Evil Penevil

The phrase, "One man's meat is another man's poison," dates back more than 2,000 year. It's first recorded use is by the Roman writer Lucretius in 100 B.C., but experts believe the phrase is even older. Different opinions about "what's good" concerning food, pussy and everything else are nothing new. The old cliche about meat vs poison certainly applies to steak in Pattaya. The great debate over the optimal degree of doneness for top cuts of beef has raged for a long time. Conventional wisdom holds that the best steaks should never be served well done. As Gordon Ramsay states, “Whatever quality of beef it is… has gone past any form of taste when you’ve cooked it to well done… You’re never going to identify the quality of beef when the steak is well cooked.” The same article summarizes the argument thus: "Tender and high quality cuts of beef can easily become flavourless and dry when cooked for too long, which is why most steak-lovers swear against well doneness." Nevertheless, the author also notes: "... people can eat their steak however they want to." How a diner wants his steak cooked is just a matter of personal preference. To me, cooking top quality beef well done is akin to stirring Kool Aid powder into a glass of Moët & Chandon champagne or dousing Beluga caviar with HP Sauce, but that's only my opinion. Donald Trump would disagree; he orders USDA Prime well done and eats it with ketchup. Link. BUT, and it's a big , sometimes personal preference hides a level a ignorance that can be harmful. A case in point is Pattaya's least knowledgeable and most corrupt food reviewer. He once made an unintentionally hilarious post to a Facebook group in which he recounted how he had ordered Japanese wagyu beef well done in a Pattaya restaurant, then denounced both the restaurant and wagyu as a rip-off since it tasted no better than Thai beef but cost a lot more. Wagyu is a very special case. Because of genetics, the fat in wagyu beef melts at 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius). That's about 25 degrees F lower than the melting point of fat in well marbled Western beef such as Black Angus. Since cooking wagyu at temperatures high enough for well done burns off all the fat that gives wagyu its characteristic taste and tenderness, it would indeed resemble a piece of well done Thai beef. In short, it's a total waste to cook wagyu to the well done stage. It's shame when a restaurant gets blasted due to a reviewer's stupidity. When discussing steak in Pattaya, it's not only the quality of the beef that's important, but also how steak is aged, transported and cooked that figures in heavily. A lot has to happen the right way before you get a top quality steak on your plate. Peter Luger Steakhouse in NYC is considered one of the best steakhouses in the world. Below is some background on what happens before you eat a steak at Peter Luger. We have to be realistic. There is no restaurant in Thailand that can go to the lengths Peter Luger does. The details about how the beef is dry-aged in-house, cooked and served: The Porterhouse at Peter Luger Steakhouse in New York City Only 2% to 4% of all beef produced in the U.S. carries a USDA Prime rating. There's huge demand for USDA Prime and almost all of it goes to up-market restaurants, very little is available through other channels. Small amounts are sold frozen via the Internet or are exported. Specialty butchers may have it, but you cannot normally buy USDA Prime in supermarkets in the U.S. I doubt very much Big C in Pattaya can get it when the top supermarkets in NYC can't. USDA Prime, Choice, Select are protected designations. If any restaurant or store claims its steaks are USDA Prime when they aren't, those businesses are committing consumer fraud. However, the word "prime" is NOT protected and can be used freely for any grade of beef. Stores will sometimes say they are selling US Prime when it is actually USDA Choice or even USDA Select that has been blade tenderized. That's a deceptive practice, but it isn't illegal. It gets much more complicated than USDA grading. Aging and handling play crucial roles. Many gourmets maintain the difference between dry- and wet-aging is the factor that separates a good steak from a great one. Others say they can notice a difference between steak that has been frozen and steak that hasn't. Let's just say there's a huge distance, literally and figuratively, between steak in Pattaya and steak at Peter Luger. Evil

