, and the open kitchen looks out to the Andaman Sea. PRU turned ten in 2026 and reopened on 1 October after a renovation.

The PRU Experience dinner costs ฿7,500++ (about USD 223 before tax and service) and lunch ฿4,000++ (about USD 119). Wine pairings start at ฿6,500++, so dinner with wine comes to around ฿14,000++ per person. Dinner is served Tuesday to Saturday and lunch on Friday and Saturday. Book well ahead for December to March. Trisara's Thai Library, also in the Michelin Guide, is the resort's other strong table.

Suay

Chef Tammasak "Noi" Chootong's Suay ★ 4.6 has been in the Michelin Guide every year since 2019. The Phuket Town branch has closed, and the restaurant now operates only in Cherngtalay, in a garden setting a few minutes from Laguna. The menu reworks Thai classics with Western technique: foie gras wrapped in betel leaf is the signature, alongside crab cakes, tuna laab and lemongrass lamb chops.

It is one of the best-value modern Thai restaurants on the island. Starters run from ฿189 to ฿790 and mains from about ฿650 to ฿1,190, so ฿800-1,500 per person (about USD 24-45) covers most meals. It is open daily from 4pm.

Nitan

Nitan ★ 4.7 is the area's strongest independent tasting menu, serving contemporary Southern Thai food in a small room on Si Sunthon Road. It is in the Michelin Guide. The Soil & Sea menu, launched in April 2026, is five courses plus petit fours for ฿3,900++ (about USD 116 before tax and service). It is open Wednesday to Sunday from 7pm to 10pm.

The North

The north of the island is quieter, greener and close to the airport, which makes these two restaurants useful for a first or last night.

Jampa

Jampa ★ 4.7 is PRU's more relaxed sister restaurant, in the Tri Vananda community at Thalang. It holds a Michelin Green Star, and the farm-to-table menu leans on live-fire cooking. The four-course Jampa Experience menu costs ฿2,900++ (about USD 86 before tax and service), with à la carte alongside. It is open Thursday to Monday from noon to 10pm, so it is one of the few serious kitchens on the island that suits a long lunch.

Black Ginger

Black Ginger ★ 4.2, at The Slate on Nai Yang Beach, has the most theatrical arrival on the island: a raft carries you across a lagoon to a traditional Thai house on the far bank. Chef Anongrat "Piak" Meklai cooks Southern Thai recipes, with dishes from about ฿110 to ฿620 (about USD 3-18) on 2024 menus. It is open daily from 6pm. Bookings need a non-refundable deposit of ฿1,000 per person from April to September and ฿2,000 from October to March.

The East Coast

Phuket's east coast faces Phang Nga Bay and its limestone islands. There are no swimming beaches to speak of, but the views are dramatic and the pace is slower.

Nahmyaa

Nahmyaa ★ 4.7 is the Southern Thai restaurant at COMO Point Yamu, on a cape looking across Phang Nga Bay. The room was designed by Paola Navone, and the menu, available as an eight-course tasting menu or à la carte, focuses on the turmeric curries, shrimp-paste relishes and sharp salads of Thailand's southern provinces. It serves dinner Wednesday to Sunday from 6:30pm. From the west coast, allow 40 minutes to an hour by car.

Kruvit Raft

Kruvit Raft ★ 4.4 is a floating seafood restaurant off Koh Maphrao, reached by a free five-minute longtail ride from Laem Hin Pier, about 10 kilometres north of Phuket Town. It is in the Michelin Guide. Seafood is priced by weight; order the seabass cooked two ways and the soft-shell crab. It is open daily from 10am to 10pm. Bring cash, as the card signal on the raft can be unreliable.

Rawai, Chalong and Kata

The south of the island is the place for seafood, plus one of the few special-occasion restaurants near Kata and Karon.

