Best of

Explore the various aspects of Thailand, from its vibrant cities to its serene beaches, with Thaiger’s Best-of Guides. Covering a wide range of topics including lifestyle, entertainment, travel, and property, these guides will help you discover the hidden gems and top attractions in the country. Whether you are a tourist, expat, or local, our Best-of Guides provide valuable insights and tips to make your Thailand experience truly unforgettable.

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  • Going cuckoo for quality cocoa in our chocolates

    Going cuckoo for quality cocoa in our chocolates

    PHUKET: Though the week-long Classic Belgian Gourmet Chocolate Of Legend event hosted by the JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa came to a close on March 13, some of the delicious creations remain. French chocolatier and pastry chef Jean-Marc Bernelin not only led classes and chocolate-making demonstrations, but he also created a number of creamy and dark chocolate masterpieces to…

  • From brunch to beach: Nikki Beach Club’s Amazing Sunday Brunch

    From brunch to beach: Nikki Beach Club’s Amazing Sunday Brunch

    PHUKET: At the end of most Sunday brunches, as the meal winds down and champagne diminishes, you start to think about the day ahead, and how to make the most of it, so the impending doom of an inevitable Monday doesn’t seem so bad. The focus of the event is often only the food – as delicious as it may…

  • Hotpot: Sharing is caring

    Hotpot: Sharing is caring

    PHUKET: There are two ways to make your food taste better: eat it fresh and share it with friends. There are few dishes out there fresher and easier to share than an Asian hotpot. To try the latest incarnation in Phuket, visit Karon Beach Square’s Orient Asia restaurant. The concept of Karon Beach Square is based on a simple goal:…

  • Teeing up a new menu at Banyan Cafe

    Teeing up a new menu at Banyan Cafe

    PHUKET: If you’re looking for a change from all the sea-view dining on the island, head for Banyan Tree in Laguna Phuket and grab a table at the Banyan Cafe. A meal with a lush-green golf-course view will surely provide a break from the norm. Even if you are one of the many returning customers of the Banyan Cafe, there…

  • Phuket’s Jasmine B brings feline touch to fine dining

    Phuket’s Jasmine B brings feline touch to fine dining

    PHUKET: Jasmine B is a charming new restaurant opposite Home Pro Shopping Center on Chao Fa Road West. It also happens to be the name of owner and manager Khun Nidnoi’s pet Bengal cat, which is fitting, as this is one lovely hang-out for cool humans and cats alike. Jasmine B is air-conditioned, elegantly decorated and boasts a state-of-the-art glass-fronted…

  • Aziamendi: Breaking culinary boundaries

    Aziamendi: Breaking culinary boundaries

    PHUKET: Some restaurants are defined by their menu, others by their location or wines. Iniala’s Aziamendi is difficult to define. It gets everything right – the menu, the location and the wines. But, if there is one thing that sets it apart, it’s the boundaries that it breaks. Where to begin? Take the chef, for a first example. Eneko Atxa…

  • Beefing up the classic lazy Phuket beachside Sunday BBQ

    Beefing up the classic lazy Phuket beachside Sunday BBQ

    PHUKET: To live on a tropical island like Phuket and not to go to the beach? It’s a crime! And yet, busy schedules, early sunsets and impossible heat during the day, all seem like good excuses for not making it there. At times, it feels like we only see the beach in our friends’ Facebook posts. Luckily, Sunday is here…

  • Food: You say Kobe, I say Saga

    Food: You say Kobe, I say Saga

    PHUKET: Have you ever heard of Saga beef? Most of us haven’t. Many of us, though, are familiar with Kobe beef – if not with its fabled flavor, than at least with its lore, which tells of pampered cows enjoying lives filled with Beethoven’s symphonies, gentle massages and buckets of sake before they meet their fate at the slaughter house.…

  • Thanyapura’s brunch simply DiVine (video)

    Thanyapura’s brunch simply DiVine (video)

    PHUKET: If Phuket has a favorite meal, it’s got to be Sunday brunch. Just about any respectable hotel or resort has one on offer, and most are doing a great job with it – inviting guests for incredible food in spectacular locations. Thanyapura, which has long-offered a delectable Sunday brunch variation, recently came up with a new Sunday brunch formula…

  • Local flavors with a stunning Phuket view

    Local flavors with a stunning Phuket view

    PHUKET: Phuket is a unique island, unlike any other in Thailand, and many consider it to be more of a separate entity with its own culture, history and cuisine. All three can be discovered in the narrow lanes of Old Phuket Town. But, if your main focus is food and you like to dine while enjoying a sea view, Senzees…

