Banzaan Fresh Market

Tucked behind Jungceylon Shopping Mall in Patong, Banzaan Fresh Market is where locals and visitors buy seafood straight off the ice on the ground floor -- crab, prawns, squid, reef fish -- then carry it upstairs to be cooked to order at the food court above. The ground level also sells tropical fruit, vegetables and dried spices, and haggling over both seafood prices and cooking fees is standard practice. Open daily from early morning, it is busiest and best stocked before the midday heat sets in.