Café Pitini on Soi Buakhao has long been a favorite of farang tourists and residents for consistently good food at reasonable prices. It's an attractive and comfortable place to have a meal, casual dining in the best sense of the phrase. However, there are rough spots on the menu, with a big gap between the top and bottom items. Most meals there have been good, but a few were disappointing. The menu is extensive, running the gamut of international dishes found in a lot of farang-oriented Pattaya restaurants. The emphasis is on British comfort food, but there's also hamburgers, pasta, pizza, steak, panini and the customary Thai dishes. Café Pitini is also noted for its ice cream and other desserts that are several notches higher than what's usually found in Pattaya. It features daily specials on popular dishes, with 20 or 30 baht knocked off the ordinary menu price. I tried the spaghetti bolognese, which if I remember right is the Wednesday special at 179 baht. It was very good, far better than much of the "spag bol" available in Pattaya. The sauce was closer to a traditional ragù alla bolognese than what's usually put on spaghetti in Pattaya or elsewhere outside of Italy. Basically, ragù alla bolognese is a meat-based sauce, usually ground beef these days. It doesn't have a heavy tomato taste. Classic bolognese sauce is not served on spaghetti, but on tagliatelle or a ribbed pasta like penne. What is widely called spaghetti bolognese outside Italy is actually spaghetti with a generic Italian tomato sauce to which ground beef has been added, hence the bolognese connection. Kudo to Pitini for keeping things real. It was a good-sized portion and with the three pieces of freshly toasted garlic bread, made a very filling meal. The panini (bacon, egg, sausage and cheese) at 150 baht was excellent, probably the best panini I've had in Pattaya. It was made with high quality ingredients and real ciabatta (bread) that had been appropriately grilled and not squashed. I also appreciated the lack of dressing on the fresh cabbage and lettuce, but that's just my preference. I'm sure others would have preferred dressing. The menu sports a half dozen different types of panini. A panini at Pitini is perfect as a light lunch or evening snack. I was less impressed with the Sunday special roast dinner at 159 baht. There was a choice of beef, chicken or pork and mashed or roast potatoes. I went with pork and mashed potatoes.. The sides were good, with the Yorkshire pudding among the better I've had in Pattaya. I ate at Pitini at 7.00 p.m. and the Yorkshire was fresh out of the oven. It hadn't been standing all day and re-warmed. The menu proclaimed the meal came with Bisto gravy. For non-Brits, Bisto is a meat-flavored gravy product in powder or granule form to which boiling water is added. The name is an acronym for "Browns, Seasons and Thickens in One." It made me chuckle because the original raggedy Bisto Kids would have fit right in on Soi Buakhao, although maybe not in Pitini. Source: https://www.allposters.ca/-sp/Bisto-the-Bisto-Kids-posters_i1872170_.htm The pork was a bit of a disappointment. It wasn't bad, bit it had most likely come from a cylinder of precooked and pre-sliced industrial pork. It was almost flavorless and I was glad for the Bisto gravy, even though it tasted as out-of-a-packet as gravy can get. An older British guy sitting nearby said I should have ordered the chicken instead. I could see from his plate the chicken was a large piece of breast meat. If I ever have the Sunday special at Pitini again, that's what I'll order. I also tried the Saturday steak special at Pitini and reviewed it in the Steak in Pattaya thread. I don't think the steak was value for money at 289 baht. Bottom line: The food at Pitini is generally good, but some menu items can be below par. In the future, I'll probably stick to the Italian-inspired dishes. The ice cream sundaes and other desserts look great, but I don't eat much sweet stuff these days. Thai girls rave about them. Evil

Early this week I tried the daily special (roast chicken dinner, 139 baht) at Malee Restaurant on Soi Honey. I've had several meals at Malee 3 off Soi Buakhao and the Malee branch on Soi Lengkee and they had been pretty good. Unfortunately, the meal at Male Soi Honey wasn't. It was merely mediocre. It consisted of a quarter chicken (thigh and leg), mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables and packet gravy. The chicken was dry and the skin had a weird texture, as though it had been cooked, left to stand and reheated. The potatoes were crudely mashed with a fork. The veggies were OK and not overcooked. On the positive side, portion size was fine and the service was friendly. The restaurant was clean and well-lit. Bottom line: a mediocre meal at a cheap price. Evil

