Rawai Beach Restaurants

Gourmands won't be disappointed in Rawai. Everything - from noodle stands to five-star dining - is available in this area and it's a remarkably easy place to get around in.

Northern Rawai

Three hundred metres south of Chalong's traffic circle on the right-hand side of the road is La Cabane, a French restaurant. La Cabane serves hearty fare with reasonable prices and is a well-turned out eatery. Further down on the same side of the road, just before the turn off into Soi Sai Yuan, is The Drunken Monkey, a restaurant specializing in Sunday brunches and daily traditional English food with free WiFi access.

Diagonally opposite, down Soi Mittrapap, is Friendship Beach where Sunday brunches are also served up as well as Thai and American food. Its beach/poolside dining location draws many expat families on weekends.

Heading south there are many cheap eateries nestled between bars and shophouses, each sporting their own logos and selling points ('Soft drinks and Real drinks here').

Follow the sign on the right to the Mangosteen Resort and you will discover yet another popular Sunday Brunch venue, but one with a fabulous 360-degree view of southern Phuket. This attractive resort also has a competent wine cellar and good cuisine.

A fascinating but out-of-the-way restaurant in this area is Laem Ka Noi Seafood. To find it, pass Soi Saliga on the left-hand side of the road and continue south, looking for the signage then turn left and drive as far as the road will take you ... and it will take you quite a distance. The quaint, isolated seaside setting is the starting point for an enjoyable evening's dining.

As for a five-star fine-dining experience, you can't go wrong at Evason Resort - further to the south. You will have to park at the resort's car park, walk up to reception and take a shuttle bus down to the lower level where there are three excellent restaurants and a buffet hall.

On the lowest level, accessed by stairs, Into the Beach features seafood and is a sand-between-your-toes experience. Into the Med has fine dining with a spectacular easterly facing view over Chalong Bay to Koh Lon, a jungle-covered island opposite. Into Thai features... you guessed it already, Thai food. Into the View (strangely enough, without much of a view) has a nightly changing regional buffet. Strolling musicians provide the ambience and the hotel's wine selection is exemplary.

By the Beach

Rounding the bend at the bottom of the road, a plethora of dining-out options waits. Freedom Bar does English pub grub, Maggie and Mario's serve up excellent and affordably priced Italian fare (including possibly the best pizza in Phuket!). The smaller eateries on the right-hand side of the road deal mostly in seafood.

On your left as you head down this road you will see a cluster of cement/porcelain tables and chairs but no restaurant. What's going on? Well, the restaurant serving diners here is actually on the other side of the road! They should have called it 'A Road Runs through It' but its real name is Sala Loi. The theme is reproduced in kind all along the beach except without tables and chairs: diners sit on mats place on the beach and eat off short-legged tables under the causarina trees. It's all very rustic, very charming and the food is good, too - mostly barbecued fish and chicken with glutinous rice and fresh veggies.

The furthermost restaurant on Rawai Beach is Baan Haad Rawai - a large seafood affair dealing mostly in tourist groups. Don't let this put you off though, as it really is quite good and actually has a wine list.

Some two kilometres up the road at Laem Phromthep (the most well-known of Phuket's viewpoints) is another large seafood restaurant. This place is nothing if not well-ventilated, with breezes flying in from the Andaman Sea and (daytime) views across the sweep of Nai Harn Beach.