Under 300 Baht ... And Good! (updated for 2024)

[jpmelville]

I still don't understand why many of the restaurants have over 100(or even close) items in their menus? Must be a bitch to handle the stock and produce in it. Tendency to have everything for everyone might be a kiss of death. 

I don't believe one restaurant can cook 100 dishes well. Cutting it to max. top 20 dishes might help their stock management a bit and improve the food quality also

Edited August 22, 2017 by jpmelville

[Evil Penevil]

 

Hachiban Ramen 8 is a chain of inexpensive Japanese ramen (noodle) restaurants that has about 100 branches in Thailand, usually in or near shopping malls and big retail outlets. I eat in the one on the ground floor of Tukcom, but there are branches in Central Festival, Central Marina and elsewhere in Pattaya.

 

 

The menu is pretty much limited to noodles in various forms.  Hachiban Ramen 8 is to Japanese noodles what McDonald's is to U.S. hamburgers. There are a few dishes with gyoza (dumplings, aka potstickers) or fried rice, but for the most part it's like a "best of" porno video - ramen, ramen, ramen. And within the ramen category, it's noodle soup that dominates, although there are a couple of cold noodle dishes. Some dishes have also been adapted to Thai ingredients and preferences.

 

 

What you won't see on the menu is Western food.  However, I'm including Hachiban in this thread because it's quite inexpensive- you can have a meal for well under 200 baht, even under 100 baht-  and at least it's non-Thai food, if not farang.  Some more examples from the menu:

 

 

 

 

 

Hachiban ticks all the boxes for when it comes to cleanliness, lighting and space. Another plus factor is the absence of annoying background music.

 

 

 

 

It operates on an open kitchen basis and you can watch the cooks prepare your meal.  Thai customers often do just that.

 

 

 

The big plastic menu cards with pics, descriptions and prices for each dish make it easy to order.

 

 

 

Separate cards promote the limited-time specials.  I tried the negi chashumen  (ramen with pork slices and chopped leek).  It was exceptional value for money at 78 baht or 100 baht including a soft drink.

 

 

 

Another day I had the gyoza and ramen set, essentially Japanese comfort food, for 143 baht.  Good taste, but it didn't scale any culinary heights; not, of course, that I would expect it to for 143 baht.

 

 

 

 

 

In case you're wondering about the round ingredient with the red numeral eight in the center, it is a slice of kamaboko, or fish cake. It's a tradition in Japan to make fish cakes with decorative designs inside.  I thought perhaps 8 is a lucky number in Japan as it is in China. It is to some degree, but Hachiban Ramen 8 is named for National Highway 8 in Japan, the road on which the chain's first restaurant was located.

 

Bottom line:  Hachiban Ramen 8 is a good option for a quick lunch or dinner.  It's cheap and the food tastes fine, assuming you like Japanese noodles.

 

Evil

Edited January 20, 2019 by Evil Penevil

[KittenKong]

1 hour ago, Evil Penevil said:

Bottom line:  Hachiban Ramen 8 is a good option for a quick lunch or dinner.  It's cheap and the food tastes fine, assuming you like Japanese noodles.

 

Often been past the TukCom one and keep meaning to try it, but never have.

[Evil Penevil]

9 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Often been past the TukCom one and keep meaning to try it, but never have.

It's not at all a bad option if you like Japanese noodle soup or gyoza.  Quite a mixture of customers- Thai, Japanese, farang and other foreigners.

 

This is what I had for supper last night at the Spaghetti Bistrot on Soi 15:

 

The menu calls it "Oriental merguez & harissa."  Merguez is a spicy lamb sausage of North African origin.  Harissa is a paste made from chillies and various spices that is common in Moroccan cooking.  That's a sophisticated dish for a small outdoor eatery in Pattaya.

 

 

I had it with tagliatelle and it cost 185 baht. 

 

 

I liked it very much.  I enjoy merguez and it's not often you see it on menus in Pattaya.

 

 

 

 

While it will be very tough for the Spaghetti Bistrot to survive, it does seem to be attracting more customers than a few weeks ago.  Best of luck to its owner and staff.   

 

I also noticed that SB serves wine, but I don't know any details.

 

 

I like the "open kitchen" model.  Yesterday a Russian woman was giving the cook a lot of suggestions about preparing her meal.

 

Evil

Edited August 24, 2017 by Evil Penevil

[vimto66]

I know i`d like that before i even even tasted it!

