Restaurant in Phuket, Thailand
20 seats. Book early or miss out.
Royd is Phuket's clearest case for serious Southern Thai cooking at the ฿฿฿ price point: a 20-seat room on Dibuk Road, a six- to eight-course menu built on local seafood, herbs, and assertive spice, and back-to-back Michelin Plates in 2024 and 2025. Book if a focused, food-first special occasion dinner is what you are after. The counter seats are worth requesting.
Royd operates from a 20-seat room on Dibuk Road in Phuket Old Town, split between tables and a counter. The kitchen runs a six- to eight-course set menu built almost entirely from local Southern Thai ingredients, and it has held a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025. For a tasting-format restaurant at the ฿฿฿ price tier, that combination of credentials and accessibility is genuinely rare in this city. If you are weighing whether to book a serious dinner in Phuket, Royd is a strong yes — especially for a special occasion where the cooking should do the work.
The format here is a set menu, not à la carte, so commit to that before you arrive. The six- to eight-course progression draws on herbs, fresh seafood, and the assertive spice profiles that define Southern Thai cooking — a regional cuisine that remains underrepresented at the tasting-menu level even across Thailand as a whole. Dishes documented across Michelin's own coverage of the restaurant include a Krabi fish curry and frog's legs with fermented rice noodles, both of which signal a kitchen that is not softening Southern Thai flavour for a tourist palate. Torch ginger recurs across multiple courses, used in ways that reinforce rather than repeat, which is a marker of a kitchen that has thought carefully about a single ingredient's range.
The room itself reads as deliberately spare. With only 20 covers across tables and counter seating, the visual experience is close and focused: you see each plate arrive, you watch the counter service, and there is no ambient noise to compete with the food. For a date or a celebration dinner where you want the setting to feel considered without being theatrical, this scale works in your favour. The counter seats in particular are worth requesting if the cooking is your main draw.
Low-intervention wines are offered as pairings and described in Michelin's coverage as pairing well with the bold flavour profile. Southern Thai cuisine runs hot and fermented, and the fact that the beverage program is built around that rather than defaulting to a conventional wine list is a practical plus if you are thinking about a full pairing experience.
The ฿฿฿ price marker puts Royd in the same tier as Blue Elephant, which operates at considerably larger scale and leans toward the heritage-dining visitor experience. Royd is doing something different: a tightly curated tasting menu using local ingredients, in a 20-seat room, with two consecutive Michelin Plates. The per-head spend is not a cheap night out, but for what the kitchen is executing at this price point, the quality-to-cost ratio is stronger than most comparably priced options in Phuket.
For context on the Southern Thai tasting-menu format across the country, Sorn in Bangkok represents the ceiling of this regional cuisine done at Michelin two-star level, and Juumpo in Phang Nga and Kapi Sator in Ko Samui explore similar Southern Thai territory at different price points and scales. Within Phuket itself, venues like Chom Chan, Khrua Ohm, Kin-Kub-Ei, Krua Baan Platong, and Krua Kao Kuk cover Thai cooking at lower price points if budget is a priority, but none operate in the set-menu tasting format that Royd has committed to. If Southern Thai cuisine done at a considered, course-by-course pace is what you want, Royd is the clearest option in the city.
For those interested in exploring the broader regional scene, Anuwat in Phang Nga is worth adding to the itinerary, and AKKEE in Pak Kret and Aquila in Chiang Mai show how serious Thai regional cooking translates across different parts of the country. Pearl's full Phuket restaurants guide covers the broader dining picture, and the Phuket hotels guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide are useful if you are planning a full trip around Old Town.
Address: 95 Dibuk Rd, Tambon Talet Nuea, Mueang, Phuket 83000, Thailand. Cuisine: Southern Thai, tasting menu format. Price tier: ฿฿฿. Seats: 20 (tables and counter). Booking difficulty: Easy, but the 20-seat capacity means any popular evening fills quickly , book ahead rather than relying on walk-in availability. Dress: No formal dress code documented; smart casual is appropriate given the setting and price point. Leading for: Special occasions, date nights, food-focused travellers who want Southern Thai cooking at a deliberate pace.
