August 14, 2026
Restaurants in Koh Kaew run from roadside Thai shophouses to marina-side kitchens inside Boat Lagoon. Koh Kaew is a residential district on Phuket’s quiet east coast, fifteen minutes from the airport road and from Phuket Town, with a fraction of the tourist traffic of Patong. Soho Pool Club sits at 23 Boat Lagoon Marina — Thai and Western food, a free pool, free parking. Open daily 8 AM to 10 PM.
Do you know why thousands of people drive through Koh Kaew every day and never once stop to eat? Yes — because it does not announce itself. There is no beach strip, no row of neon signs, no tout with a laminated menu. What there is instead is a working Phuket neighbourhood, and behind a set of gates on the seaward side, a marina that most visitors never realise they can simply walk into.
This is an honest guide to eating here, written by people who run a kitchen in the middle of it.
Koh Kaew (also written Ko Kaeo) is a sub-district in Mueang Phuket, on the island’s eastern side, roughly halfway between Phuket International Airport and Phuket Town. It is where a lot of Phuket actually lives and works: schools, condominiums, a hospital, supermarkets, boatyards, and the island’s largest marina community at Boat Lagoon.
That matters for your dinner. Because Koh Kaew is residential rather than resort-facing, prices behave normally, kitchens cook for people who will come back next week, and you are rarely queuing. The trade-off is that nothing is arranged for your convenience — the good places are scattered, unsignposted in English, and easy to miss at 50 km/h.
It also sits on the sheltered side of the island. Koh Kaew faces east into calm water behind mangroves, which is exactly why the marina was built here — and why eating outdoors in July is a different proposition on this side of Phuket.
Broadly, they fall into four groups, and it helps to know which one you are looking for before you set off.
Roadside Thai shophouses. Open-fronted, plastic chairs, a wok and a rice cooker, usually a hand-painted board in Thai only. Excellent value, genuinely local, and generally open for lunch and early evening rather than late. Point at what the next table is eating. This is the best food-per-baht on the island and nobody is going to hand you a wine list.
Mall and supermarket food courts. Reliable, air-conditioned, easy on the wallet, and the safe default if you have a car full of tired people and no plan.
Residential-development cafés and bistros. Koh Kaew has a lot of long-stay condominium living. Coffee is good, opening hours can be short, and the crowd skews expat and remote worker.
Marina-side dining inside Boat Lagoon. This is the category people do not expect, because the marina looks private from the road. It is not. Boat Lagoon is a working harbour with a walkable waterfront, and you can drive in, park for free, and eat by the water without owning anything that floats.
Boat Lagoon Marina is a natural harbour cut into the mangroves at Koh Kaew, with pontoons, a boatyard, offices and a colonial-style waterfront terrace. Yachts overwinter here through the monsoon precisely because the water stays flat. It reads as a members’ world from outside the gate. It is not one.
Soho Pool Club is at 23 Boat Lagoon Marina, Moo 2, Koh Kaeo, Ampur Mueang, Phuket 83000. Free onsite parking, free Wi-Fi, and — the part visitors reliably do not believe — the swimming pool is free to use. You order food and drink from the menu; nobody charges you for the sun lounger. The 300 THB charge some people have heard about is for Soho Wellness, the sauna and ice bath zone, which is a separate thing entirely. Open daily 8 AM to 10 PM, kitchen 11 AM to 10 PM, no reservation needed to walk in and eat.
Chef Ai leads the kitchen. She sources fresh, seasonal produce from local farmers and fishermen, and cooks traditional Thai recipes with modern technique and presentation alongside a straightforward Western menu. The 2026 menu is deliberately broad, because a marina table on a Saturday usually contains one person who wants papaya salad and one who wants a burger.
On the Thai side, Khao Soi Gai at 290 THB is the best seller — crispy and soft noodles in a spicy coconut curry with chicken, and the dish most often mentioned in reviews. Pad Thai is 270 THB, Tom Yum Kung 230 THB, Somtum Thai 220 THB, Panang and Massaman curries 250 THB each, Pad Kra Pao 270 THB.
