Jimmy Ophorst wins a second Michelin star with PRU in Phuket
Westland-born chef Jimmy Ophorst takes PRU in Phuket to two stars in the Michelin Guide Thailand 2027: the country's first two-star restaurant outside Bangkok and its surroundings.
The Netherlands has a new two-star chef, even if he cooks more than nine thousand kilometres away. Jimmy Ophorst, chef and co-owner of PRU in Phuket, received a second star in the Michelin Guide Thailand 2027, presented in Bangkok early this week. PRU becomes the first restaurant outside Bangkok and the surrounding provinces to hold two stars, the Tourism Authority of Thailand reported.
Ophorst comes from the Westland, the greenhouse region next to The Hague, AD Westland wrote, and he told the Michelin Guide in an earlier interview that he grew up about two kilometres from the North Sea. In Thailand he worked in the kitchen of Gaggan in Bangkok before moving to the Trisara beach resort in Choeng Thale, where PRU opened in November 2016.
What Jimmy Ophorst serves in Phuket
Two stars. We live the dream.
The Michelin Guide describes PRU as modern Thai cooking with a strong sense of place: a seasonal menu built on produce from the restaurant's own farm and trusted Thai suppliers, with a lot of fermenting and preserving. The signature dish pairs durian with caviar and sea grapes. The farm, Pru Jampa, is on Phuket itself and runs on permaculture principles, according to the Thai magazine FEAST.
The first star came in 2018, the first ever in Phuket. In 2021 PRU added Thailand's first Green Star, for sustainable practice. Ophorst shares the new star with chef Florian Desportes, who runs the kitchen day to day. 'Two stars. We live the dream,' he told FEAST, pointing out that the guide, PRU and his marriage have all reached ten years.
The Michelin Guide Thailand 2027 in numbers
PRU is one of three restaurants promoted to two stars; the other two, Blue by Alain Ducasse and Mia, are in Bangkok. Thailand now has ten two-star restaurants and two with three stars. The guide's tenth edition lists 507 addresses, 53 of them starred. The full overview is in our list of the Michelin Guide Thailand 2027.
By Dutch standards a second star is no small thing. The latest Dutch guide added two new two-star restaurants, Azurite in Delft and SUIS in Schin op Geul, as our Michelin Guide Netherlands 2026 list shows. Jimmy Ophorst sits outside that count, but he now belongs on the list of Dutch chefs with two stars.
For anyone who wants to taste the cooking of Jimmy Ophorst: the PRU Experience dinner menu costs 7,500 baht plus service and tax. On Thursday, PRU's own website still mentioned one star.
