Review: Chan Jai Royalty

[Chris Pattaya]

Undoubtedly one of Pattaya’s hidden jewels, Chan Jai Royalty Restaurant is, quite literally, a small oasis of calm tucked away in the heart of Asia’s modern soddom.

Artfully constructed around a small, wooded lake, Chan Jai offers, within a verdant, beautiful rustic setting, table seating, covered salas and small rush-mat cottages from which to dine. The fan-cooled cottages themselves may be hired for 300 baht a night should you wish to party or, in my case, pass out and the place is open 24 hours a day for drinks and food.

The food itself is quite special.

Chicken and cashew nuts (gai pat met mamuang) comes in a hand-crafted, deep-fried basket made of noodles and vegetable chips. The Three Flavours of Pork (moo sam yang) is presented with a different garnish for each on a beautiful platter and the raw prawn salad (pa gung) is as good as I’ve ever had in Bangkok. Aimed at Thais, the prices are lower mid-range (main dishes around 80-120, beer at 70 baht for a large Leo) and the service excellent although very little English is spoken. Live music of the my-girl-doesn’t-love-me-and-we-Thais-are really-jolly-nice pheua cheewit variety is played for most of the evening but it can get a little scary later when the karaoke gets turned on and it’s open season on the open mics.

At night this is a magical place. The overhanging trees flicker with soft lighting reflected gently in the lake and, in its bosky lushness, the whole place resembles nothing so much as a small Thai village of perhaps a century ago indulging itself in some small and intimate private celebration.

Chan Jai Royalty really is one of the better places for an evening out in Pattaya. It can be found on Soi Tanntarrak (Chalermphrakiat 6), the small soi which leads from Sai 3 to Soi Yume. Turn into the soi next to Flip Nightclub opposite The Cottage Pub on Sai 3 between Pattaya Klang and Pattaya Nua.

 

Food ****

Drinks ****

Atmosphere *****

Service *****

Cleanliness ****

[glynbuk]

sounds good, thanks for that