Restaurant reviews in Pattaya and Bangkok

[soi16]

31 minutes ago, SirL said:

This is the smoked salmon I bought in Big C Pattaya Klang this morning.  Haven't tried any yet, it might well be rubbish!

Yes that. Wait your opinion.

[KittenKong]

2 hours ago, SirL said:

The cheese I was referring to was on the far right of

....

ie some sort of cheddar-ish cheese, which seemed to have partly gone the slightly darker yellow that cheese left out does.  I didn't actually look very closely at it.  I'd certainly have preferred, and eaten, mozzarella.

Yes, they have that processed cheddar quite often. I tend to avoid it when I see it, though it's OK for cooking. I suppose I've seen mozzarella there one time in three.

 

15 minutes ago, SirL said:

One thing I've heard of is that the Sizzler salad buffet is on special of B139 salad only until the end of January, at restaurants including RGP.  I'll be eating that every few days and any fellow rabbit food consumers might be interested as well.

They introduced that about a month ago. At the same time they increased the prices for the regular weekday lunch fish and chips special (which I generally have there) by about 25B. 139B is very good value.

 

30 minutes ago, SirL said:

This is the smoked salmon I bought in Big C Pattaya Klang this morning.  Haven't tried any yet, it might well be rubbish!

It's OK, and similar to other mass-produced smoked salmon. Makro does a slightly cheaper frozen one which is also OK.

[SirL]

1 minute ago, soi16 said:

Yes that. Wait your opinion.

Oh dear.  Maybe I shouldn't be optimistically hopeful.

[SirL]

4 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

[Sizzler] introduced that about a month ago.

Yes, I read it a few weeks ago and made a mental note since it ran for some time.  I've only just arrived of course.

[KittenKong]

21 hours ago, SirL said:

Would I eat it at full price, ie paying B595? You must be joking.

I've had some good meals at Alibaba, using Eatigo which brings the prices down to what they should be. I would go back there. In fact I would say that it's one of the better Indian places in central Pattaya. The way they add tax and service does annoy me though. All obligatory charges should be included in the advertised prices.

[soi16]

25 minutes ago, SirL said:

semi-skimmed but they substituted full fat

The milk lesson:

No fat.

Low fat.

Normal fat.

The caps show you fat %.

 

[soi16]

12 minutes ago, SirL said:

Oh dear.  Maybe I shouldn't be optimistically hopeful.

Mai pen rai.

[KittenKong]

On 08/01/2018 at 15:43, SirL said:

Atelier at the Pullman Grande Sukhumvit, Asoke, Bangkok 

Never been to the weekday lunch there but have been to the more expensive Sunday one a couple of times. I liked it, though they really should get the seats reupholstered. Others Sunday ones I also liked, perhaps more, were Maya (Indian) in the Holiday Inn which is walking distance from the Pullman, and Radisson Blu (International) which is between the two. Also the Square at the Novotel Ploenchit (but not the one in Siam Square). The Landmark was also pretty good though I only went once to that. Not sure why.

[jiml]

Thanks taa_saporat will give it a try in Feb.

[SirL]

Sizzler salad buffet             Food:B139

Great value salad buffet of consistent quality

There are two Sizzlers in Pattaya, part of a large standardised international chain. I visited the one in Royal Garden Plaza, which is inside an arcade of shops.  I'm really only interested in the salad buffet there, which is All You Can Eat, on special at B139 until the end of Jan 2018. I asked to see a promotional poster for this deal, to photograph it for this, but was told that there was no publicity material for this B139 deal displayed anywhere. I wonder why they are so uninterested in promoting their promotion.

 

I haven't seen any changes at all to the composition of the buffet over the period I've been going there - I suppose that, like exactly what a Big Mac is, is decided globally somewhere in America.  It's always the same consistent quality.  The branch in Royal Garden Plaza is said to have better replenishment of the buffet than the one in Central.

Food taste: 7/10 I've seen more exciting salad bars, but this one is pretty good

Value for money at special price of B139: 9/10.  The salad buffet's normal price is apparently B199, and it was good value even at that higher price

Would I return? Oh yes, I'll be back there every few days until the end of Jan, and every week after that.

[KittenKong]

1 hour ago, SirL said:

I asked to see a promotional poster for this deal, to photograph it for this, but was told that there was no publicity material for this B139 deal displayed anywhere. I wonder why they are so uninterested in promoting their promotion.

Before Christmas there was a big poster up on the window promoting the 139B deal. All in Thai, apart from the price. It's not there any more, presumably because farangs kept asking about it! It's not on their website either.