  • Senzanome: No name, just flavor

    Senzanome: No name, just flavor

    PHUKET: Confidence is silent, insecurities are loud. In a world of bragging loudmouths, marketing talk and aggressive advertising, food at Phuket’s Senzanome restaurant speaks for itself. At the far end of Phuket Boat Lagoon, right on the edge of a yacht pier, is a quiet place. There are no crowds here and no motorbikes zooming back and forth, just an…

  • The Art of Coffee: Phuket barista to take on Hilton rivals from throughout Southeast Asia

    The Art of Coffee: Phuket barista to take on Hilton rivals from throughout Southeast Asia

    PHUKET: Even before the world was full of middle-class yuppies, coffee was a big deal to those in the know. Now, everyone is part of the in-crowd, and even those wanting just a simple cup of coffee are asking their barista for an Americano. For those who aren’t in the know, a barista is to coffee what a sommelier is…

  • Discovering familiar flavors in new ways in Phuket

    Discovering familiar flavors in new ways in Phuket

    PHUKET: We all feel adventurous sometimes, eager to try new things, explore the terra incognita. Yet, there are times, when all we crave is the well known, the familiar, the home-cooked. La Gritta’s new “Discovery Menu” is the right choice, no matter what your mood is. Scanning through La Gritta’s new Discovery Menu is more relaxing than exciting. It’s all…

  • When a plate is turned into a canvas

    When a plate is turned into a canvas

    PHUKET: Sitting at JW Marriott’s Cafe, I look down on my plate and see a piece of art. Ingredients are elaborately piled up to form a miniature sculpture, and there are swooshes of sauce and sprinkles of spices, all resembling a contemporary painting. On top of these visual impressions, is the aroma rising to my nostrils and soon after, the…

  • Phuket’s top chefs join forces to benefit the Home & Life Orphanage Foundation [video] | Thaiger

    Phuket’s top chefs join forces to benefit the Home & Life Orphanage Foundation [video]

    Phuket Today spoke with Iniala’s Danny Drinkwater about the Enchanted Evening and meets the chefs who will be on the auction block on Nov 1. PHUKET: Food and sharing go together like a horse and carriage. The upcoming “Enchanted Evening” charity dinner, which will take place at the five-star Centara Grand Beach Resort on November 1, is about to take…

  • Prepare for a tastebud teleportation with Cafe Fish’s Western-style seafood

    Prepare for a tastebud teleportation with Cafe Fish’s Western-style seafood

    PHUKET: Nestled in the chaos of Patong’s Jungceylon shopping center is an inviting seafood joint by the name of Cafe Fish. I was shown to a comfortable booth on one side of the spacious restaurant, and after a quick visual sweep of the place was overcome with nostalgia. Memories of long, hot days at the beach and sensational seafood dinners…

  • The Slaughter of the Veggies: A food guide for Phuket’s Vegetarian Festival [video] | Thaiger

    The Slaughter of the Veggies: A food guide for Phuket’s Vegetarian Festival [video]

    PHUKET: Phuket’s Vegetarian Festival is upon us again (story here). The unmistakable sound of popping firecrackers meant to drive away evil spirits can be heard in the distance, competing with eery Chinese prayers that play on repeat at all hours of the day. Inside the shrines, there is a quiet reverence as devotees of all ages and backgrounds make merit…

  • Avista Hideaway’s Sizzle restaurant lets you get pampered in Patong

    Avista Hideaway’s Sizzle restaurant lets you get pampered in Patong

    PHUKET: Oh the thrill of discovery! Who doesn’t love it? Especially when it comes in the most unexpected of places. For me, it was just a few days ago, when I had the pleasure of experiencing it just a stone’s throw away from downtown Patong, at the Avista Hideaway resort’s Sizzle restaurant. Phuket’s “Sin City” isn’t my cup of tea.…

  • Sangria’s Bar and Restaurant is an unexpected Spanish oasis on Phuket

    Sangria’s Bar and Restaurant is an unexpected Spanish oasis on Phuket

    PHUKET: With its lively bright green and orange color scheme, Sangria’s Tapas Bar & Restaurant is definitely not the kind of place to go to drown your sorrows. There’s a certain magnetic draw to the warm glow spilling from the huge windows and a definite festive air about the place. The chili tomato meatballs sound simple but surprise with zingy…

  • Donnafugata flies high during Regent Cape Panwa wine dinner

    Donnafugata flies high during Regent Cape Panwa wine dinner

    PHUKET: There is Italy, and then there is Sicily, the country’s most southern region that is, in many ways, closer to Africa than to Europe. There are Sicilian wines, and then there is Donnafugata – the region’s ambassador and symbol of quality. There are wine dinners, and then there are wine dinners at Regent Cape Panwa. The latest, which paired…