Smart casual is the right call. There is no documented dress code, but the setting , an intimate 20-seat room with Michelin recognition at the ฿฿฿ price point , warrants putting in a little effort. You do not need formal attire, but beachwear is out of place here.
Yes, and it suits the format well. The 20-seat room, counter seating, and multi-course Southern Thai menu create the kind of focused, attentive dinner that works for a birthday, anniversary, or any occasion where the meal itself is the event. It is a better special-occasion choice than larger Thai restaurants in Phuket that prioritise atmosphere over cooking precision. If your celebration calls for a livelier room, look elsewhere , but if the food should be the centrepiece, Royd delivers.
With only 20 seats total, large groups are not the natural fit here. Small groups of two to four will have the leading experience. If you are organising a group larger than six, contact the restaurant directly to check availability , the entire room is only 20 covers, so a larger party would effectively need to book out a significant portion of the restaurant.
At the ฿฿฿ price tier with two consecutive Michelin Plates and a 4.8 Google rating from 157 reviews, the answer is yes , particularly if you have an appetite for Southern Thai cuisine at its more assertive end. The kitchen uses almost exclusively local ingredients and does not moderate the spice and fermented flavour profiles for international visitors. If bold, regionally honest Southern Thai cooking is what you want, the tasting menu is worth it. If you prefer lighter or more internationally familiar flavours, this may not be the right match regardless of quality.
PRU is the obvious comparison if budget is not a constraint , it operates at ฿฿฿฿, focuses on modern Thai with a strong local-sourcing ethos, and carries heavier Michelin recognition. Blue Elephant at ฿฿฿ is a credible alternative for Thai cooking in a grander setting, though the experience skews more toward heritage dining than kitchen-forward tasting menus. Chuan Chim at ฿฿ is the right pick if you want Southern Thai flavours without the tasting-menu price tag. For Italian at the ฿฿฿฿ level, Acqua and Baan Rim Pa Patong are in the Phuket conversation, though they serve different cuisines and occasions entirely. For the specific combination of Southern Thai tasting-menu format at a reachable price point, Royd has no direct equivalent in Phuket right now.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royd | Southern Thai | ฿฿฿ | Easy |
| PRU | Thai, Modern Cuisine | ฿฿฿฿ | Unknown |
| Blue Elephant | Thai | ฿฿฿ | Unknown |
| Acqua | Italian | ฿฿฿฿ | Unknown |
| Baan Rim Pa Patong | Thai | Unknown | |
| Chuan Chim | Thai | ฿฿ | Unknown |
What to weigh when choosing between Royd and alternatives.
The venue data doesn't specify a dress code, but a 20-seat tasting-menu room on Dibuk Road in Phuket Old Town reads as neat casual rather than formal. Clean trousers and a collared shirt or equivalent will fit the setting. Leave resort wear for the beach restaurants.
Yes, with caveats. The six- to eight-course format, counter seating, and Michelin Plate recognition (2024 and 2025) make it a credible anniversary or milestone dinner. The intimate 20-seat room means the atmosphere is more focused than celebratory, so if your group wants noise and spectacle, look elsewhere. For a quiet, food-forward occasion it lands well.
At 20 seats total across tables and a counter, large groups are a problem here. Parties of two to four are the natural fit. If you're eight or more, Blue Elephant or Baan Rim Pa Patong offer the space Royd simply doesn't have. Book early regardless — at this size, a group of six already represents 30% of the room.
At ฿฿฿, the value case is genuinely strong for what you get: six to eight courses built around local Southern Thai ingredients — herbs, fresh seafood, torch ginger — in a room with Michelin Plate status two years running. It's priced in the same tier as Blue Elephant, which operates at much larger scale with a more heritage-tourism feel. If a set menu is your format and you want serious regional cooking over crowd-pleasing presentation, Royd earns its price point.
PRU is the closest in ambition — farm-to-table tasting menus with stronger Michelin credentials — but sits in a different price tier and setting. Blue Elephant suits groups or visitors who want heritage décor alongside Thai food. Acqua pivots to Italian so it's a different night entirely. Baan Rim Pa Patong and Chuan Chim are better picks if you want à la carte Thai without the tasting-menu commitment.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
