Gluten Free Phuket

Phuket and Railay Beach Travel Tips

G-Free Travel Rating

6/10

Major Airport

Phuket International Airport (HKT)

Official Language

Thai (most tour guides will know some English)

Currency:

Thai Baht

Power Outlets:

Types A, B, C & O

Voltage is higher = 220V

Eating Gluten Free in Phuket and Railay Beach

This may be redundant but soy sauce is a challenge. Lots of research lead to some good experiences. I never thought the cooking class where we “cooked” the food would be the best meal of the trip! A reaction can definitely wreck a fun trip so better to be safe than sorry. Your reaction will dictate how adventuresome you can be.

Eating Gluten Free While in Phuket

Like Bangkok, navigating gluten free in Phuket was challenging due to the prevalence of soy and oyster sauces containing gluten. Below we outline some restaurants we tried and did well with; although, not without some concerns. Patience and persistence in clarifying at all stages of your dining experience are crucial to ensuring a reaction free evening. We utilized the Find Me Gluten Free App a lot in this area and found that it worked really well for us in Phuket, but not as well when we were on Railay Beach. We were eager to try some restaurants like Molly’s Tavern Irish Bar & Restaurant and Honeymoon Thai Restaurant because the reviews were positive and recent; however, the drive from where we were staying was more than we wanted to do. At this point we hadn’t rented a moped, so we would have had to wait for a Grab there and back. Consequently, we settled for restaurants closer to us and had our little adventure at each one.

Restaurants:

Boardwalk Bistro and Bar: Situated in the marina, you can admire the big yachts parked nearby. Staff speak English well making communication easy. They had a decent understanding of gluten free without having to give further context. The food was good and Terry was able to do a Pad Thai without reacting.

Cantina Lucha: We seem to find a Mexican restaurant everywhere we go. We stopped here a couple of times. One time for a meal and the other time just for smoothies and chips and salsa. Both times we had to issues communicating with staff. Terry stuck with enchiladas and Mexican street corn. We did confirm they used corn tortillas and the sauce was safe. Side note…their smoothies are fantastic!

Home of Chalong Bay Restaurant: Fantastic relaxing atmosphere to enjoy a meal. Waitstaff spoke English well and the waitress understood gluten free a little bit. She went to clarify with the chef a few times. The meal went off without a hitch and the cocktails were phenomenal.

Tiger Muay Thai Restaurant: As part of our vacation we decided to train Muay Thai for a week with Tiger and as part of their package they gave us a meal plan. Below we go into depth of what that was like.

Soul Vegan Cafe and Restaurant: With the motto of nourishing the body and soul you will get nothing but the freshest of ingredients here. The menu clearly indicates items that can be made gluten free and what the substitution will be to make it gluten free. Plus, they have gluten free desserts outside ice cream and mango sticky rice if you’re looking to change it up.

Misleading Menus

Little Paris: A little on the expensive side so we were just going to stop and get a charcuterie board to take back to the hotel. Once we sat down for a drink and order Terry decided he really wanted gluten free pasta (he has been deprived of carbohydrates for the last two weeks). The menu is marked with gluten free items; however, that only holds true if you tell them you want gluten free. The item itself is not gluten free. Our waitress had a small understanding of what gluten free is, but she double checked with the chef and owner to be sure. The person who delivered our meal did not understand gluten free so he brought a baguette (in a separate container) with Terry’s pasta. Terry was so excited about the bread, but I was suspicious because it looked too good!! After clarifying he was greatly disappointed. Moral of the story is always double check.

Alto Italian Restaurant and Bar: Located within the Pavilions this is a more upscale restaurant requiring reservations. While the menu is marked gluten free that was not proven to be accurate. When ordering make sure your waitress understands it needs to be made gluten free because the base may be gluten free, but the actual preparation is not. We found this out when the manager came out to talk to us. Terry went from being excited about eating his pork belly meal to not liking it at all. It had no flavor and he couldn’t chew through it easily. Which provided endless entertainment for me…haha! Needless, to say we went hunting for a snack later when we were out at the night market.

Tiger Muay Thai Restaurant

We spent a week training Muay Thai, and, as part of that experience we stayed on campus and did their meal plan. Prior to staying here we did confirm things could be accommodated gluten free and after perusing the menu Terry knew he would be able to find something. The menu is massive and geared towards weight loss and healthy eating. The staff was very friendly and willing to work with us; however, they had no understanding of what gluten free was. Luckily, outside of sauces there weren’t many things that had gluten in them because of the predominant weight loss menu.

Terry normally ate sweet potatoes, some type of egg and smoked salmon for breakfast. Then he tried a bilimbi smoothie and a coconut; unfortunately, was not a big fan. I on the other hand thought they were fantastic and was getting so sick of drinking water all the time. Depending on how hungry we were for dinner, we would normally just snack on a smoothie bowl or granola bar back at our dorm. Our last night we needed to spend the rest of our allocated money so we ate like a feast and had kebabs, a burrito bowl and a smoothie bowl. It was fantastic and we over indulged ourselves.