[Marcus85]

On 8/24/2017 at 4:16 AM, Evil Penevil said:

 

The menu calls it "Oriental merguez & harissa."  Merguez is a spicy lamb sausage of North African origin.  Harissa is a paste made from chillies and various spices that is common in Moroccan cooking.  That's a sophisticated dish for a small outdoor eatery in 

Looks really good. 

How spicy is this dish? Does it have a nice kick to the sausage and sauce?

[Evil Penevil]

1 minute ago, Marcus85 said:

Looks really good. 

How spicy is this dish? Does it have a nice kick to the sausage and sauce?

Yes, for me it had just the right level of heat, as both merguez sausage and harissa are spicy. I'm sure if you wanted more heat, the cook would be happy to oblige you.  

Evil

[Evil Penevil]

I know The Bite has its own thread, but its daily specials and new discount card deserve mention in this thread. Last night I had the pulled lamb ragu on noodles at 275 baht.

 

The lamb had been slow-cooked in a red wine stock.

 

 

It was delicious!  Tender and packed with flavor. The noodles had been cooked a perfect al dente.

 

 

The pictures can be deceiving.  It wasn't a small portion of lamb. I spread out the ragu to give a better idea of how much lamb there actually was.

 

 

The Bite has begun with a discount card, which makes their already reasonable even less expensive.

 

 

The way it works is that you get one stamp on the back of the card for each 100 baht you spend.  If your total bill is 310 baht, you get three stamps.  My total bill, with the daily special, dessert and beverage, was 470 baht and I got four stamps. Ten stamps and you get 100 baht off your next meal.  Not a bad deal at all!  You can use the 100 baht off on the daily and weekly specials as well as the a la carte menu, but not in connection with other discount like Eatigo.

I topped off my meal with the sticky toffee and date pudding with butterscotch sauce and ice cream for 145 baht.  Excellent!

In central Pattaya, there aren't many places you can eat a main dish as good as The Bite offers for under 300 baht.

Evil

[Kreggerz]

Yeah, I was somewhat skeptical at first when Bite reopened after being closed for a long time, but it's clear to me now that Bite is back. It was one of the best deals in town for somewhat creative western food before and it is again. Congratulations to the owners, chef, and staff. 

Edited September 6, 2017 by Kreggerz

[superroo]

Ate at Spaghetti Bistro tonight and enjoyed a very nice meal , large serving almost to much.

Looking forward to returning and sampling other choices before the holidays run out.

The meal and a soft drink cost 220 baht . Fantastic value.

[Evil Penevil]

 

I was pleasantly surprised with the meal I had last night at The Diner's Express, a small cafe in a corner of the Villa Market at The Avenue shopping plaza on 2nd Road.  The meal was cheap, quick and tasty.

 

 

The Diner's Express is a mini-version of the Took Lae Dee restaurants attached to Foodland Supermarkets. TDE features an open kitchen like its bigger Foodland cousins. However, TDE only has about 10 tables for three and it's right inside Villa Market. It's open from 7.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m.

 

 

The menu at TDE is a mixture of farang dishes, mostly of the comfort food variety (hamburgers, sandwiches, pastas, pork chops, etc.) and Thai standards, again much like Took Lae Dee.  From The Diner's Express FB page:

 

 

Prices are moderate, especially for the Thai dishes.  However, a few of the farang dishes, such as the pork chop, cost close to 300 baht and for that price, you could be having the daily special at The Bite or dozens of other restaurants.

 

 

I chose the tonkatsu with rice (108 baht) and a "Watermelon Blast" to drink (78 baht).  I could have kept the meal under 150 baht if I'd had water or a soft drink.

 

 

Tonkatsu is a Japanese dish consisting of a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet.  It's usually served with shredded cabbage and a thick sauce that resembles  Worcestershire sauce in taste and consistency.  The cabbage was missing, but the sauce was there.

 

 

It tasted fine.  The cutlet had been deep-fried properly;  the breading was golden brown and had the right level of crunch, while the pork wasn't at all dry.  However, the cutlet was very thin and the portion would have been small for a lot of people.

 

 

The Watermelon Blast was also good.  Unlike a lot of places, TDE hadn't skimped on the watermelon and the smoothie had a lot of taste.  It's an excellent drink for keeping hydrated in hot and humid weather.

 

Bottom line:  Although my experience is limited with The Diner's Express, I'd say it's not a bad place for a quick bite if you happen to be in Villa Market.  However, I have a hard time imagining that anyone would make a special trip just to eat there.

