No tourist traps: explore five standout Phuket restaurants serving wonderful Thai, Mediterranean, Japanese and Chinese flavours.

Phuket’s food scene never slows down, but choosing can be tough. From neighbourhood joints to hotel spots serving Thai, Chinese, Mediterranean or Japanese, why not try them all on a single trip?

This edition of Koktail Kuisine singles out five Phuket restaurants with serious culinary chops. For first-timers and jaded island regulars, these are guaranteed wins with great food and zero pretension. 

Bucha Gallery & Restaurant

Chef Wina crafts Southern Thai dishes from heirloom recipes, serving coastal catches and massaman lamb surrounded by Theravada Buddhist art 

As you might gather from the name, Bucha Gallery & Restaurant is no ordinary place. Seeking to unite the best of both worlds, it is one part restaurant offering refined Southern Thai cuisine, the other a gallery highlighting Thailand’s spiritual ties to Theravada Buddhism through sculptural art, framed amulets on the walls and bodhi leaf accents. Cooking with her grandmother’s time-honoured culinary wisdom, Chef Wina Sriyaphong works with local herbs and coastal catches: prawn-topped pomelo salad; massaman lamb shank; yellow sea bass curry; sticky-rice-stuffed squid; and tableside-spiced khao yum herbal rice salad.

26/156 Moo 9, Chao Fah Tawan Ok Road, Chalong, Phuket. Tel: +66 61 176 5562. Open Thu-Tue from 7.30am-9pm. 

Issara Restaurant & Bar

Brothers Nikola, a MasterChef winner, and mixologist Filip serve Thai-Japanese dishes and signature cocktails and are poised for a comeback after 31 August 

Ready for a comeback following a major renovation (1-31 August), Issara Restaurant & Bar at Kata Beach stems from the dual vision of brothers Chef Nikola Lesar – the 2012 MasterChef Croatia champion – and master mixologist Filip Lesar. The duo fully embrace global traditions, focusing on Asian flavours like Thai and Japanese and turning them into a cultural-culinary mosaic. Chef Nikola’s eclectic menu presents Phuket crab cakes with guava-lychee salad and braised Australian lamb shank alongside sardine-rolled octopus fregula. Filip’s bar program is equally inventive; signature cocktails like the rum-based Neo-Siam with kaffir lime and the gin-led Setting Sun showcase local fruit and native botanicals.

1/34 Kata Noi Road, Kata Beach, Karon, Phuket. Tel: +66 76 604 296. Open daily from 1.30pm-11pm. 

Joya

Spurred by Friday DJ beats, this buzzing Boat Avenue haunt slings gin-laced Purple Rain cocktails alongside coconut crab cakes and truffle-miso scallops 

Sitting right on high-energy Boat Avenue, Joya is joyously alive with infectious warmth, flowing conversations and weekly Friday DJ sessions. The cocktail list leads the charge, featuring the floral, berry-rich Purple Rain (named after the Prince song) alongside exceptional negronis ready for Negroni Week celebrations. The culinary offering matches the bar’s high standard, showcasing crab cakes with coconut and guacamole, an impressive artisanal foie gras terrine with brioche and grilled scallops resting on a cushion of truffle and miso-infused sweet potato. 

49/21 Boat Avenue Cherngtalay, Choeng Thale, Thalang, Phuket. Tel: +66 94 737 2468. Open daily from 8am-12am. 

Tengoku

Kamala Beach’s iron griddle joint skips flashy tricks for sharp Osaka precision, serving tonkatsu ramen and A4 Kagoshima wagyu okonomiyaki

A few restaurants serve Japanese food in Phuket but even fewer can do it justice. Tengoku, located at InterContinental Phuket Resort on Kamala Beach, is one you should look out for. It’s not just vaguely Japanese either; Tengoku focuses on Osaka-style cuisine, more specifically the teppanyaki method which originated there following the Second World War. Anything cooked on the flat iron griddle is sure to be a spectacle, but Tengoku isn’t showy, delivering it with a fineness. Try out their tonkatsu ramen topped with chashu pork, bamboo shoots and wood ear mushrooms. Osaka’s classic okonomiyaki is given a twist here, balancing a golden-edged base with A4 wagyu from Kagoshima.

InterContinental Phuket Resort, 333, 333/3 Moo 3, Kamala, Kathu, Phuket. Tel: +66 76 629 999. Open Thu-Mon from 6pm-10pm. 

Yue

Chef Lee’s Old Town Chinese place serves non-stop dim sum with drunken chicken, emerald crab soup and seared scallops over asparagus 

When you stumble around the streets of Phuket’s Old Town looking for some Chinese fare, Yue is the place to go. Stepping inside feels like entering a contemporary Chinese banqueting house, brimming with boundless dim sum and Chef Lee Kuan Foo’s creations. The menu flirts with tradition, serving wine-soaked drunken chicken alongside a crab-and-egg-white emerald soup. It simply doesn’t hold back, rolling out roasted duck, suckling pig, live Andaman sea crabs and a plate of seared scallops and plump prawns laid on young asparagus. 

Courtyard by Marriott Phuket Town, 1 Soi Surin, Talat Yai, Mueang, Phuket. Tel: +66 76 643 555. Open daily from 11am-2.30pm and 6pm-10.30pm.