  • Video Report: Simply steak at Phuket’s new La Boucherie

    Video Report: Simply steak at Phuket’s new La Boucherie

    PHUKET: The bold French-style steak house La Boucherie has opened its doors in Chalong and is prepared to take over the island with one successful branch already in Patong and locations in Phuket Town, and possibly Cherng Talay, in the works. However, the international chain La Boucherie, “the butcher” in French, is not attempting to do anything extravagant as it…

  • The grand opening of Sangria’s Tapas Bar & Restaurant in Rawai

    The grand opening of Sangria’s Tapas Bar & Restaurant in Rawai

    PHUKET: Among a fury of tasty tapas, pitchers of fruit-spiked wine and even a fire-spinning show, Sangria’s Tapas Bar & Restaurant celebrated its grand opening in Rawai on July 1. “Originally it was a salad bar… it was Healthy Options,” explained owner Aimee Grainge. “A lot of people came in and said, ‘there’s no meat’.” Now, following a change of…

  • Food lovers’ meeting place in Chalong

    Food lovers’ meeting place in Chalong

    PHUKET: Wine Lovers restaurant and wine shop presents a huge glass edifice to the bustling Fisherman Way Business Gardens situated next door to the recently opened Makro on the Rawai Road in Chalong. Today’s Wine Lovers is well-known for the quality of its cuisine, broad selection of wines, reasonable pricing and the conviviality of both its indoor areas and its…

  • The thrill of the Grill

    The thrill of the Grill

    PHUKET: Phuket’s very own The Grill at Regent Phuket Cape Panwa has been named one of the nation’s best restaurants by the Thailand Tatler magazine, and will be featured in the prestigious Thailand Tatler Best Restaurant Guide 2014. The guide will feature reviews of 150 fine-dining establishments in Bangkok as well as eateries in some of the major resorts in…

  • JW Marriott Phuket’s Kabuki restaurant entertains all of the senses

    JW Marriott Phuket’s Kabuki restaurant entertains all of the senses

    PHUKET: Let’s be honest – on the scale of things, Japanese cuisine isn’t amongst the most spectacular. Its esthetic appeal, restraint in the use of spices and pure flavors are pleasing, but probably won’t provide you with the hefty injection of endorphins in the way a spicy Indian curry or our daily bowl of tom yum goong does. However, there…

  • Phuket Dining: At the table with the king of wines

    Phuket Dining: At the table with the king of wines

    PHUKET GAZETTE: A hush fell over our table at the Regent Phuket’s Lombard & Cie dinner last Saturday when the main course was served. It wasn’t the silence of ravenous diners devouring their food in a few bitefuls – we hadn’t yet picked up our forks. It was a reverential quiet for the beauty of the presentation, and it lasted…

  • Phuket Food: New flavors at Old Time Square

    Phuket Food: New flavors at Old Time Square

    PHUKET: Beneath a fading pastel sunset with the Phuket Town skyline in silhouette, the Phuket Old Time Square drew in the festive crowds for their grand opening celebration on Friday, February 14. It was the confluence of hungry families out to enjoy the dance acts, musical groups and local food stalls, and valentine’s day sweethearts for a night out on…

  • Phuket Dining: Not just another chef

    Phuket Dining: Not just another chef

    PHUKET: “It was quite stressful,” replies Angsana’s Executive Sous Chef Yi-fan Chu when I ask him about his recent appearance on the ever popular “Iron Chef” series on Thai TV. No wonder – with limited time to impress the judges, the special ingredient kept a secret to the very last moment (this time it was a snow crab from Japan)…

  • Phuket Food: Danish chef delivers all the delectables

    Phuket Food: Danish chef delivers all the delectables

    PHUKET: With a reputation that precedes them as being one of the finest dining establishments on the island, Mom Tri’s have nearly outdone themselves this time. On January 25, Mom Tri’s Villa Royale showcased a six-course set menu by Danish Chef Per Hallundbaek. After vacationing in Phuket every year since 2000, Chef Hallundbaek finally gave in to the urge to…

  • Phuket Food: Real food for real pleasure

    Phuket Food: Real food for real pleasure

    PHUKET: There’s something friendly and approachable about Italian cuisine. It’s simple, down to earth and tasty as hell. But when an invitation for a dinner prepared by Chef Ricarrdo de Pra landed on my desk, I wasn’t sure if this was what I was going to get. He might be Italian but his restaurant Dolada in Veneto, Italy did get…