Last night I tried the Saturday steak special at Cafe Pitini on Soi Buakhao for 289 baht. You could choose between sirloin and T-bone steak. You also had a choice of potato (mashed, fried or fries), vegetable (peas or mixed veggies) and sauce (mushroom or peppercorn). The onion rings came with any option. I asked the waitress to grind black pepper on my meal. The menu made clear it was local beef. It didn't give a weight, but I'm guessing it was around 200 grams (about 7 oz.). It sure did come with a big portion of peas. The potatoes, peas and sauce were fine, but the onion rings were soggy and greasy. I didn't eat them. I asked for the sirloin medium rare and part of it was while the rest was medium or well done without any pink at all. That was a bit strange, as the steak was uniformly thick. Maybe the temperature of the grill surface wasn't evenly hot? I don't know. As can be expected from Thai beef, the meat had a fair amount of connective tissue and gristle but little fat. It wasn't tender but it wasn't tough, either. I know perfectly well Thai beef will never be as tender as imported beef and I adjusted my expectations accordingly. What surprised me the most was the steak at Pitini didn't have much flavor. One positive with Thai beef is it usually has a clear beef taste. Bottom line: The meals I've had at Cafe Pitini have been very good on the whole. The steak special was my only disappointment so far and it wasn't all that bad. I'll definitely be back to Pitini, but not for the steak special. I paid 289 baht at Pitini for my sirloin dinner while imported Australian rib eye cost me 459 baht. I'd rather pay extra for quality beef. Evil

Longhorn didn't open until 2016, so you are probably thinking of Big Horn, a steakhouse in the same arcade that closed in 2015, if I recall the year right. Big Horn had been hugely popular in its day, but was overtaken by Beefeater. Big Horn had a 1-kilo steak eating challenge that was popular at the time. Calles Grill & Bar moved into Big Horn's former premises. Evil

I wonder that myself. I read elsewhere the owner is in bad health, so it might be related to that. I'm a fairly regular customer at My Way and I have seen that sign several times in the past, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for several weeks, before it re-opened. I was actually planning to eat at My Way but ended up in the Longhorn because MW was closed. Evil

Yes, I plan to do that. Speaking of Reuben sandwiches, I had a good one from Pattaya Meals.com (pattayameals.com) the other day. Pattaya Meals is a food preparation and delivery service without dine-in facilities. You order by phone or through Facebook and your food arrives at your door within 45 minutes, depending on where you live, traffic and what you order. I usually have my order in 30 minutes. There's no delivery charge and you don't have to tip the driver, but I always do. The Reuben in the pics cost 265 baht and came with a dill pickle and a choice of macaroni salad, potato wedges or onion rings. A good Reuben for Pattaya but still light years from what you get at a U.S. deli. Pattaya Meals offers about 100 different meals in various categories: Western, Thai, healthy and pizzas, plus side orders and a few desserts and beverages. The most expensive dishes on the menu are a couple of pizzas at 325 baht. All the rest come in at under 300 baht, with many under 200 baht. Check out the Web site (pattayameals.com) for a complete list with prices and pictures. Every 10th meal is free. Operating hours are 11.30 a.m. to 11.30 p.m. I have ordered from Pattaya Meals dozens of times and never been disappointed. It's a very convenient option on the days I don't feel like going out to eat or cooking. Evil

