Eating

Phuket View Restaurant is aptly but not very creatively named. The thing that sets this restaurant apart is the view. It’s built high on Khao Rang (Rang Hill) in the middle of Phuket Town and has an excellent view of the surrounding city. It’s pretty neat trying to spot your hotel, the park, the big hospitals and all the other landmarks out of the tangle that is Phuket Town.

Sometimes you try a new restaurant not based on the recommendation of a friend or even just because you’ve seen a whole bunch of people crowding the place night after night, but because your dad makes the mistake of picking up one of the many glossy magazines that litter the corners of malls, restaurants, and other touristy places here in Phuket.

Nice, simple restaurants serving western food are a tough find in Phuket Town. That’s why I’m glad there’s the Cook 2. I only know about the Cook 2 as The Cook 1 seems to be located somewhere in Phuket Town that I have never been to. The decorations are very simple. It has an open front displaying cakes and other deserts. The tables are simple as are the settings, but it’s clean and friendly. Also, it’s nearly always full locals—a sure sign that the food is good and the price is right.

If you’re looking for a great beach to relax on, one with enough privacy that you’re not hunting for a beach chair or square meter of sand to call your own, but also one with enough modern services that you don’t have to set a watch for tigers, then Naithon is a great option.

One of the best seafood restaurants in the south of Phuket is Tang-Kae restaurant. It’s a big open place built on a secluded beach on Chalong Bay. It has great views of the bay and all the little islands that are just outside of it. There’s also a lot of local traffic on the water with small fishing boats going back and forth across the bay and giving you something to watch while you’re dining.

When you eat out all the time, restaurants can get a little boring. The most important criteria for choosing a place to eat tend to be speed, price, and an easy menu. It’s very rare that you get an interesting take on your one of your favorite dishes that that turns eating from a chore into a pleasure. It’s even more rare for this experience to happen at less than 3,000 THB a meal. So, when I tell you that Sixth Sense Cafe does this, it is something special.

In my never ending quest for a decent Pizza in Phuket, I’ve been to more than a few so called “pizzerias” and found nearly all of them lacking. M&M Pizzeria is one of the authentic Italian restaurants on the island. It’s been going for quite a few years now. It’s original location was along the beach in Rawai in one of the standard little Thai style houses. Despite the inauspicious surroundings, the place was always packed. So much so that I avoided it just because I didn’t want to wait.

If you’re looking for a high-end restaurant in Phuket that delivers on the food but not on the high prices, then I strongly recommend Dibuk Restaurant. They’ve been operating for all the 9 years that I’ve been here, and while I’ve always saved it as a place for special occasions, the food has always been excellent.

Kata Beach has grown a lot in recent years, with a bunch of new villa properties, hotels, and apartment complexes replacing a lot of the shophouses and guesthouses that used to define the area. Concomitant with the rise in high end houses has been the increase in boutique stores and better restaurants.