Shakshuka in Phuket: what it is, how spicy it gets, and where to eat it near Bang Tao

What exactly is shakshuka?

Tomatoes and peppers, cooked down with spices until they turn into a thick sauce. Then eggs go in and cook in that sauce rather than in oil. That is really the whole idea. Every family that makes it has its own version — more pepper, less pepper, cumin or no cumin, cheese on top or not — and arguing about it is part of the dish.

On our menu it reads: eggs poached in spiced tomato and pepper sauce, feta and herbs, toasted bread with butter. The feta adds salt and a bit of sharpness. The bread is the spoon. It arrives hot in the pan and you eat it that way.

The dish is common across North Africa, the Levant and Turkey, and it has spread far enough that most travellers have at least heard of it. Finding it on this stretch of Phuket coast is a different matter. We put it on the menu because it suits the halal kitchen naturally — no substitutions needed, nothing to swap out — and because it is genuinely good at any hour of the day.

How spicy is it?

Spiced, not hot. If Thai chilli levels make you nervous, this is a safe order. The warmth comes from the spices in the sauce, not from a pile of fresh chillies. It has flavour and depth without the kind of heat that makes you reach for water every thirty seconds.

That said, if you want it gentler or punchier, say so when you order. Mild, medium or hot is something you can ask for on any dish here, and it costs nothing. We take the request seriously.

Kids who like tomato sauce usually eat it without complaint. Kids who refuse anything red usually don't. You know which one you have.

How do you eat it?

Tear the bread, break a yolk, drag it through the sauce. No knife-and-fork ceremony needed. Eat it while it is hot — the eggs keep cooking in the sauce after it leaves the kitchen, so a shakshuka left for ten minutes while everyone takes photos ends up with firm yolks. Not a disaster. Just not the point.

The bread does most of the work. If you are hungrier than one pan, an extra fried egg is +20 ฿ and fries are +40 ฿ on the add-on list. Both are worth knowing about before you sit down.

Shakshuka or a full English?

Different moods. The English breakfast (279 ฿) is the big plate — two eggs, chicken sausages, chicken bacon, baked beans, grilled tomato, mushrooms, hash brown, toast. Shakshuka is one pan, softer, and it sits lighter in the heat. Ordering one of each and swapping halfway is honestly the right answer when there are two of you.

Other savoury breakfasts on the list, if neither fits the mood: avocado toast on sourdough with a poached egg (249 ฿), a three-egg omelette with salad and toast (169 ฿, add vegetables, mushrooms, cheese or chicken), or the oatmeal with berries (169 ฿) if you want something lighter. The full picture is on the menu page.

What do you drink with it?

The sauce is rich and a little acidic, so the drink question matters more than it does with, say, a sandwich.

• Fresh orange juice, 119 ฿. Acid against acid sounds wrong and works. Squeezed to order, no sugar added.
• Hot Americano, 89 ฿, or a flat white, 99 ฿, if you need coffee before you can think straight.
• A pot of hot tea, 99 ฿ — Twinings English Breakfast or Earl Grey, 400 ml, refillable. Good for a slow table that wants to sit a while.
• Es-Yen, 109 ฿ — Thai iced coffee, sweet and very strong, if it is already hot outside and you came straight from Surin Beach.
• Strawberry soda, 99 ฿, or the Tabaek (butterfly pea with lemon and soda, 99 ฿) if you want something cold and not coffee.

More on what we brew and why at the coffee and matcha guide.

Is it vegetarian? Is it halal?

As we make it, the shakshuka has no meat: eggs, the tomato and pepper sauce, feta, herbs, bread and butter. That makes it one of the more straightforward orders for vegetarians who eat eggs and dairy. There is a separate vegetarian guide with the full list of what works on our menu without modification.

Everything we serve is halal — that is the whole kitchen, not just certain dishes.

Allergies worth knowing: the shakshuka contains egg, milk (feta and butter) and wheat (the bread). Tell the waiter if any of that is a problem and we will figure it out together.

When can you order it, and from where?

Any time we are open. Breakfast at NIMA is not a morning-only menu — the kitchen serves everything from 10:00 until 19:00, so a shakshuka at 16:30 after a long afternoon at Surin Beach is completely normal. The one thing that catches people: we are closed every Thursday.

We are on Srisoonthon Road in Cherngtalay, about 1 km from Surin Beach and 2 km from Bang Tao Beach, Boat Avenue and Laguna Phuket. Easy by car, taxi or Grab; free street parking at the door. Takeaway is possible — call +66 98 067 2795 to order ahead — but this is a dish that really wants to be eaten at the table, hot, with the bread still warm. It travels fine; it is just better here.

Related guides

• All-day breakfast near Bang Tao & Surin Beach, Phuket

Photos are for illustration only — actual dishes may vary slightly in appearance.