The Golf Club on LK Metro is a long-time solid performer for good food at reasonable prices with plenty of main dishes under 300 baht. The emphasis is on U.S.-style comfort food, but there are also numerous Thai and U.K. standards on the menu. In a fit of nostalgia last night, I had the Chicken a la King at 150 baht. It's an American classic, invented at least 130 years ago. Stories of its origin vary. One version says it was named for a hotel owner in New York City; another claims it carries the name of the Philadelphia chef who invented it. It consists of cubed chicken, mushrooms, sweet peppers and sometimes other vegetables served over rice, toast or noodles. It's always been seen as a great way to use up leftover chicken or turkey, but at the height of its popularity in the 1950's, it was often made using fresh chicken breasts. I remember it fondly from both elementary school lunches over noodles and post-Thanksgiving and Christmas meals at home on toast. The Golf Club's Chicken a la King adds broccoli to the basic ingredients and is served over rice. It was very good! Last week I had another iconic American specialty, a Reuben sandwich, at 195 baht. It's a signature dish at the Golf Club. It consists of corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing grilled between pieces of rye bread. It was real New York deli rye, not the faux variety you sometimes get in Thailand. The Reuben was good, but didn't contain as much corned beef or sauerkraut as I remembered from past visits. This what a Reuben sandwich at Katz Deli in NYC looks like: The above pic is from the Web. By Ernesto Andrade - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3022275 However, it's not likely you'll be getting anything like that in Thailand and if you did, it would cost far more than 195 baht. You have to be realistic in your expectations for foreign specialties here. An American classic the Golf Club does very well is the chili burger. It's a thick patty of beef topped with U.S.-style Springfield chili con carne. The chili is spicy but not firehouse hot. A couple of other points: The Golf Club has "steak nights" when steak is grilled in front of the restaurant, but the price puts it outside the under-300-baht category. It's also one of a very few restaurants in Pattaya with grits on the menu. Bottom line: The Golf Club remains one of the better options in Pattaya for U.S. comfort food. Evil

We haven't had a thread lately on steak in Pattaya, so I'll start one. Any kind of comment on beef steak in a Pattaya restaurant is welcome. It doesn't have to be about the best or cheapest, it can be about any steak you've had here, whether cheap, expensive, good, bad or mediocre. I'll kick it off with the 200 gram (about 7-oz) Australian rib eye special for 459 baht at Longhorn Steakhouse and Cafe in the Central Arcade across from Mike's Mall. It's the arcade with Kiss, Beefeater, Patrick's and My Way. The special included a choice of potato and gravy or one sauce. I picked mashed potatoes and English mustard, which wasn't a sauce but a small dish of what tasted like real Coleman's Mustard. The rib eye rested on a bed of diced vegetables and came with a slice of grilled tomato. I asked for my rib eye to be medium rare and that's exactly how it came. It had been nicely grilled, tender and had a great taste. I'm guessing, but I believe it was the equivalent of USDA Choice, the second highest quality designation in the U.S. The mashed potatoes were also excellent. To top off the meal, I had a vanilla ice cream sundae with caramel sauce for 75 baht. It could have done with a bit more sauce, but otherwise hit my sweet spot. I drank soda water (40 baht), but Longhorn had a selection of beers and wine on offer, including Belgian beer. Longhorn was clean, comfortable and well-lit, which are always key factors. I ate there at about 8 p.m. and there were 11 other customers when I arrived. Longhorn shouldn't be confused with Big Horn, a long-running steakhouse in the same arcade that closed about three years ago. Bottom line: I won't hesitate to eat at Longhorn again. Price wise, it seems to occupy the upper middle ground between Steak & Co., Beefeater and Patrick's at the high end and the budget steak places. Evil

