Seafood Lover's Guide to Phuket: 10 Best Restaurants
Where to Eat Seafood in Phuket and What to Try?
Phuket is renowned for its fresh seafood and it’s almost a rite of passage for visitors to have at least one seafood dinner during their stay on the island. You’ll find a wide range of restaurants serving fish and the array of different styles, designs, and environments is equally impressive. The menus are brimming with delicious shrimp, crab, lobster, and calamari dishes as well as other fruits of the ocean.
Phuket’s top seafood dining spots range from simple but immensely enjoyable floating restaurants to well-established island icons. Read on to find out where to go for stellar seafood in Phuket.
1. Kan Eang Restaurant
Seafood galore by Chalong Bay
Good for: Food, Luxury, Photo
Kan Eang Restaurant is perhaps one of Phuket’s most loved seafood restaurants. It’s been going for decades and is a must-try for most visitors for its seaside location, atmospheric grounds and a wide-ranging menu that covers all the nautical bases. There’s also an onsite wine shop. You can find the restaurant next to Chalong Pier.
Their menu is a seafood lover’s dream with delicacies such as lobster, king and tiger brawns, mantis shrimp, and Andaman blue and mud crabs to name just a few. Try the luxurious Andaman Seafood Platter that includes tiger brawns sashimi, Andaman blue crabs, rock lobster, oysters, mussels, and cockles.
Location: 44 1 Rawai, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83130, Thailand
Open: Daily from 10 am to 11 pm
Phone: +66 (0)83 173 1187
Kan Eang Restaurant
2. Floating restaurants in Phuket
Freshness guaranteed
Good for: Food, Photo, Unusual
Phuket’s floating seafood restaurants are known as krachang by Thai locals and are an exciting way to dine out on the island. You can find them along the east coast of Phuket. The trip often involves a brief but fun long-tail boat ride from Laem Hin Pier towards the restaurants. Besides the dining experience, it can be a great day out all year round, come rain or shine.
The restaurants are built around floating fish farms. You can walk along planks between net enclosures to pick your fish, crab, or prawns to be cooked immediately to your liking. Savor the catch of the day while witnessing the variety of live marine life here and enjoying the stunning ocean views. Read more
Location: Laem Hin and Koh Maphrao, east coast of Phuket, Thailand
Floating restaurants in Phuket
3. Mor Mu Dong Restaurant
Dining among the mangroves in Chalong
Good for: Adventure, Food, Photo
Mor Mu Dong Restaurant in east Phuket would definitely win if there were an island-wide competition for rustic, unusual, and out-of-the-way restaurants. It serves authentic Southern Thai seafood cuisine in a rustic, mangrove-surrounded setting. Key dishes include its signature pla tu yad sai (stuffed mackerel). The restaurant is also known for its unique, tranquil atmosphere with diners eating in open-air pavilions along a canal.
Essentially a seafood eatery, Mor Mu Dong also serves a full raft of chicken dishes and a delicious pork dish with kruang nam prik (a hot chili sauce). Try their squid in black in sauce that includes tender squid in a rich and tangy sauce with crispy shallots.
Location: 9/4 Moo 3, Soi Palai, Chao Fa Road, Chalong, Phuket 83130, Thailand
Open: Daily from 10 am to 9 pm
Phone: +66 (0)88 766 1634
Mor Mu Dong Restaurant
4. Bang Pae Seafood Restaurant
A seafood legend on Phuket East Coast
Good for: Food, Photo
Bang Pae Seafood Restaurant is one of Phuket’s all-time seafood dining favorites and is located near the Bangpae Waterfall, in Thalang. This seaside restaurant has a lovely backdrop of mangroves. To get there, it’s about 9 km from the Heroines’ Monument towards Ao Por Pier and only a few hundred meters further down the road from Bangpae Waterfall and the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project. The restaurant is on the right-hand side of the road.
Try the tom yum talay (hot-and-sour Thai seafood soup), steamed blue crab, deep-fried tempura shrimp, stir-fried vegetables with cashew nuts, and fresh oysters with local herbs.
Location: Soi Bang Toei, Pakhlok, Thalang District, Phuket 83110, Thailand
Open: Daily from 10 am to 8 pm
Phone: +66 (0)87 887 5785
Bang Pae Seafood Restaurant
5. Thanoon Seafood
Beachside dining in Phang Nga
Good for: Food, Photo
You’ll find Thanoon Seafood just off Phuket Island, right by the Sarasin Bridge connecting Phuket to the mainland. Thanoon is a popular seafood restaurant that serves a wide selection of fish, lobsters, crabs, and all manner of seafood. It boasts a tank with live sea creatures from which you can choose the main ingredient of your meal.
