Le Strogonoff restaurant, Pratamnak

[Eddie9]

Having eaten in Pattaya for years, often alone and therefore with some attention, here’s my review of a restaurant which perhaps deserves a few more customers.

 

 

 

LE STROGONOFF RESTAURANT 

 

 

The Strogonoff is one of those restaurants which might have reached Pattaya by teleportation, from its napery to its bistro-style deux ou trois plats menu, straight from a Paris boulevard or Marseilles avenue, it’s specials Southern French, coastal Mediterranean, cous cous and merguez sausages.

          How wise this teleportation is commercially is another thing. If French cuisine is a commodity it’s been a long bear market, depressed by the modern suspicion of butter, cream and even the humble egg yolk. The financial chart of the Italian Restaurant crossed it a long time ago on it’s own bull run of canonised olive oil. It needs at least a ready population of Frenchman and in Pratamnak, where the restaurant stands with its face to Pratamnak Road between soi 4 and soi 5, I am not sure there is a fair share. For visitors to Pratamnak, getting there is less easy than leaving, when any baht bus can be hailed for the standard fare. The sois run down to the sea where a few confined beaches are known to locals. On the hilltop is the Buddha in its parkland. The tone is residential and Kinnaree bar and brothel, halfway down the hill, appears at first glance to be a Mexican church.

          I visited after a long absence, walking in from Jomtien along the coast and then up the hill. In a city not teeming with good walks this might deserve to be called one. I was glad and a little surprised to find Le Strogonoff still open, having never seen it busy. It has thirty-five covers inside, ten outside and on average you might find four or five heads at table.

          They take care of you very well. The French proprietor is there for dinner, to cook the food and bid you bon appetite.

At the time of writing one is likely to be offered gratuit two tasting spoons, perhaps a fruit juice cocktail with a splash of Thai whisky, a hot crusty French dinner roll delivered soon after the ping of the microwave and a salty dip of crushed olives. This is very pleasant. The house red and white wines are particularly good and at BHT 120 for a large glass good value.

          An old review on the wall says that the proprietor had a notable career in catering in France. That ambience of French fine dining is still alive, of restaurants the heart and glory of France, of the traditions of its chefs, of the apprenticeships which seed a lifelong labour of love. It is hushed, the air conditioning is not too fierce and no piped music has to be mentally boxed and fought with. But it would not be Thailand if no exotic influence were present. Thailand cannot be denied. Some pleasant depictions of Thai life decorate the walls, Buddhist imagery, life of the saffron-robed boys at the temple, and when M. Le Proprietaire is absent (to stir up an omlette), the piercing Thai chatter of two or three other staff, who are rarely busy, starts up in the room, as if a parakeet had suddenly flown in through the window. You can spend as much or as little as you want to and be well fed. My bill averages BHT 500 per visit.

          At the end of my meal, in search of the toilets, I was teleported back to the sticky Pattaya night, on a sultry first floor gallery adjoining the Victoria hotel, contemporaneous with Le Strogonoff but a separate business. Here framed on the wall is that famous photographic image showing the moment His Majesty King Bhumibol and his Queen sat down and met Elvis Presley on the Hollywood set of a movie. With a good meal under the belt, the head awash with good wine, I was perfectly receptive to the charm of this image from 1960. They are three young and beautiful people. Elvis is in uniform, talking and clearly captivating the lovely Queen, while His Majesty, dressed in a European suit, sits beside his wife, one hand over the wrist of the other, the lower hand resting on the trousering above his knee, in a posture which tells of his courtly life back home, the King of Siam. Was some musical collaboration discussed between these two musicians? I like to think so. Perhaps we little suspect who really wrote Blue Suede Shoes.

 

  

[princeofwales]

Eh??? very nice words but what did you have to eat and was it any good

[Eddie9]

Eh??? very nice words but what did you have to eat and was it any good

 

After a few glasses of the good house wine memory of the food is liable to be blurred. Seriously, that they feed you well is all that I wanted to say in this piece, and not get into specific dishes. If you know the restaurant or your curiosity is stirred, that's all to be discovered individually.If I write further pieces there are restaurants whose dishes I want to write paeans on.

[Kreggerz]

I used to eat at that place often when they were in South Pattaya. It was a mixed bag food-wise then but you couldn't complain at their price level. I don't find their current location convenient so have never been. 

[Eddie9]

I used to eat at that place often when they were in South Pattaya. It was a mixed bag food-wise then but you couldn't complain at their price level. I don't find their current location convenient so have never been. 

 

Really? That must be going back a bit as it's been where it is now for a good five years or six years at least.

 

I've been there are few more times with continuing affection although the only things I'd actually recommend are the Merguez sausages and french fries, the house red and white wines and the lemon sorbet with vodka - but probably there are other good dishes.

[Kreggerz]

Yes.

Really.