Terry’s daily breakfast

Our Last meal at Tiger Muay Thai

Gluten Free on Railay Beach

After our week of training Muay Thai we wanted a relaxing week by the water. Of course, we can’t sit still that long so it turned into a week full of excursions. We did an island hopping tour, rock climbing and another training session of Muay Thai. Most of the time we didn’t need to worry about eating during the excursion so that helped a lot. While the options for restaurants are fewer than on Ao Nang he was still able to find a couple of good meals.

Restaurants

Railay Village Resort: This is the resort we stayed at for the week we were there. It included breakfast (buffet style) and then had one restaurant attached for lunch and dinner.

Breakfast: He was able to do an omelet every morning. The selections weren’t extensive, but he was able to change it up a few days. They do not clean the skillet between customers, but we were okay with it since they none of the ingredients had gluten in them. They also had a wide selection of fruits and a salad bar. Plus, yogurt and honey, which made him happy because that is a staple to his breakfast routine back home.
Restaurant: We ate here a couple nights because there weren’t a ton of options. Besides, all the restaurants seemed to serve a very similar menu to each other and there was no point explaining gluten free to someone new each time. They had a couple different curries that he enjoyed. Their coconut ice cream is probably the best in Phuket that we tried.

Kohinoor India: Terry found this one and he read online their butter chicken was supposed to be really good. He was in the mood to eat something other than pad Thai or curries, so we went to find out if it was gluten free. Turns out it was and so was the papardum they brought out to us. We ended up eating here twice to change things up. The staff were very familiar with gluten free.

Railay the Corner Restaurant: We wanted to try something outside of the hotel so we ate here. Communication was very challenging even with Google Translate and the gluten free card. Once again, Terry stuck to curry. The food was okay but not great.

Coffee

Choop Coffee Break: We only tried their coffee and smoothies. Their coffee was by far the best on Railay Beach and Phuket, so we went there daily to get our caffeine fix. They also have a bunch of non-dairy milk alternatives which we took full advantage of. Then for an afternoon snack we tried their smoothies, which was the exact refreshment we needed from the heat. Be prepared, they only accept cash.

Finally the Island Hopping Tour..

Thalassa: Before booking we reached out to them to make sure they could accommodate a gluten free diet. Turns out that was true. They cooked and prepped all of our food separately. Of course, it was way too much food! It was nice to have more than not enough of good food. With a full belly we then laid on the beach for awhile before turning around. Communication with them was great and it was nice it was passed from management to tour guides, which is not always the case.

Thai Cooking Class

Terry’s favorite meal the whole vacation! We quickly realized with the heat and humidity we were not going to be able to train 4 hours each day, which led to excursions in the afternoon. Lucky for us Wooddy Kitchen had availability at short notice. The best part being he makes all of his sauces from scratch (minus fish sauce, but that is gluten free) so he was more than willing to accommodate a gluten free diet. He has had many other customers who required this diet and therefore he was well versed. The two other people who were going to be in our class switched to a different day, so we ended up with a private experience.

The Experience

Terry ended up picking massaman curry, pad Thai and mango sticky rice as the meals we learn to cook. With staying at Tiger, he offered transport to his kitchen with a stop at a local market to buy ingredients on the way. While we didn’t understand what was being said between vendors it was still quite the experience. Most of the night markets have transitioned to a tourist shopping escapade and seeing authentic market makes all the difference.

He has many stations set up in case large groups sign-up. He also has air conditioning with lots of fans because it can get hot in there with a bunch of burners being on. The whole thing lasts a couple of hours as you learn each meal and then taste you creations. All the food was delicious and per usual we over indulged ourselves in the delicious food.

Wooddy’s WhatsApp number: +66 95 274 2719

Booking at his location is significantly cheaper than online because you don’t have to pay the fee for the website.

Grocery Shopping

Yes, Phuket has grocery stores that have gluten free items. There aren’t extensive choices, but there are some if you need to buy flour, oats, and sauces. Obviously, sticking to naturally gluten free things is the easiest way to go. While in Phuket we inadvertently did a cleansing diet. Tiger didn’t serve caffeine or dairy and minimal carbs on top of us sweating out all the toxins lead to a healthy week. We found many options of gluten free items at Villa Market in Phuket and few options at Tops in Robinson Lifestyle mall.

Railay Beach on the other hand was a lot more challenging for restaurant options and grocery/convenience stores. To be honest, I’m not sure there is a grocery store on the island. If you are planning to go to Railay Beach for longer than an evening then make sure to shop for food or snacks prior to embarking on that journey.

Open Air Market

This is entirely up to you and your comfort level. Since everyone varies in their degree of sensitivity some people maybe more inclined to try a dish or two. Honestly, we wouldn’t blame them. The smell, sight and atmosphere are all fantastic; however, we stuck to food we knew was gluten free, albiet boring by Thailand standards. There are a couple of reasons for that:

We can guarantee that street food vendors will not have a gluten free sauce.
Even if you ask for no sauce, be advised they may only have one cooking surface and that surface is not cleaned between customers. Risk for cross-contamination is high.

Fresh fruit smoothie stands are a very common and while it is not the same as trying Thai street food, it is a great way to tide over your hunger until you can get to a restaurant. We had many smoothies while in Thailand.

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