The restaurant is known for its picturesque location with beachfront tables and thatched-roof salas, offering a beautiful dining experience. Don’t miss local favorites like yam gung siap (a crispy smoked prawn salad) and Phuket oysters.
Location: 13, Khok Kloi, Takua Thung District, Phang Nga 82140, Thailand
Open: Daily from 11 am to 9 pm
Phone: +66 (0)84 056 5088
Thanoon Seafood
6. Pak Nam Seafood Restaurant
A local favorite in Thalang
Good for: Budget, Food
Pak Nam Seafood Restaurant is a bustling seafood place recommended to those who like a bit of hustle and bustle along with a good meal. It’s extremely popular with local diners who make sure that there’s a lot going on most evenings. Pak Nam is a great seafood experience in the best of Phuket’s traditions.
On the menu, you’ll find Thai seafood staples and other delicacies from the local cuisine, and the prices are quite affordable. Arrive early or be prepared to wait for a table as this place fills up quickly.
Location: Thep Krasatti, Thalang District, Phuket 83110, Thailand
Open: Daily from 10 am to 11 pm
Phone: +66 (0)76 313 388
Pak Nam Seafood Restaurant
7. Kan Eang 2 Seafood Restaurant
Authentic Thai dishes by Chalong Bay
Good for: Couples, Food, Photo
Kan Eang 2 Seafood Restaurant is the second restaurant of the original and celebrated Kan Eang, next to Chalong Pier. Kan eang translates as ‘relaxed’ in English and this is definitely an apt name for this large beachside restaurant just north of Chalong, on Phuket’s east coast. The menu is versatile with all manner of fish and seafood featuring on it alongside a selection of favorite Thai dishes.
Try the fresh catch of the day, including fish, shrimp, squid, and lobster, all cooked to perfection and following tried-and-true Thai recipes.
Location: 9, 3 E Chaofah Rd, Chalong, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83130, Thailand
Open: Daily from 10 am to 10.30 pm
Phone: +66 (0)76 381 323
Kan Eang 2 Seafood Restaurant
8. Chaiyo Seafood Restaurant
Freshest seafood and mangrove views in Chalong
Good for: Food, Photo, Unusual
Set by a canal near Chalong on the island’s east coast, Chaiyo Seafood Restaurant (chaiyo meaning ‘hurrah!’) consists of wooden salas and a little-used air-conditioned room. The restaurant’s seafood is kept fresh in underwater cages to the side, so the ingredients are always fresh. You’ll find the restaurant on Kao Kad Road, halfway between Chalong and Phuket Town.
Once you enter the restaurant through a narrow wooden bridge, take a seat by the riverside in the open-air room, rather than the available air-conditioned room and enjoy a mangrove view with a breeze.
Location: 25 2 Muangthong-Kaokard Road, Wichit, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83000, Thailand
Open: Daily from 10.30 am to 10.30 pm
Phone: +66 (0)76 393 142
Chaiyo Seafood Restaurant
9. Parlai Seafood Restaurant
A Chalong Bay icon
Good for: Food, Photo
At Parlai Seafood Restaurant, you’ll get to dine in an authentic Thai setting and enjoy local favorites from their exciting menu. From tom yam pla (spicy seafood soup) and steamed lemon seabass to seafood salad served with fresh squid, you’re treated to the freshest ingredients and large potions.
Savor the delicious Pak Kood Seafood Salad Mellow or go for the fresh seafood curry soup that will take your breath away. While you wait for your meal to be prepared, take in the stunning Chalong Bay view.
Location: 32 Soi Palai, Chalong, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83000, Thailand
Open: Daily from 11 am to 9.30pm
Phone: +66 (0)81 891 2022
Parlai Seafood Restaurant
10. Rawai Seafood Market
A glimpse into the local everyday life in Chalong Bay
Good for: Budget, Food, Shoppers
Rawai Seafood Market offers the freshest of seafood and the guarantee that your purchase is going to benefit the local community and family-run businesses. You’ll find the market is along the dirt road to the left of Rawai Pier, after the stalls selling seashells by the seashore.
Featuring a broad selection of live fish and shellfish, you only need to carry your still-wriggling purchases across the road, where you can find a choice of restaurants to cook them for you there and then. Ask locals for recommendations where to go and what to buy. Read more
Location: Wiset Rd, Rawai, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83100, Thailand
Open: Daily from 9 am to 9 pm
Rawai Seafood Market
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