Wooden Box on Thapphraya Road in Jomtien

[Evil Penevil]

PLEASE NOTE:  This review concerns a restaurant called the Wooden Box, not some of the other wooden boxes that can be encountered in Jomtien, whether in condo buildings or in bars.

 

 

The Wooden Box has been open about six months on Thapphraya Road in Jomtien, next door to the Pattaya Provincial building.  It specializes in salads and other healthy food, although it is by no means vegetarian.  There's plenty of meat, fish and seafood on the menu to keep the veggies company.

 

 

According to its Facebook page, the Wooden Box is Thai owned and operated. The Facebook page also says the restuarant grows its own vegetables and herbs on site hydroponically. There's a pic on the page of the tanks and trays in full bloom with healthy green stuff, but they were empty when I visited yesterday.

 

 

The view after dark.  The restaurant is open from 9.30 a.m. until 10.30 p.m. and serves all-day breakfasts in addition to its lunch and dinner fare.

 

 

Salads are the restaurant's focal point.  The "basic" salad, a huge portion of greens and three toppings, costs only 77 bahr, including dressing.  My salad below cost 123 baht as I asked for extra toppings (boiled egg, beetroot, almond slivers, raisins, etc.).  The salad is literally a meal in itself.

 

 

The interior is bright and spotlessly clean.  The seating, which includes some sofa and armchairs. is comfortable. There are tables indoors and out with space for 60 diners.

 

 

 

The salad bar is impressive, but I'm not sure if there's an "all-you-can-eat" buffet option.  I'll ask about that next time I visit.

 

 

 

 

Prices are very reasonable for the salads and a lot of the other dishes, with plenty of options under 300 baht.  However, if your tastes run to ribeye steak or lobster, you'll be paqying the same prices as in comparable restaurants.  The steak cost 535 baht and the lobster 935 baht.

 

 

The first time I visited Wooden Box,  I only ordered salad and a watermelon smoothie.  You order the salad on a check-box menu, ticking off the options you want.

 

 

The salad was fresh and the various components were packed with flavor.  The homemade balsamic dressing (one of about five options) was great and the salad came with a bowl of grated Parmesan cheese, which gave my salad a nice accent. Total cost was 198 baht (123 baht for the salad, 75 baht for the smoothie).

 

 

 

 

On my next visit, I had the mushroom cheeseburger at 255 baht.  Instead of a bun, it features two extra large mushroom caps (breaded and deep-fried) as the top and bottom layers.

 

 

It was a novel idea- I've never seen it before- and very well executed. It came with a small serving of salad, shredded beetroot and a few potato wedges.

 

 

The beef patty was tender, well-seasoned and cooked properly.

 

 

In all, a delicious and filling meal and good value for money.

 

 

 

My next meal wasn't nearly as good as the mushroom burger.  I decided to try the eggs Benedict, which turned out to be a big mistake.  Eggs Benedict is a U.S. dish consisting of poached eggs and Canadian bacon on a toasted muffin, then topped with Hollandaise sauce.  This is what it's supposed to look like (pics from the Net):

 

 

And this was what I got:

 

 

Everything was smothered with a thick Hollandaise sauce that wasn't good. Instead of a layer of Canadian bacon, it was topped with a slice of streaky bacon and had some diced ham inside. There was also a layer of spinach and slices of French bread had been used rather a muffin.

 

 

The eggs were poached properly, but that's about the only positive comment I can make.

 

 

It didn't taste any better than it looked.  Since the pics are depressing, I'll add a bit of info about the dish itself. There are two main versions of how it originated.  The most accepted version says it was invented in the 1860's by Charles Ranhofer, the legendary chef at Delmonico's in New York City.  Supposedly the wife of a NYC millionaire named Benedict wanted a dish featuring poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce and Raqnhofer came up with eggs Benedict.  The other version holds that it was invented in the 1890's when a stock broker named Benedict asked in the restaurant of the Waldorf hotel for poached eggs and bacon on toast with a boat of Hollandaise on the side.  He wanted it as a cure for a hangover.  The chef at the Waldorf was impressed and decided to add it to the menu, but substituted Canadian bacon and a muffin to make the dish more fitting for the fancy Waldorf.

 

 

I scraped off the sauce and ate the eggs.  It can be that eggs Benedict was a culinary bridge too far for the Wooden Box.  Eggs Benedict is like the girl in the nursery rhyme who had a curl in the middle of her forehead:  when she was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid!  It's rare in the U.S. to find eggs Benedict done properly, even less likely abroad.

 

 

However, the meal wasn't a complete flop.  The 235-baht price included coffe or tea, a glass of real orange juice and some fruit.  On that basis, I'd give it a 4 out of 10.

 

 

 

The miss with the eggs Benedict won't stop me from returning to Wooden Box.  I want to try this special before it runs out on Aug. 15:

 

 

Bottom line:  Wooden Box is a welcome addition to the Pattaya food scene with its salads and "Thai fusion" dishes.  Just don't order the eggs Benedict.