On the Western side, the Soho Smash Burger at 420 THB uses two 100g Australian Wagyu grass-fed patties with melted cheese and house sauce on brioche. Pan Fried Seabass is 380 THB. The Slow Cooked Lamb Shank in Red Wine Sauce is 590 THB. Grilled Salmon Salad and the Pumpkin, Quinoa and Halloumi Salad are 450 THB each for anyone eating lighter.
All prices are subject to 7% VAT and a 10% service charge — the standard Thai “++”. Corkage, if you bring your own, is 450 THB++ per bottle of wine and 1,000 THB++ per bottle of spirits.
Most kitchens in the area do not open early. The pool club does — 8 AM daily, three hours before the main kitchen starts. The Soho Breakfast is 250 THB: sourdough with two poached eggs, bacon, cheese and avocado, with build-your-own add-ons from 30 THB. Coffee is 100 THB across the board — americano, flat white, cappuccino, latte — and iced coffee 110 THB.
This is the slot Phuket’s remote workers have quietly claimed. Free parking, free Wi-Fi, a table by the water, and nobody hurrying you along. Koh Kaew is where a lot of the island’s digital nomad population lives, because it is central to everything and priced like a neighbourhood rather than a resort.
Koh Kaew is a family district, and it shows. Soho runs a full kids’ menu: chicken nuggets 180 THB, chicken strips 200 THB, fish fingers 200 THB, margherita pizza 280 THB, fish and chips 330 THB, fries and veggie sticks 150 THB each, ice cream sundae 150 THB.
The practical advantage over a beach restaurant is simple: the pool is right there, it is enclosed, and it is free. Parents get a long lunch, children get somewhere to go between courses, and there is no road to cross and no surf to worry about.
Cocktails are 260 THB as standard — Mojito, Aperol Spritz, Margarita, Espresso Martini, Mai Tai — with the house signature, The Soho Club, at 300 THB: white, dark and coconut rum with lime and fresh coconut water. Mocktails are 180 THB, fresh juices 120 THB, smoothies from 160 THB, beers from 90 THB.
Happy Hour runs every Friday, 5 PM to 7 PM — beers from 70 THB, house white, red and Cold River Brut sparkling at 100 THB a glass, and Mojito and Aperol Spritz at 180 THB. That window lands exactly on sunset over the marina, which is the best two hours of the week here. Note that only those two cocktails are discounted, not the whole list.
For groups, the flagship is Moo Krata — the Thai table-top BBQ set for two at 690 THB, with pork, chicken or a combination, plus vegetables, egg, glass noodles and broth. Upgrade to sliced beef or seafood for 200 THB; extra vegetable or meat plates are 150 THB. It is communal, slow, and the single best thing to order when a table wants to stay put for three hours.
For anything more structured — birthdays, anniversaries, corporate dinners — the Andaman Dining Room is the indoor, air-conditioned space with marina views. Capacity and pricing are quoted on enquiry through the contact page.
The reason to choose this over other options nearby is usually not the food alone — it is that lunch does not have to be the whole afternoon’s plan. Soho Wellness sits poolside with a 5-person Clearlight Infrared Sauna and Bison Ice Baths, plus a quiet lounge with herbal tea and infused mineral water; day passes and memberships are booked through the live widget on that page.
Upstairs, the Soho Sports Club streams AFL, Formula 1, rugby and football on two large screens. And inside the complex, SIMPRO Academy runs professional-grade racing and flight simulators — you can order from the same kitchen while seated in the rig.
High season runs November to April: dry, busy, worth booking ahead for weekend evenings and any live sport worth watching. Green season, May to October, brings warm afternoon rain in defined bursts — and because Koh Kaew sits on the sheltered east coast, the gap between the two seasons is far less dramatic here than on the west-coast beaches. The kitchen, the pool and the sauna run identically year-round, with an indoor room for the hour the rain arrives.