Rawai Seafood Market

At Rawai Seafood Market ★ 4.4, near Rawai Pier, you buy fish, prawns, crab or lobster from the stalls, then take them across the road to a restaurant that will cook them however you like. The cooking fee is about ฿100 per kilo (about USD 3), and a seafood dinner for two usually costs ฿1,000-1,500 (about USD 30-45), depending on what you buy; large prawns can reach ฿1,500 per kilo. Agree the price before the vendor weighs your choice. The market is open daily from 11am to 9pm.

Mor Mu Dong

Mor Mu Dong ★ 4.4, in Chalong, holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand for 2026. It serves Southern Thai food on the edge of the mangroves, with stuffed mackerel, crab rolls and seafood from live tanks among the dishes to order. It is open daily from 10am to about 9pm, and it is the best-value seafood meal near the southern beaches.

Mom Tri's Kitchen

Mom Tri's Kitchen ★ 4.5, at Villa Royale above Kata Noi Beach, is the best special-occasion restaurant in the Kata and Karon area. It serves Thai, continental and fusion dishes from a terrace above the bay, and the wine cellar holds more than 750 labels. Most dishes cost about ฿980-2,800 (about USD 29-83). Book a terrace table for sunset.

Practical Tips

Reservations: For PRU, Royd, The Smokaccia Laboratory, hom and Nitan, book two to three weeks ahead for December to March, and longer for Christmas and New Year. Most other restaurants can be booked a few days ahead. At One Chun and Lock Tien, arrive early to avoid the queues.

Tax and service: Menus marked "++" add 10% service and 7% VAT. Tipping beyond that is not expected, though leaving ฿20-50 at casual places is appreciated.

Heat: Southern Thai food is hotter than Bangkok's. If you're sensitive to chilli, say so when you order, but the heat is integral to many dishes.

Sunset: The west coast, including Kalim, Tri Trang, Kamala, Surin, Kata and Nai Harn, gets the sunset over the sea. Phuket Town and the east coast do not.

Transport: Phuket is larger than it looks, and traffic around Patong and Phuket Town can be slow. Allow 30 to 45 minutes from the west-coast beaches to the old town, and an hour or more from Bang Tao to Rawai.

Season: The dry season from November to April is peak dining season, when the best tables book up fastest. The best time to visit Phuket guide covers the weather month by month.

Beach clubs: For an afternoon on the sand with food, Catch Beach Club on Bang Tao Beach runs a Sunday brunch and Friday barbecue. Pair it with our guide to Phuket's best beaches.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best restaurant in Phuket?

PRU at Trisara is the only restaurant on the island with a Michelin star, which it holds alongside a Michelin Green Star. Royd in Phuket Town and The Smokaccia Laboratory in Surin are the strongest alternatives: Royd's chef won the MICHELIN Guide Thailand Young Chef Award 2026, and The Smokaccia Laboratory ranked No. 2 in the TOP25 Phuket awards for 2025.

How many Michelin-starred restaurants are there in Phuket?

One. PRU is the only Michelin-starred restaurant on Phuket in the 2026 guide. Phuket also has 18 Bib Gourmands and 43 Selected restaurants. Aulis Phuket, Simon Rogan's restaurant at Natai Beach, also holds a star, but the MICHELIN Guide places it in Phang Nga province, just north of Phuket.

Where is the best local food in Phuket?

Phuket Town. One Chun, Raya and Lock Tien serve the island's distinctive Hokkien-influenced cooking, from crab curry with rice noodles to moo hong and o-tao. Most meals cost under ฿600 per person.

Which area of Phuket has the best restaurants?

Phuket Town is best for local food and the most exciting new chefs. The northwest coast around Bang Tao, Surin and Nai Thon has the most acclaimed tasting menus, including PRU and The Smokaccia Laboratory. For sunset dining, the clifftops at Kalim and Tri Trang near Patong are hard to beat.

How much does fine dining cost in Phuket?

A top tasting menu costs about ฿2,900-7,500 per person (about USD 86-223) before drinks, plus 17.7% tax and service. A meal at a Phuket Town Bib Gourmand costs about ฿300-600 (about USD 9-18).

For where to base yourself, see our guide to where to stay in Phuket, and for days between meals, the best things to do in Phuket.