In honor of my new stomping grounds, Phuket, being recently declared a UNESCO Creative City due to its gastronomical delights, I would like to share my absolute favorite restaurants and dishes with you. Although each Thai region boasts unique and local treats, the food scene in Phuket is a bit different than the rest of Thailand. The island of Phuket is much more culturally heterogeneous than the mainland, and the proof is in the pudding. Food joke!
The history of Phuket has evolved its cuisine on a different trajectory than the rest of the country. Over the centuries, the island of Phuket has been strategically important in the entire Andaman region to a variety of interesting visitors, and those visitors (and conquerors and colonizers) incorporated their imports into the cuisine. Phuket belonged to the Ancient Javanese Sirivijaya Empire, until it was incorporated into the Thai Empire in the 13th century. Chinese, Arabian, Sri Lankan, and Portuguese traders came to trade pearls with Sea gypsies, and by the 16th century, the Dutch, French, and English were setting up settlements to capitalize on the tin mining and rubber industries. Most recently, the tourism industry is attracting long term residents from an eclectic mix of places, with Swedish bakeries, upscale burger “factories,” and pop –up fusion street cook-offs.
The Baba cuisine of Phuket is a harmonious blend of Thai, Chinese, Malay, and just a little European flair.
Below are some of my favourites. Most are located in Phuket Town, but each and every beach town has some serious gems worth checking out, or at least some fresh seafood being brought :
1. Kopitiam by Wilai
The food here is distinctly local and Baba. Hokkein noodles with Chinese sausage are a specialty, as is Moo Hong, stewed pork belly in Chinese spices. Plus, it’s right next to the oldest herb shop in Phuket. I order the Massaman curry or the Red curry with duck and pineapple every time.
2. The Bookhemian
Café bookstores are a huge trend back home (if your home is any country in the west) but they are still quite a new phenomenon in Phuket. And I love this one as it is one of the few small, independent bookstores that sells both Thai and English books, new and a few used. The décor is very modern-rustic, in other words, very Phuket. And the orange cinnamon iced latte is a delightful accompaniment to literary browsing, or popping back out onto Thalang Street to admire more Sino-Portuguese architecture.
3. Speaking of books, I’ve got another favorite, but seemingly nameless restaurant/bookstore
According to googlemaps, it’s Bookshop Café, on Phangnga Road, just past another of my favorite used bookshops, Southwind Books. Bookshop Café, is less a café, and more a noodle shop with a lot of used books for sale. It’s a beach town, so there are more best sellers than Nobel prize winning works, but you can find classics, travel books, and even some Thai language materials. And they have a huge language selection: French, Swedish, Russian, etc. And the pork noodle soup is a must try while in Thailand.
4. The Cook
Continuing on Phangnga Road, the very unassuming, The Cook, is worth a try, as it is not just a pizza place. It’ got green curry pizza. Green curry pizza! Enough said.
5. Binky’s Kao Soy
But Kao Soy is an iconic northern dish! A Chiang Mai specialty! Now you can have a taste of the north without two overnight train rides! Or if you somehow missed this Burmese-inspired curry coup with egg noodles and stewed chicken thigh, heave a sigh of relief. You can find it down south (with a bit of effort) too. Binky’s is only open for lunch, they are fast, friendly, and they have a kao soy pizza!
