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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    A healthy tomorrow starts today: Celebrate the great American Smokeout day

    The Great American Smokeout, held this year on November 17, is a nationwide event that encourages smokers to take their first steps towards a smoke-free life. If you’re an expat in Thailand, this day could be a timely reminder to...

  • Dining: Phuket’s chef Garfield marries East and West with elegance at Zeascape

    Dining: Phuket’s chef Garfield marries East and West with elegance at Zeascape

    PHUKET: You’re probably familiar with the feeling of staring at a long menu, only to realize that everything looks delicious and you have no idea what to opt for. For Phuket foodies, it’s a daily struggle. With the island’s immense variety of dining options, it’s best to choose wisely. Uzenmaya Hotel’s Zeascape Restaurant is one wise choice. It’s easy to…

  • 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…

  • An island of Asian flavors in Patong’s fast-food strip

    An island of Asian flavors in Patong’s fast-food strip

    PHUKET: It’s easy to forget you’re in Asia when walking down the busy streets of Patong. Pizza, burgers and steaks are all widely available, but try and find some oriental flavors and you’ll be faced with a challenge. Here’s a hint – if you’re after some of the best Asian flavors in Patong, look up. Located on the 7th floor…

  • 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…

  • Celebrity Chef Bobby Chinn brings skills, charisma to Phuket’s Trisara

    Celebrity Chef Bobby Chinn brings skills, charisma to Phuket’s Trisara

    PHUKET: Being stuck in the kitchen might not be your dream way of spending the morning. But if the kitchen is in the lounge of one of Phuket’s premiere resorts, and it’s a celebrity chef that does most of the cooking, things start to look quite different. This morning, it was Trisara resort that opened its doors for a number…

  • 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…

  • Foie gras lollipop steals the spotlight at Trisara six-course dinner

    Foie gras lollipop steals the spotlight at Trisara six-course dinner

    PHUKET: Glancing over the custom menu for a six-course foie gras dinner party one doesn’t expect to be caught up with foie gras gelato. Even less likely to be the culinary star of the evening is the foie gras lollipop hidden at the bottom, next to the coffee selection. However, when anyone sits down for a gastronomic meal at Trisara…

  • 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: Fired up for the perfect Crust

    Phuket Dining: Fired up for the perfect Crust

    PHUKET: When I got back from a visit to the US recently, a friend asked if I had missed Thai food. I had not. I love it, but what I hankered to eat in Phuket was pizza at “Crust”, a stylish but welcoming little place in the Sino-Portuguese gallery next to Index Living Mall off the Bypass road. Nattanee “Annabelle”…

  • 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…

  • THINK Design: Art you can eat

    THINK Design: Art you can eat

    PHUKET: We’ve all heard about those elegant and exclusive, more than five star little boutique resort properties hidden away around Phuket but few of us ever get the chance to visit one. It was my good fortune to be invited by Publisher Michael Earle to attend the 40th THINK Design art dinner at Iniala Beach House, tucked away on a…

  • Phuket Vegan Dining: Real food, in the raw

    Phuket Vegan Dining: Real food, in the raw

    PHUKET: If you hear the term “raw food” you might, like I did, take it to mean “food waiting to be cooked”. But in Rawai, in the island’s south, the owner of Atsumi Raw Food Cafe, Anna Wasin is championing the health benefits and sublime, simple flavors of natural, raw, organic, unprocessed and uncooked ingredients by crafting dozens of tasty…

  • Phuket Dining: Eat like a president

    Phuket Dining: Eat like a president

    PHUKET: There are times when you simply can’t turn down an invitation. When the personal chef of the President of the French Republic invites you for a dinner, it is one of those times. Even more so when it’s Bernard Vaussion, a chef who served under six consecutive French presidents, who recently came to Phuket to cook a presidential dinner…

  • Taste of East and West in the North

    Taste of East and West in the North

    PHUKET: We are prisoners of convenience. Why explore distant locations if our island offers all we need and just around the corner? In Phuket you’re never too far from amazing beaches, stunning sunsets and delicious food. Sometimes though, it’s worth making a little effort to find an excuse to explore a bit, get off the beaten track and try something…

  • Phuket Lifestyle: Climbing to the top of the list

    Phuket Lifestyle: Climbing to the top of the list

    PHUKET: Three establishments from the greater Phuket region found the formula for a perfect wine list and grabbed top spots in the 2013 Wine List of the Year Thailand competition. Over 60 leading food and beverage establishments and media gathered at Crave Wine Bar & Restaurant in Sukhumvit’s Aloft Hotel to witness the 2013 Wine List of the Year Thailand.…

  • Phuket’s Iron Chef goes live tonight

    Phuket’s Iron Chef goes live tonight

    PHUKET: Chef Scott Flaxman came all the way from Zimbabwe, via England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland and Morocco, before he finally landed on Kao Yao Yai, 15 kilometers east of Phuket. There, he became the Chef and F&B Manager of GLOW Elixir Koh Yao Yai Resort – a place he now proudly calls home. Voted one of the best chefs…

  • Phuket Lifestyle: Meals on three wheels

    Phuket Lifestyle: Meals on three wheels

    PHUKET: We love them, we hate them, we can’t live without them (or can we?) – tuk-tuks have been getting a lot of bad press in Phuket recently. But all that is about to change thanks to Tom Somsanuk, better known as Blue Wave Radio’s DJ Tank, and his new business idea – the Tuk-Tuk Diner. “In the States we…

  • Fine art meets fine food – Phuket Style

    Fine art meets fine food – Phuket Style

    PHUKET: Michael Earle, the former architect turned magazine publisher behind the popular Phuket-based Think Design magazine, is a one-man army when it comes to promoting good design and art on the island. His art dinners have become a Phuket institution for local art aficionados who want to take their dining experience to a new level. Art Dinner at Bangtao. Video:…

  • A true taste of Phuket

    A true taste of Phuket

    PHUKET: With so many Western-style restaurants and the longstanding popularity of Northeastern-style Thai food in Phuket, it is sometimes easy to forget that the island has its own unique cuisine. You won’t find it in the tourist areas though, for an authentic taste of local food, you have to head to Phuket Town, and in particular, to the famous Lock…

  • The devil is in the detail – Phuket’s Les Diables

    The devil is in the detail – Phuket’s Les Diables

    PHUKET: Walking into Les Diables bakery to interview creator and master pastry chef Peter Webber, I find him hunched over his work bench, meticulously crafting a tiny toilet out of white chocolate. Curious, I ask him what on earth it is for and he replies matter-of-factly: “It’s for a customer, they were having a trailer-trash party and they wanted the…

  • Carnivore’s delight – Phuket Food

    Carnivore’s delight – Phuket Food

    PHUKET: I miss you dearly, my friend. Maybe not at first, not in my first months in Thailand when I was sucked right into the world of lemongrass and coconut milk. When pork (and Thailand is up there with the best of them when it comes to the quality of pork) and poultry became the foundations of my daily diet.…