 

1 hour ago, SirL said:

I haven't seen any changes at all to the composition of the buffet over the period I've been going there - I suppose that, like exactly what a Big Mac is, is decided globally somewhere in America.  It's always the same consistent quality.  The branch in Royal Garden Plaza is said to have better replenishment of the buffet than the one in Central.

I think that the menu decisions are mostly made here by Minor who own it. I expect that the US owner of the brand has some minimum standards that everyone has to meet.

Most of the individual salad items dont change at all but they do change/rotate at least 2 of the main mixed salads every couple of months. And there is usually one entirely new mixed salad every couple of months. Currently it's the one with the crispy seaweed stuff. I also saw this week that they now have onion soup which is an entirely new item as far as I can remember. They also increased the dessert selection last year.

I prefer the Royal Garden outlet for several reasons.

 

1 hour ago, SirL said:

I've seen more exciting salad bars, but this one is pretty good

So have I, but not in Thailand and certainly not at that price. I think it is unbeatable in Pattaya at the 200B level, especially considering that it includes soups, pastas and dessert for those who want it.

 

2 hours ago, SirL said:

The salad buffet's normal price is apparently B199

For just 10B more you can get the weekday lunchtime fish and chips. I like the chips, and the fish (panga) isnt bad if you take most of the greasy breadcrumb off.

[just hanging]

On 1/8/2018 at 16:24, SirL said:

RichMan PoorMan, Jomtien                  Food: B180

A good value ribs special, perhaps overcooked and covered with too much sauce

I took a baht bus to near the edge of the known world, in southern Jomtien, to try the ribs special as advertised at RMPM. I should write up front that I know little about BBQ ribs, certainly much less than some of the American ribs nerds who come out and get very technical about exactly how ribs should be cooked. I've only ever eaten ribs once or twice, just in Pattaya, but I'd like to try them. Where I live we don't really eat the parts of animals that Americans get all excited by, like ribs and chicken wings, so it's all new to me.

RMPM seems to have a good reputation around here, and this special seems to get the likes of jh excited, so I'm ready to be impressed. I was expecting to get 6-8 ribs (see FB post), or a "half rack" (see handwritten board) but I seemed to get a total of 12 bits of bone (see pic) so were they particularly generous? The meat containing the thinner bones was hiding below the larger piece as they were served in my pic. How many ribs do you expect to get for "half rack" and "full rack"? 12 ribs worth?

I think the ribs I got were fairly fully cooked/smoked, perhaps too much so(?) The meat certainly came off the bone easily, and there was none of the chewing bones that apparently hardcore ribs fans want to do. The meat was certainly tasty, but it was smothered in a lot of brown sweet (barbeque?) sauce and I'd prefer to have been able to taste the meat more.

I'm not going to give marks out of ten for ribs, because I know so little about how the dish is supposed to appear. Some American ribs nerd would appear and tell me how little I know, but I'm already well aware of that.

Food taste: Pretty good, but I struggle to see what the excitement is all about.

Value for money: Those who know more than me think that RMPM's ribs special is a very good deal.

Would I return? Unconvinced. I don't really get this ribs thing, but I'm trying something new. I didn't see much on the normal RMPM menu to tempt me this far south again, I think it's mainly for hardcore American food fanatics.

Here are some pages of the normal RMPM menu

 

There are several other good-looking specials and places to get ribs around town at B200 or less, which I'll be visiting soon. Licence to Grill has a B199 ribs special tonight, but I think I'll leave it for a few days. Everyone seems to get very excited by the Smokin' Joes ribs, which no doubt I'll eat sometime soon, but those are quite a bit more expensive than some of the <B200 specials.

my favorite restaurant in pattaya

[SirL]

The Canton House, Yaowarat, Bangkok                           Dim Sum B25-30 per item

Good value but simple dim sum for the hipster crowd

I went up to Bangkok for an oldfashioned date eating dim sum with a not-at-all-P4P lady who has a good career in finance. She'd brought along a female friend as chaperone on our first date last weekend, but this time she came alone.

The Canton House is located on a busy traffic road in Bangkok's Chinatown, so busy as to prevent easy pics of the outside.  It's quite easy to get there as it's about ten minutes walk from Hua Lamphong station on the MRT, which is about six stops from Asok/Sukhumvit.

These pics of the inside are from Google, as mine didn't work out. The interior design is vaguely industrial chic, a bit like a warehouse, which is probably fashionable to a hipster generation.