StarMax is a small restaurant on Soi Buakhao near the intersection of Soi 15. It's next door but one to the Italian restaurant Volare on the corner. The exterior pics are taken from the StarMax Facebook page. It's open daily from 10.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. Prices are cheap at StarMax. The most expensive items on the menu, the beef and salmon steaks, are 219 baht each. It offers the usual farang items- hamburgers,hot dogs, pasta.salads, sandwiches, meat dishes, etc. as well some Thai dishes. I like the table decorations at StarMax, which perhaps inadvertently are a profound symbol of Pattaya: wizened paper flowers in empty whiskey bottles. I tried the pork burger with cheese (129 baht) a few days ago and found it surprisingly good. It included fried mushrooms and onions, but I asked the waitress to hold the onions. The thick-cut crinkle fries were about average for what you get in Pattaya, OK but not exceptional. They aren't really French fries unless they have been in the fryer twice. On an earlier visit I had the beef taco (119 baht) and a watermelon smoothie (60 baht). It included salad, sour cream and sauce. The presentation wasn't very impressive, but the taste was good. As the menu said, it was Tex-Mex and tasted very similar to what you get in the U.S. StarMax also features 99-baht daily specials. From what I've seen, the daily offer is usually Thai food. I had the red curry and it was OK, but not, uh, special. One detail that caught my eye was the malt vinegar in the condiments' basket. It was almost empty but the idea was there. Bottom line: StarMax is a decent option for inexpensive farang food. I won't hesitate to have the pork burger again or try more of the menu items. The friendly service is a definite plus for me. I think StarMax appeals mostly to those who live or stay in the vicinity. It's not the sort of restaurant to which many people will be making a special trip. Evil

It was! Time for a healthy meal, or at least a healthier one, at Five Star J, Pattaya's leading restaurant for vegetarian and vegan food. It's located on the corner of Pattaya Tai and 3rd Road. They don't have meat of any sort on the menu, nor do they use trans fats, palm oil, MSG or refined sugar in their dishes. Vegan and Jain options without animal products of any sort are also available. For less strict vegetarians, there are dishes with eggs, dairy and root vegetables. I had one of my personal favorites, Swiss rösti with fried eggs, for 189 baht. Rösti is essentially a big potato pancake made from grated potatoes. At Five Star J, diners had the option of topping it with non-gelatin Parmesan cheese or vegan cheese. I took the Parmesan. The rösti and eggs were fried in coconut oil, Not much more to say than it was very good! It would have been even better with an 8-oz. piece of rib eye cooked medium rare, but that's not in the spirit of this restaurant. I also indulged myself with black sesame dumplings in ginger syrup (69 baht) for dessert. The syrup had a much stronger ginger flavor than you usually get in Chinese restaurants. Loved it! One thing to note: Five Star J does add 7% VAT to the menu prices. The rösti and eggs cost 189 baht, the dumplings 69 baht, which is 258 baht. With the VAT (18 baht), my total bill was 276 baht. Water is free. I left 24 baht as a tip for the friendly service. Five Star J has an extensive menu with vegetarian and vegan variations of many Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Chinese and Indian dishes. There are also several Western dishes including vegetarian versions of hamburgers, pasta and pizza. Prices are reasonable, with a lot of dishes under 200 baht. Everything is cooked to order, so you may have to wait longer than usual for your order to appear in front of you. I did a longer review of Five Star J last year in this thread. (Link) Bottom line: If you want to give yourself a break from steaks, Western fast food, Sunday roast dinner and Thai food from the stalls and carts as well as English breakfasts, Five Star J is a good place to start for tasty options. I'm not about to become a vegetarian, but in the interests of my digestive system, cholesterol level and waistline, I do try to eat at Five Star J a few times a week. You can also order online and have the food delivered. Evil

This is the pork chop special I had last night at Kilkenny on LK Metro for 175 baht: Everything was good. The pork had been fried properly and wasn't dry. The mashed potatoes and gravy were fine and the vegetables weren't overcooked. My SML cost 60 baht, so I had a tasty and filling meal for 235 baht. BTW, the open bars and restaurants of LK Metro were doing a rousing trade last night. Plenty of foot traffic as well. I wouldn't have guessed it was low season judging only by the number of people I saw out and about. Evil