 

Evil

[Evil Penevil]

 

When The Bite picked up Bite Me Bistro's dropped baton two months ago, many former customers wondered if it would be able to regain the culinary heights it once held. To a large extent, it has. There may be some details left to iron out, but by and large, it's back to where it once was.

 

 

Bite Me has reincarnated itself as The Bite in the same premises near the corner of Third Road and Soi Lengkee.  The original version closed its doors in January this year and visitors to Pattaya as well as long-term residents mourned its passing, as Bite Me had occupied a unique niche  within the Pattaya restaurant scene.

 

 

 

Like its predecessor, The Bite punches way above its price class in serving top-notch food at bargain prices. The menu hasn't changed much since the Bite Me days. It's still largely Mediterranean food, often modern takes on classic dishes and international favorites. The ingredients are high-quality and fresh, with a lot of care taken in the preparation of each meal.

 

 

 

My most recent meal at The Bite (Tuesday night) was a daily special: duck breast in a blueberry and red wine sauce, served on a bed of bok choi and buttered mashed potatoes.

 

 

I can say without equivocation it was the best meal I've had in Pattaya for 260 baht.

 

 

I'm a big fan of duck, whether cooked Western or Asian style.  The problem with a lot of the Western duck dishes in Pattaya is the toughness of the meat.  This is usually due to overcooking, but it can also be related to the age of the duck and how it was frozen.  The duck breast at The Bite was tender, juicy and full of flavor.

 

 

The blueberry and wine sauce had just the right balance of sweetness and acidity to complement the richness of the duck breast.

 

 

The  bok choi and buttered mash were excellent accompaniments to round out the dish. And the chef sure didn't skimp on the blueberries.

 

 

The Bite has become my favorite Western restaurant in Pattaya and I eat there a couple times a week.  Another recent meal was  chicken breast in a mushroom and white wine sauce with wild rice, again a special at 260 baht.

 

 

And again, it was the same winning formula: quality ingredients prepared properly to bring out the natural flavors.

 

 

 

 

Bottom line: You can't eat better Western food in central Pattaya for 260 baht.

 

Evil

[Evil Penevil]

The day I had the chicken special, a friend chose the weekly three-course set menu at 390 baht.  He had the potato balls with cheese as his starter.

 

 

 

As his main course, he had the salmon with hollandaise sauce, mixed vegetables and buttered mash.

 

The sauce looked too white to be hollandaise, so I tasted a bit of it.  It wasn't hollandaise, but a good bechamel.  My friend didn't care as he is a healthy eater and doesn't put sauce on his fish.

 

 

For dessert, he had the warm chocolate fondant with ice cream and whipped cream.  That's not so healthy, but it was very delicious, he said.

 

 

 

Evil

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by Evil Penevil

[Ah dinnae ken]

Thanks for the excellent revue of this great little place. I just hope punters keep supporting it as it is my go to  place when I'm in town because it offers quality food at reasonable cost

[Jebb]

On 8/24/2017 at 06:46, Evil Penevil said:

It's not at all a bad option if you like Japanese noodle soup or gyoza.  Quite a mixture of customers- Thai, Japanese, farang and other foreigners.

 

This is what I had for supper last night at the Spaghetti Bistrot on Soi 15:

 

The menu calls it "Oriental merguez & harissa."  Merguez is a spicy lamb sausage of North African origin.  Harissa is a paste made from chillies and various spices that is common in Moroccan cooking.  That's a sophisticated dish for a small outdoor eatery in Pattaya.

 

 

I had it with tagliatelle and it cost 185 baht. 

 

 

I liked it very much.  I enjoy merguez and it's not often you see it on menus in Pattaya.

 

 

 

 

While it will be very tough for the Spaghetti Bistrot to survive, it does seem to be attracting more customers than a few weeks ago.  Best of luck to its owner and staff.   

 

I also noticed that SB serves wine, but I don't know any details.

 

 

I like the "open kitchen" model.  Yesterday a Russian woman was giving the cook a lot of suggestions about preparing her meal.

 

Evil

Wow, that looks nice. Must try that one.

[Evil Penevil]

I wrote about  Olala Restaurant on Soi 7 between 2nd Road and Beach Road (next to Rosie O'Grady's) in the OP of this thread. It offers Norwegian and other European dishes (German, Austrian, Italian, etc) as well as Thai food. It became a favorite of mine for its simple yet tasty fare and reasonable prices.  The exact timeline is blurry for me, but it closed for refurbishment and stayed closed for what struck me as a long time.  I figured it had closed for good and stopped thinking about it as a dining option.

