Rawai Seafood Market

Rawai Seafood Market is a row of open-air stalls on the seafront road at Rawai, on Phuket's southern tip, where the sea-gypsy fishing community sells the morning's catch by the kilo — tiger prawns, blue crab, squid, snapper, grouper, mussels and, in season, lobster — from beds of ice with the prices chalked on boards. What makes it Phuket's best seafood dinner is what happens next. You carry your bag across the road to any of the restaurants opposite, choose how you want it cooked — grilled, steamed with lime and chilli, fried with garlic and pepper, or in a curry — and pay a cooking fee of roughly ฿100 per kilo on top of rice, vegetables and drinks. The seafood and the cooking are priced separately, so it is far cheaper and far more transparent than a beach restaurant's menu.

The stalls open early in the morning, when the fish is freshest and the buyers are Thai; the restaurants serve from late morning until about 21:00–22:00, and the best evening is a table on the water after sunset at Promthep Cape, ten minutes down the coast. Expect ฿800–1,500 per kilo for large prawns, ฿300–500 for a whole fish, and haggle a little — a small discount is normal, a large one is not.