Soho Pool Club, 23 Boat Lagoon Marina, Moo 2, Koh Kaeo, Ampur Mueang, Phuket 83000. Roughly fifteen minutes from Phuket International Airport and around ten from Phuket Town — see Thai cuisine if you want a primer on what you will be ordering. Free onsite parking. Open daily 8 AM to 10 PM, kitchen 11 AM to 10 PM. Reservations, groups and private events: +66 81 787 7702 or info@simbaseatrips.com. All bookings are confirmed in writing.
Koh Kaew (Ko Kaeo) is a sub-district of Mueang Phuket on the island’s east coast, sitting roughly between Phuket International Airport and Phuket Town. It is residential and commercial rather than a beach resort area, and it is home to Boat Lagoon Marina. Driving time is about fifteen minutes from the airport and around ten minutes from Phuket Town.
Four broad types. Roadside Thai shophouses serving fast, inexpensive local food. Mall and supermarket food courts. Cafés and bistros attached to condominium developments, popular with long-stay residents. And marina-side dining inside Boat Lagoon, which includes Soho Pool Club — Thai and Western food served beside a free swimming pool with free parking.
Yes. Boat Lagoon Marina is open to the public, not members-only. Soho Pool Club is at 23 Boat Lagoon Marina, serving Chef Ai’s Thai menu alongside Western dishes, burgers, salads, breakfast and a full bar. The kitchen is open 11 AM to 10 PM daily and the venue itself opens at 8 AM for breakfast and coffee.
Not for general dining — walk-ins are welcome. Reservations are recommended for large groups, private events, birthdays, and busy live-sport days such as Formula 1 race weekends. Call +66 81 787 7702 or email info@simbaseatrips.com. Every reservation is confirmed in writing before it is considered booked.
At Soho Pool Club, yes — there is free onsite parking with plenty of space, which is a meaningful difference from eating in Phuket Town or at a west-coast beach where parking is often paid, scarce, or both. You drive into the marina, park, and walk to the waterfront.
Yes. There is a dedicated kids’ menu with items from 150 THB, including chicken nuggets, fish fingers, pizza, fish and chips and ice cream. The swimming pool is free to use and enclosed within the venue, so children have somewhere to go between courses without a road or a shoreline to worry about.
Thai mains run roughly 220 to 300 THB, with Khao Soi Gai at 290 THB. Western mains run 330 to 590 THB, with the Soho Smash Burger at 420 THB. Breakfast is 250 THB, coffee 100 THB, cocktails 260 THB. All prices are subject to 7% VAT and a 10% service charge. The Moo Krata BBQ set for two is 690 THB.
Most restaurants in Koh Kaew do one thing, and often do it very well. What Boat Lagoon offers is a different shape of afternoon: breakfast by the pool, a swim, Chef Ai’s khao soi at a table beside the water, a sauna session, the race on upstairs, and a simulator lap before dinner — without moving your car once.
That is the point of a social house. Come for the food, stay because there was no particular reason to leave. Make a reservation on +66 81 787 7702, email info@simbaseatrips.com, or simply drive in. Open daily, 8 AM to 10 PM, at 23 Boat Lagoon Marina, Koh Kaeo.
Paul Chappell — Founder & Operator, Soho Pool Club Phuket
Credentials: 20+ years in Phuket hospitality and travel. Co-founder of Soho Pool Club with his wife Andrea Chappell. Hands-on operator across all five Soho experiences — pool club, restaurant, Soho Wellness, sports lounge, and SIMPRO Academy. Former Boeing Business Jet captain with 23+ years of aviation experience.
Paul co-founded Soho Pool Club to create a marina-side social house at Boat Lagoon — a place where the same guest enjoys breakfast by the pool, a Clearlight infrared sauna session, lunch with Chef Ai’s Thai menu, an upstairs Formula 1 watch party, and a Phi Phi tour with Simba Sea Trips, all in one day. He writes about contrast therapy, marina-side dining, Phuket’s slower rhythm, and the kind of social hospitality that comes from running a place yourself instead of franchising it.
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