However, it did reopen quite awhile ago.  Sunday night I was passing by and stopped for a light meal.  I didn't bother to take an outside shot, but the exterior hasn't changed much since 2013.

 

 

The interior was pretty much the same, too.

 

It's an open restaurant with a visible kitchen area. Ceiling-mounted fans keep the dining area cool.

 

Even the sign advertising the lamb shank was in the same place as 2013.

 

I wasn't very hungry so I ordered the open-face prawn sandwich for 175 baht. It came with a small portion of a very fresh raw salad. The slice of tomato had plenty of flavor, which is not often the case in Pattaya.  I thought about ordering a tomato salad to go along with the sandwich, but just wasn;t that hungry.

 

The prawns were plump and had been cooked properly so they retain the right taste and texture.

I was pleased to find another slice of tomato hiding under the prawns.

The only criticism I would make is that the bread hadn't been toasted long enough.  It was more warmed than toasted.

 

The menu- and prices- were much the same as I recall from the past. The farang part of the menu is mainly European comfort food with an emphasis on Norwegian specialties. German- and Austrian-style schnitzels are also well-represented. The roast chicken dinner (195 baht) hadn't gone up in price since 2013 and the basic schnitzel had only increased five baht to 175 baht.  The Thai menu is extensive, but mostly standard dishes.  The majority of the main dishes are under 300 baht.

 

Bottom line: I'll go back to try more of the Thai and farang menus.

 

Evil

[jpmelville]

On my first trip 2013 I frequented Olala as My hotel was very near. I think it was very good quality for the price. I think I will go and test it again some weekend. Thanks for the reminder of this place.

[Evil Penevil]

6 hours ago, jpmelville said:

On my first trip 2013 I frequented Olala as My hotel was very near. I think it was very good quality for the price.

That's very true.  A lot of restaurants in central Pattaya have dishes and meals at similar prices but not many offer the same quality ingredients and skill in preparation as Olala.  It's good value for money.

Evil

[The Sculptor]

Love these reviews. 

[jimboh]

On ‎9‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 00:10, Evil Penevil said:

The day I had the chicken special, a friend chose the weekly three-course set menu at 390 baht.  He had the potato balls with cheese as his starter.

 

 

 

As his main course, he had the salmon with hollandaise sauce, mixed vegetables and buttered mash.

 

The sauce looked too white to be hollandaise, so I tasted a bit of it.  It wasn't hollandaise, but a good bechamel.  My friend didn't care as he is a healthy eater and doesn't put sauce on his fish.

 

 

For dessert, he had the warm chocolate fondant with ice cream and whipped cream.  That's not so healthy, but it was very delicious, he said.

 

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Evil

 

I also had this special a while ago, the herb crusted salmon was excellent.

[soi16]

My Way. Tenderloin, pepper sauce, fried potatoes and salad. Well spent 300b.

 

[Luv2Phuket]

1 hour ago, soi16 said:

My Way. Tenderloin, pepper sauce, fried potatoes and salad. Well spent 300b.

 

I try to go there every trip -- I enjoy the tenderloin, but those damn potatoes bring me back time and again! 

Wheels up in about 10 days, so looking forward to having them again soon!

[Evil Penevil]

2 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

I try to go there every trip -- I enjoy the tenderloin, but those damn potatoes bring me back time and again! 

Wheels up in about 10 days, so looking forward to having them again soon!

It's also a favorite of mine.  I've written about My Way several times. It's probably the best value-for-money place to get your beef fix in central Pattaya. 

Evil

[soi16]

2 hours ago, Evil Penevil said:

It's also a favorite of mine

Mine too, thanks for writing Evil. Did know anything about it before.

 

Btw. In this small "walking soi" is a lot of steak houses right now.

-Calles swedish

-Long Horn thai?

-My Way dutch (under 300b)

-Patricks belgium

-Beef Eater swedish

At the Patricks, the snacks are gone.

At the Beef Eater, potato gratin, the size of portion is it half what it was before. Cheap Pangasus fish should not be there at all, salmon or cod, thanks.

At the Calles, never see him there, only thais.

At the Long Horn the steaks are not good quality, what I heard, will not loose money for bullshit.

Edited November 7, 2017 by soi16

[Luv2Phuket]

12 hours ago, Evil Penevil said:

It's also a favorite of mine.  I've written about My Way several times. It's probably the best value-for-money place to get your beef fix in central Pattaya. 

Evil

ABSOLUTELY -- your comments were what led me to try it!