 

The dim sum section of the menu is a couple of pages within a much larger menu of 20 pages or so, the rest being a general menu of Asian dishes. All the dim sums on the menu are priced at B25-30 per dish, each containing 2-4 items.

I'm sorry the words and numbers on these menu pics are barely legible. They are written in a very small font. I'm struggling with getting good pics, particularly of menus, because they tend to be printed on glossy paper which reflects flash straight back into the camera, and if I hold the menu up with my left hand then I can't hold the camera steady enough with just my right hand to take a good picture without flash.

Our favourite dim sums in the Canton House were

Fried shrimp wantons with sweet mayonaise B25

Pork dumplings B25

Shrimp dumplings with green noodles B25

Crab meat dumplings B30

Food taste: 6/10 The dim sums here were OK, and you'd like them if you only came here.

Value for money: 8/10 Prices here were very reasonable, making it good value for money.

Would I return? Not really, I think there are more tempting dim sum restaurants nearby (see below). For a date, this restaurant was a bit simple, but it would be fine eating in it on your own.

My companion insisted on us visiting another restaurant just down the road for dim sum, as she wanted me to taste a couple of items there. She clearly knows Chinatown well, having eaten here a lot when she was at university nearby, and she gently put me right on my choice of restaurant.

[SirL]

Hua Seng Hong, Yaowarat, Bangkok             Dim sum B45 per item

A busy chinese restaurant serving tasty and good value dim sum

So we walked a couple of hundred metres down Yaowarat Road (so busy that it was difficult to cross) to find Hua Seng Hong.

Pics from Google again. This wasn't a good day for my photography.  The interior doesn't try to be fashionable like The Canton House. It's just a no-nonsense busy Chinese restaurant.

Again the dim sum part of the menu was just a small part of a much longer menu of general Asian dishes. Dim sum here was more expensive, priced at about B45 per item.

The dishes that my companion particularly wanted me to try were

Dragoneyes shrimp pork dumplings with barbequed pork B45

Emerald green dumplings B45

I also liked the

Shrimp dumplings topped with scallops B45

Shao-my with crab meat B45

Shao-my with shrimp B45

Food taste: 7/10 We both thought the dim sums here were better than those in The Canton House.

Value for money: 8/10 These dim sums were about 50% more expensive than at the Canton House, but it was worth it.

Would I return? Yes, though perhaps we'll be trying other more fancy places. Tasty, reasonable prices, and my companion who's been here many times keeps on wanting to come back. If you want to go to just one cheapish dim sum restaurant, this is the one to choose unless you really want the cheapest option. There are more upmarket dim sum restaurants than these two, and I'll be going to them in future with my companion. She'll be a good guide to eating in Bangkok.

The date continued with us wandering around the little back streets of Chinatown, grazing tempting things for dessert from street carts and little shops, mainly fruit and some excellent blueberry ice cream. My companion clearly knew this area well and loved it. I think dim sum is a great choice for a date, as most ladies love a wide variety of different tastes each presented in a little bite size package. I think I've found the non-P4P girlfriend I was hoping for. My companion wants to party in Pattaya at weekends, and she's accepted my offer to stay in my condo. Maybe a pattern of me going up to Bangkok for one day midweek, and her coming to Pattaya at weekends, will emerge.

[soi16]

My favorit too. They had a restaurant at Central Festival on the 5th floor, but not exist long time.

I hope they will open the new one in Terminal 21, then about 15 baskets is okey for two people. Aroi!

[Kreggerz]

Yeah, year's ago Canton House was in Pattaya. Crappy dim sum but very cheap. They had some good dishes though, like whole steamed fish. Right now the only place to get actually decent dim sum in Pattaya is at very expensive hotel restaurants. 

[SirL]

I think our American friends are the guys who particularly like RMPM, nothing wrong with that.  I've lived in France for the last fifteen years and have got used to different cooking.  I can't wait to go to Le Freelax.  Just different tastes in food.

 

Yes, I couldn't find anywhere to eat decent reasonably-priced dim sum in Pattaya, so I really wanted to get to the Yaowarat restaurants.  I'll return to explore more around there.  Probably the more expensive places.

[SirL]

 

Dee Lounge at Novotel Fenix Phoenchit, Bangkok                    Food: AYCE buffet B249

Great value indian buffet with tasty standard classics.  Recommended.

