Restaurant in Phuket, Thailand
Michelin-backed tasting menu, plant-forward precision.
The Smokaccia Laboratory holds a Michelin Plate (2024 and 2025) and Thailand's first 5 Radishes from the We're Smart Green Guide, making it Phuket's strongest case for creative, plant-forward tasting menus. At ฿฿฿, it sits below PRU and Acqua on price while matching them on technical ambition. Book the 18-course menu if you want the full argument.
At the ฿฿฿ price tier, The Smokaccia Laboratory delivers a nine- or 18-course tasting format backed by two consecutive Michelin Plate recognitions (2024 and 2025) and Thailand's first 5 Radishes rating from the We're Smart Green Guide. For food-focused travellers in Phuket who want a kitchen with genuine technical credentials and a plant-forward philosophy, this is the booking to make. If you want the island's most ambitious Thai tasting menu instead, PRU is the natural alternative at one price tier higher.
The Smokaccia Laboratory sits in Cherng Thalay, the quieter residential stretch near Surin on Phuket's northwest coast, away from the noise of Patong and the resort clusters further south. The address places it in a low-key neighbourhood context, which shapes the experience: this is not a grand hotel dining room with sweeping views, but a focused, contained space where the room is designed to keep attention on the food. That spatial restraint is a deliberate signal. For a diner arriving from one of the larger Phuket hotels, the shift in scale feels intentional rather than modest.
The ritual begins before you sit down. Every guest is greeted with a glass of champagne or an alcohol-free alternative, a gesture that sets a service tone above what the price tier might lead you to expect. This opening move is telling: the kitchen and the front-of-house are aligned around a hospitality logic that treats arrival as part of the meal, not a preamble to it.
Chef Luca Mascolo built The Smokaccia Laboratory around sustainable, plant-forward cooking, and the 5 Radishes recognition from We're Smart Green Guide (the first for any restaurant in Thailand) gives that commitment an externally verified credential. The format offers a choice between nine and 18 courses, which is a meaningful decision: the shorter menu works for diners who want a focused evening, while the 18-course format is the fuller argument for what the kitchen can do.
From the awarded data, the signature Smokaccia with tomato reduction and mortadella foam is the dish that anchors the kitchen's identity, combining textural contrast with a technique-heavy approach to plant ingredients. A reimagining of lasagna Bolognese demonstrates the menu's recurring move: familiar European reference points rebuilt through a plant-based lens with enough flair that the comparison to the original is the point rather than the limitation. The kitchen also applies a deliberate reuse of trimmings across the menu, which adds coherence and reduces waste without drawing attention to itself as a virtue.
Vegan diners are accommodated, and local sourcing from Phuket's produce brings a regional grounding that connects the creative format to its geography. For travellers who follow plant-forward cooking at the level of Arpège in Paris or Quique Dacosta in Dénia, The Smokaccia Laboratory is operating in a comparable register of intention, even if the scale and context differ.
The service philosophy here is the clearest argument for the price. The champagne welcome is not a gimmick; it reflects a front-of-house approach calibrated to the tasting format. At the ฿฿฿ tier in Phuket, where a meal at Acqua (Italian, ฿฿฿฿) or PRU will cost you more, The Smokaccia Laboratory positions itself as the technically serious option that does not require the highest spend on the island. The question for any diner is whether the service depth matches the ambition of the kitchen, and the evidence from the Google rating (4.9 across 330 reviews) suggests consistency across both dimensions. A 4.9 at that volume of reviews is not an accident; it indicates a repeatable guest experience rather than a handful of exceptional nights.
For explorer-type diners who track the We're Smart Green Guide alongside Michelin, the 5 Radishes recognition carries particular weight. It signals that the kitchen's sustainability claims are independently evaluated, not self-applied marketing. That external verification changes how the service philosophy reads: the team is not selling a concept, they are executing a documented approach.
See the comparison section below for a full peer breakdown, but the short version: The Smokaccia Laboratory is the right booking if you want a creative, plant-forward tasting menu with Michelin recognition at a price point below PRU or Acqua. If your priority is Thai cuisine at the highest local level, PRU is the better choice. If you want a more casual Phuket evening, Acqua or Age Restaurant offer different formats worth considering.