Last Sunday I went back to the Marquee on Soi Buakhao to try the 100-baht roast dinner. I had the chicken dinner this time at about 4.00 p.m. I certainly couldn't complain for the price. The chicken breast had been baked and was juicy. The Yorkshire pudding was crisp and light, not at all chewy. The vegetables and roast potatoes were fine as well. I had a cup of coffee (40 baht) after the meal and it came in a larger cup than you usually get. All in all, I was happy with the meal. It's not a huge portion, but certainly enough for me. I've been to the Marquee several times on Sundays at 6.00 p.m. or 7.00 p.m. and they had already run out of roast dinners. It appears to be a popular Sunday option, even in low season. Like with every carvery or fixed-plate roast dinner, the earlier you get to the restaurant, the better it will be. Evil

Two specials are worth mentioning. The pics come from the restaurants' Web sites. Kilkenny on LK Metro: At Retox Game On for 199 baht: The description from the Retox Facebook page: "Another new Retox Special. Pepperoni pizza angus beef burger Chargrilled angus beef burger then oven baked and topped with pepperoni and melted mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, onion rings , brioche bun and topped with a pepperoni aricini (sic) Skinny fries Warm side of pizza sauce Only 199 baht." Arancini are stuffed and deep-fried rice balls. No one can fault Retox for a lack of originality. I'm in more of a pork chop than burger mood, so I'll try the Kilkenny special this evening. Evil

I tried Wednesday's special at Retox Game On (Soi Honey near 2nd Road) by accident. I was walking past, it started to rain and I didn't have an umbrella, so I ducked in to have dinner while I waited for the rain to stop. Conceptually, the day's special sounded a bit weird to me. Why serve Chinese chicken balls with chips and curry sauce? Was that what made it "English style?" Anyway, I gave it a try. I asked if I could substitute extra fried rice for the chips and the waitress readily agreed. I'm including this in the "Good" thread because the chicken balls themselves were very nice- lightly battered pieces of chicken breast, fried crispy but juicy on the inside. I was less impressed with the rest of the meal. The curry sauce was the blandest I've ever tasted- no heat and almost no curry flavor. The egg fried rice couldn't have fried for long, if at all. It seemed to me it was boiled rice mixed with peas and bits of fried egg. It tasted OK, but could have done with some seasoning. Why in the world Retox didn't serve the chicken balls with a sweet and sour sauce on the side I can't begin to guess. That strikes me as a more natural pairing than curry sauce and chips. I livened up my chicken balls and rice with a few splashes of Tabasco and seasoning sauce from the condiment box. Portion size isn't a major concern for me. I'd rather have a modest amount of good food on my plate than a heaping portion of mediocre or poor food. The special consisted of eight chicken balls and rice. It was OK for me as I wasn't very hungry, but I can imagine others would find it rather meager, even with chips. There are farang restaurants nearby where you can get a bigger meal for 150 baht or under. Retox Game On is offering Hanoi Beer from Viet Nam at 95 baht. It also has an "all-you-can-drink" offer on Tiger draft on Mondays between 6.00 p.m. and 8.00 p.m. for 499 baht. .... Bottom line: For me, it was a good meal because of the quality of the chicken balls. I'm less sure it was a good special at 149 baht. Evil