Next morning I went to Dee Lounge in the Novotel Phoenchit which holds an Indian Curry Lunch buffet on Tuesdays(maybe?) and Fridays 11.30-14.00 for B249. Details on http://www.novotelbangkokploenchit.com/offers/indian-curry-lunch/

It's easy to get to because it's right by Ploenchit BTS station.

The atmosphere is fairly informal, with severalguys in polo shirts and shorts. No need to dress up for this one. Shortly after this interior pic was taken, the place filled up and became quite busy.

The food was four or five curries in Indian-style chafing dishes.

On the day I visited they were 

fish curry,

aloo jeera,

chicken curry (English visitors would recognise this immediately as chicken tikka masala), a potato curry and dal makhan, as well as rice, naan, poppadums and various relishes and side dishes. Everything you'd want was there. It looked like the dishes changed each week.

For dessert there was some cut up fruit, which was fresh and good.

By 12.00 the whole room was fairly busy, seemingly with American/European expats who knew they were onto a good thing with this buffet and were coming not for the first time.  They looked like the Bangkok version of locusts moving in on a tempting feast.

The two or three staff, friendly ladies, were slightly overrun by the number of guests, but everything worked out fine. Replenishment of the chafing dishes was regular and no great problem, more food always arrived within a minute or two, as the refills indian chef bravely tried to keep up with the locusts, succeeding most of the time. The throughput of food was so brisk that nothing had a chance to get old, stale or cold. Empty chafing dishes were more of a issue than food not in ideal condition.  I didn't have a major problem with any aspect of service.

Food taste: 7/10 Good tasty indian classics in a friendly atmosphere

Value for money: 9/10 For some reason I don't understand, Indian food in Thailand is always relatively expensive. Single dishes or thalis can easily be B200+ each. The only other Indian buffets I know of are places like Robin's Nest (B299). In comparison to them this buffet was very good value, as evidenced by the number of expats who'd come out to play.  

Would I return? Yes, certainly, just like all those expats. The only problem with going back is that it's only Friday lunchtime in Bangkok.  I wish some of the big Pattaya hotels did an indian lunch buffet like this, because I'd certainly want to go to exactly the same thing in Pattaya. Does anyone know of any?

I like Indian food, and going to Dee Lounge makes me more likely to go the the Robin's Nest Indian evening sometime soon.  I know Robin's Nest isn't a fantastic place, but I don't know of any other comparable Indian buffets in Pattaya.

 

[KittenKong]

There are lots of good Indian buffets in Bangkok at just about every price point imaginable. Most of the better hotels seem to have at least one Indian chef, which I suppose must be one reason. My personal favourite is the Maya on Sundays, though it is somewhat more expensive than this 249B one. Some of the best Indian food I have had anywhere on the planet has been in Bangkok.

There is nothing similar in Pattaya that I know of, apart from a few places on 2nd Road that do a very cut-down version. They certainly dont approach the quality of the Bangkok ones. At one point a couple of years ago Sun City had a very nice Indian buffet that came in at under 200B, but they kept messing about with the price and the presentation, and in the end it was impossible to tell when it would be on or not so people just stopped going. They never advertised it properly.

[KittenKong]

18 hours ago, Kreggerz said:

Right now the only place to get actually decent dim sum in Pattaya is at very expensive hotel restaurants. 

For Dim Sum in Pattaya I suggest the buffet lunches done by the Dusit, Cape Dara and the Imperial. I use the word "buffet" with reservations as they are actually "order what you want from the menu" places, all for one fixed price. As such they are better suited to a group of people rather than one person. Assuming a price elsewhere of around 30-50B per dish, they are actually quite good value.

Otherwise just get on the bus to Bangkok where the choice is much better.

[soi16]

1 hour ago, SirL said:

B249

No ++ bullshit as in many places in Bangkok!

[SirL]

Robin Hood Sunday roast                                      Food: initially B269 with 10% Eatigo discount

Cold, stringy poor food, the wrong size portion, served with a dishonest attitude

The Robin Hood, part of the Retox group, shifts more food than almost any other restaurant in Pattaya. You all know of it, I won't bother with much description. I can't be bothered with the pics and maps and stuff, you know all that.

I booked a table in advance with a 10% Eatigo discount.

I walked in and ordered the large plated roast without lamb (ie the B299 version). I was expecting something to arrive looking like the publicity pictures of the large plated roast, ie

but instead what I was given looked like

Is there anyone here who thinks these two look similar?

Just as a point of reference, the publicity pictures for the small plated roast (ie the B199 version) look like

Do you think I was given the large plate or the small plate?