 

Evil

[just hanging]

if you say you saw it on FB and mention Love Pattaya you get 10%off entire bill

 

or you can use the app, all in thai and get the 10%. easy to use, open it, sign in, search wooden box, look for the 10% and click on it and it sends a code to your message box after giving your phone number.  app= wongnai

 

Evil, you must try some of the bigger dishes, great.  I can add my pics to this if you want

[beerman]

Great review Evil. Appreciate the effort.

 

Cheers

[Evil Penevil]

Evil, you must try some of the bigger dishes, great.  I can add my pics to this if you want

 

Please feel free to add pics.  The more, the better.

 

Evil

[LRanger]

Good review EP. Passed it many times.

[davidge]

I did post in another thread (which I can't find!). Four of us ate there last month. Pics show 3 salads and the garlic bread (with 1 piece eaten :-), spring rolls and the Thai fusion chicken/rice/sprouts.

I'm looking forward to going back next trip.

 

 

 

By the time I'd eaten my salad and shared the bread, spring rolls (and cheese sticks) with the others, I really didn't want the main course. We'll order less next time :-)

[rollingstonedan]

I really liked this place when I ate in there a month or so back. The salads were a good size and fresh. And very reasonably priced. I will be back in a few weeks on my return.

 

 

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[just hanging]

 

my friends have had the pork chops, salmon, fish sticks, tuna quesadea, and more but hate when I want to take a pic, all looked great and they all loved it

 

make sure to get your 10% discount

[utopia]

Looks really good will probably trek out to Jomtien on the baht bus just to try it out.

[Highlander]

looks good to me

[lavista4u]

Wow...This is incredibly amazing...I had this idea to create a salad type of cafe but these guys did it 10 times better....I have not seen these kinds of concept anywhere else in Asia or Europe...may be ...but I don't know..if it would be this great for people to review it....Mushroom burger was really inventive...they should patent it before some corporation does

 

Thanks...can't wait to check the place out...I want to eat healthy food in pattaya...looks like a good place for vegetarians...

[just hanging]

lunch today.   all my friends go to Royal Cliff on Sundays which had amazing dim sum but its all seafood so I pass.

 

 

fried chicken, I pass on the free side and get a bigger salad

 

[jimboh]

I have had good Egg Benedict at the Coffee Club, comes with crispy bacon.

[just hanging]

I had the first meal i didn't like there, and i have had lots of different things.   I would no recommend the stuffed pork chop

[SirL]

"The salad bar is impressive, but I'm not sure if there's an "all-you-can-eat" buffet option.  I'll ask about that next time I visit"

 

Has anyone any news on if an "all-you-can-eat" buffet salad option exists?

[just hanging]

"The salad bar is impressive, but I'm not sure if there's an "all-you-can-eat" buffet option.  I'll ask about that next time I visit"

 

Has anyone any news on if an "all-you-can-eat" buffet salad option exists?

sizzlers

[SirL]

Yes I know about Sizzlers, but I was after an alternative at, maybe, Wooden Box.

 

Evil did write in the OP "The salad bar is impressive, but I'm not sure if there's an "all-you-can-eat" buffet option.  I'll ask about that next time I visit." and I was just following up on that.

 

Video here   

 

I hope this is right, I can't understand a word of it!

[Evil Penevil]

Has anyone any news on if an "all-you-can-eat" buffet salad option exists?

 

Sorry that I didn't answer that question earler.  No, there is NOT an all-you-can-eat option along the same lines as Sizzler.  However, in terms of quantity, I can't imagine anyone would want more salad than you get with the tick-off-the-boxes option at Wooden Box.  It's a giant portion, five or 10 times the size of the salads in most restaurants and at least triple the size of those few that serve large salads. At Wooden Box, it's a really big platter heaped at least four inches high with salad.  The tick-box method allows you total control over the ingredients.  Look at the pics of the Wooden Box salads in this thread. They are enormous portions.

 

 

The advantage of Sizzler is two-fold: 1) its salad bar includes warm and cold pasta dishes; soup; pre-made salad-like dishes such as cole slaw; fruit and a few dessert dishes in the cost of the salad buffet; and 2) you can load up on and go back for more of your favorite component.  But in terms of sheer quantity, Sizzler wouldn't hold an advantage except for the most gargantuan of eaters.

 

Evil

[Jarrod2518]

Thanks for the info - I live not too far from there. I will give it go later this week

[just hanging]

Thanks for the info - I live not too far from there. I will give it go later this week

 

dont forget to mention you saw it on FB and say "Love Pattaya" and get 10% off the entire bill, unless you are a LDOPer   555

[SpankTheLing]

Loved the salad at this place. Very fresh and reasonably priced. The lady told me that they try to grow all their own greens but cannot keep up at the moment and that the salad dressings are home made. I enjoyed the balsamic vinaigrette.

 

I give it a very big thumbs up and have been a repeat customer.

 

Great review Evil.

[Daryle]

[rollingstonedan]

I had lunch in there again today. Went with the salad with about 4 extras inc pork and with a water it was still under 200 baht. One of the big points for me is that it tastes and looks very fresh and crispy.

 

 

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[rollingstonedan]

I had lunch in there again today. Went with the salad with about 4 extras inc pork and with a water it was still under 200 baht. One of the big points for me is that it tastes and looks very fresh and crispy.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[just hanging]

another lunch today with friends, we all ate too much but here are some new items