Banzaan Fresh Market

Two floors and a night market

Ground floor

The fresh market. Lobster, prawns, crab, squid, shellfish and whole fish sold by weight, plus fruit, vegetables, meat and flowers. Open from 06:00.

Upper floor

The food court. Bring seafood up from downstairs and a kitchen cooks it for a fee, or order Thai dishes as they come. Halal food is available.

Outside, evenings

The Banzaan night market. Food stalls fill the area around the hall from early evening, selling grilled seafood, som tam, fried chicken, mango sticky rice and roti.

Banzaan is Patong's fresh market, a two-floor hall on Nanai Road directly behind Jungceylon. The ground floor is the working market, with lobster, prawns, crab, squid, shellfish and whole fish on ice and in tanks, alongside fruit, vegetables, meat and flowers. Seafood sells by weight. Buy what you want, carry the bag upstairs, and one of the food-court kitchens will grill it, steam it with lime or stir-fry it with chili and basil for a fee. The upper floor also cooks plain Thai dishes, and there's halal food up there too.

Expect Patong prices rather than Phuket Town ones, and expect to bargain. Sellers open high, so I'd counter well below the first number and watch the scale while your order is weighed. The cooking charge isn't fixed either. Some kitchens work it out per kilo and some per dish, so agree the price for the cooking before they light the grill.

After dark the streets around the hall fill with food stalls, and that's the "Banzaan night market" people search for. It's the same place, not a separate venue. Grilled seafood, som tam, fried chicken, mango sticky rice and roti are the staples. Don't confuse it with Bangla Night Market, which sits on Bangla Road a few minutes' walk west and runs much later.