For more on Phuket's dining options at every level, see our full Phuket restaurants guide. If you are planning the wider trip, our Phuket bars guide and experiences guide cover the rest of the itinerary. Elsewhere in Thailand, Sorn in Bangkok and AKKEE in Pak Kret represent comparable levels of ambition in different culinary registers.
Book the 18-course menu if you want the full picture of what this kitchen does. The nine-course format is a solid entry point, but the longer menu is where the creative arc of the plant-forward approach becomes clear. Arrive knowing the kitchen is rooted in sustainable, ingredient-led cooking rather than a conventional fine-dining format. The champagne welcome signals the service register from the start. At ฿฿฿, this sits below PRU and Acqua on price while holding Michelin Plate recognition, which makes it one of the stronger value propositions among Phuket's tasting-menu restaurants.
Smart casual is the practical call for a Michelin Plate venue at this price tier in Phuket. Thailand's climate and the island's general dining culture mean strict formal dress codes are rare, but a tasting-menu restaurant with this level of recognition expects more than beachwear. Treat it as you would a mid-tier European fine-dining room on a warm evening: neat, considered, but not black-tie.
Booking difficulty is rated easy, so you do not need to plan weeks in advance as you would for PRU. That said, a Michelin Plate venue with a 4.9 Google rating and limited seating will fill up during Phuket's high season (roughly November through April). Booking a few days ahead is sensible during peak months. Outside high season, shorter lead times should be fine, but confirming by reservation rather than walking in is always the safer approach for a tasting-menu format.
The menu is set, so the main decision is nine courses versus 18. The signature Smokaccia with tomato reduction and mortadella foam is the most-cited standout, and the lasagna Bolognese reimagining is noted for its technical approach to plant-based ingredients. Both dishes appear across the documented awarded material as markers of the kitchen's style. If you have dietary requirements beyond vegan, communicate them at booking since a tasting-menu kitchen needs advance notice to adjust.
There is no confirmed bar-seating option in the available venue data. The tasting-menu format and the spatial focus of the restaurant suggest a table-based dining structure rather than a counter or bar service. If bar seating or a walk-in drink matters to you, check directly with the venue before visiting. For Phuket's broader bar options, see our Phuket bars guide.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| The Smokaccia Laboratory | ฿฿฿ | — |
| PRU | ฿฿฿฿ | — |
| Blue Elephant | ฿฿฿ | — |
| Acqua | ฿฿฿฿ | — |
| Baan Rim Pa Patong | — | |
| Chuan Chim | ฿฿ | — |
Comparing your options in Phuket for this tier.
Come prepared for a committed tasting format: you're choosing between nine or 18 courses, and the kitchen operates at the deliberate pace that format demands. The restaurant holds a Michelin Plate (2024 and 2025) and Thailand's first 5 Radishes rating from We're Smart Green Guide, so the credentials are real. Vegan options are available, and the kitchen sources locally. If you want à la carte flexibility, this is not the right venue.
The venue's awards profile and champagne welcome suggest a level of formality above Phuket's casual beach-town norm. Neat resort wear or smart casual is a reasonable baseline — think collared shirts and closed shoes rather than shorts and flip-flops. No dress code is documented in available venue data, so if you're uncertain, contacting the restaurant directly before your booking is the practical move.
Book well in advance, especially for the 18-course format. A Michelin Plate restaurant with a small, precision-focused kitchen and a slow tasting pace will have limited covers per service. For Phuket high season (November through April), two to three weeks ahead is a conservative minimum. No online booking details are published in the venue record, so securing a reservation early through direct contact is the safest approach.
There is no à la carte menu — your decision is between the nine-course and 18-course tasting formats. The 18-course option gives the kitchen more room to show range. The signature Smokaccia with tomato reduction and mortadella foam and a reimagined lasagna Bolognese are documented standouts. If you're plant-based, the vegan path through the menu is a stated option, not an afterthought.
No bar seating is documented for The Smokaccia Laboratory. Given the tasting-menu format and the precision-focused service style, the dining room is the intended setting. Walk-in or casual bar access would be inconsistent with a kitchen structured around multi-course pacing. check the venue's official channels if you have a specific seating request.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