I complained, and my plate was taken away, coming back with a couple more roast potatoes and peas, looking like

I wasn't sure of the facts exactly (I've had more chance to look at pictures now, back in my condo), so I got eating.

The food was stone cold, served on a cold plate, and I'd been given several stringy bits at the end of the roast. It was close to the worst food I've eaten for many years. I can cook a Sunday roast quite a bit better than this, and at least my attempt at a Sunday roast would be hot at the time of eating.

Meanwhile, a bill had arrived for B299. Hang on, what about my 10% Eatigo discount? That bill disappeared, to be replaced by a bill for the correct B269.

When I'd finished eating, I knew I was going to be writing some bad things about this meal right here, so I asked for the manager as it's always the right thing to do to try to sort things out then and there in that way. I was told there was no farang manager in the Robin Hood at that time (about 1.25pm on 14/1/18), so I asked for the most senior Thai person who was there. After some discussion, she refunded 10% of the cost of the meal, so I left with the change as if the bill had been B239.  There was nothing more I could do to resolve the issue to my satisfaction at the time in the restaurant.

Not only was the food cold and very disappointing, but I think the behaviour of the service staff was dishonest in

- giving me the small plate, rather than the large plate I had ordered. I'm not sure exactly how large the large plate is, it certainly looks bigger in the publicity photos.  You be the judge on the quantity of meat.  If anyone from the RH/Retox suggests they are the same, then I think that publicity picture is misleading.

- when I pointed out that it was the small plate I had been given, trying to con me into accepting it by just piling on a few more potatoes and peas onto the same plate

- initially giving me a bill for the full B299, without the Eatigo discount (I'm prepared to accept this as an innocent mistake)

Food quality: 4/10 I was trying to work out as I ate whether the food was better or worse than the Alibaba meal (see earlier) and there wasn't much in it.

Value for money: 5/10 I wouldn't have repeated the visit to RH if it cost B50.

Would I return? The real problem with returning was the dishonest attitude of the serving staff, that was worse than the cold unpleasant food.

I'll try to contact the farang manager of the RH/Retox to invite him to reply here.  I think I know how to contact him via FB.

Later edit: I've sent a message on FB to Simon David Peatfield , asking him to reply here.  I think he's one of the senior people at Retox, but I don't know the details.

[KittenKong]

I've had the small Sunday lunch at Robin Hood many times and have never been disappointed. Particularly I've never had cold or overcooked things there in that meal, and usually it is all spot-on. I think you may have been unlucky. It definitely looks as though you got the small plate initially.

That said, the portion size of the small plate has decreased significantly from when they first started doing it, as has the possible discount which at one time was 30%. I've not been for a couple of months so it is also possible that things have changed for the worse since then.

Anyone with a big appetite would probably be better off with the self-service all-you-can-eat deal at 399B (or less).

[Pheat]

4 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

I've had the small Sunday lunch at Robin Hood many times and have never been disappointed. Particularly I've never had cold or overcooked things there in that meal, and usually it is all spot-on. I think you may have been unlucky. It definitely looks as though you got the small plate initially.

That said, the portion size of the small plate has decreased significantly from when they first started doing it, as has the possible discount which at one time was 30%. I've not been for a couple of months so it is also possible that things have changed for the worse since then.

Anyone with a big appetite would probably be better off with the self-service all-you-can-eat deal at 399B (or less).

The RH has definitely gone down hill in the last couple of months.Last visit was 2 days ago had the F/C special The cod portion was very small with soggy batter about 25 cold chips and a very small dish of mushy peas.Even The SM was warm and I had to ask for a glass and ice not much change out of 400 Baht .

 

[SirL]

12 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

I've had the small Sunday lunch at Robin Hood many times and have never been disappointed. Particularly I've never had cold or overcooked things there in that meal, and usually it is all spot-on. I think you may have been unlucky. It definitely looks as though you got the small plate initially.

That said, the portion size of the small plate has decreased significantly from when they first started doing it, as has the possible discount which at one time was 30%. I've not been for a couple of months so it is also possible that things have changed for the worse since then.

Anyone with a big appetite would probably be better off with the self-service all-you-can-eat deal at 399B (or less).

Thanks for your sympathy.  In reply to your bottom line about someone with a big appetite, all I wanted was just the plateful in my top pic, ie the publicity pic of the B299 version.  I didn't really want AYCE (I've been doing a bit too much AYCEating recently!).  I just wanted that publicity pic.  Is that unreasonable?  (Yes, I know, of course it's not)