The Avenue shopping plaza on 2nd Road has recently expanded its possibilities for dining. It's added some food stalls and an open-air serving area in the "courtyard" of the ground level. There are also stalls, tables and chairs in a covered area on the second level. Earlier I posted pics in this thread, so I won't repeat them here. It's hardly worth a trip to The Avenue as there are similar setups all over town offering the same food. But if you live or stay nearby or visit The Avenue for the movie theater, gym or shopping at Villa Market, it could be an option. I don't know if the whole ground level food area has a collective name. I saw a sign in one section that said, "The Avenue Garden Cafe," but I don't know if that applies to all the sections. The other night I tried the creamy version of tom yum goong, a hot and sour shrimp and seafood soup that typifies Thai flavor for many farang because of the lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves and tamarind paste used in the soup. I also had a fried rice with squid for 60 baht. The soup cost 150 baht for a large bowl. Both were quite good. A small can of iced tea cost 30 baht and bottled beer was available at 60 or 70 baht, depending on the brand. Most of the Thai standards are available from one stall or another. You can order in two ways: 1) pick out what you want at a stall and they'll carry it to a table; or 2) sit down, order a drink and ask to see a menu. The lady who takes your drink order will then send someone from the stalls with a food menu. You pay the food and drink bills separately as soon as the order arrives at the table. I was there about 8.00 p.m. and the roast pig had gotten really thin by then. There's also live music, which for once wasn't too loud. I wouldn't want to sit there during the heat of the day. At 8.00 p.m., it was still warm and humid outdoors. I'll try some of the other dishes on offer, but I'll take them home with me to eat in air-conditioned comfort. I believe the food stalls begin to shut down around 9.00 p.m., although that can vary according to the day and crowd. The serving of beer and other beverages, as the live music, continue until about midnight. The second-level food stalls start closing up at 7.00 p.m. There are a number of other options for dining and drinking at The Avenue. Pizza Pizza is no more and has been replaced by Sergio's Pizza Factory after a couple of brief closures for remodeling. It's a bit tricky because I recall seeing the Sergio's logo above the pizza ovens when it was still Pizza Pizza by Yanee. This is their current offer: Basically, you are paying 269 baht for a Margherita pizza, salad and beverage. The Margherita pizzas weren't bad at all in the restaurant's previous incarnation and cost only 79 baht. I hope they revive that special offer. The Avenue has several other dining options as well, ranging from a 24/7 McDonalds through the Robin Hood Tavern, Beer Fest, Firepork, Oishi, Diner's Express, a Chinese restaurant and a couple more. There's also a Starbucks with a strong and fast free wifi. Most of these restaurants have already been reviewed elsewhere in this section. Depending on your taste in food, a couple of them could be worth a special visit. Parking is readily available at The Avenue. The rear covered section of the shopping plaza remains empty after the stalls were recently booted. Maybe this sign tells what is underway? Very little of the enclosed retail space is occupied, especially on the second and third levels. Evil

Better go quickly, I doubt it will be open much longer. Location, location, location. Evil

According to SBB's Facebook page, the price of the buffet is down to 130 baht for both dinner and lunch. I have also read on another board a second-hand report that this restaurant is already up for sale. It has only been open a month. Oh, well ... Evil

Three specials from the Robin Hood: The Sunday carvery special includes the soup and dessert of the day plus an all-you-can-eat buffet. The five imported meats are roast lamb; roast beef (rare and well-done); roast pork with crackling; and roast ham. The normal price is 395 baht. The lamb shank is Saturday's special. Source: Robin Hood Tavern Facebook page. Evil

A lot of people favor the Sailor Restaurant on Soi 7, mainly because it is cheap, but I've never had much luck. I've eaten there five times in the past six years Three meals were bad (one totally inedible), one was good and the most recent (last night) was mediocre. I tried one of the more expensive items on the menu, the T-bone steak for 150 baht. It came with a choice of potatoes, boiled vegetables and a smattering of cabbage salad.I'm fully aware that for 150 baht you're not going to get imported beef, so my expectations weren't too high. I asked for the steak to be done medium and that's how it came.As soon as I had a piece of it in my mouth, I was reminded of the children's story "The Little Engine That Could." Chew, chew, chew and me tell myself, "I think I can, I think I can." It wasn't impossibly tough, but tough enough to place it in the mediocre category. The mashed potatoes tasted weird and the veggies had been boiled way too soft for me, but some like them that way. I knew before I stepped into the Sailor I was entering the heart of Cheap Charlie darkness, where price and portion size are much more important than taste. I figured I'd get a mediocre meal and that's exactly what happened. But whatever its culinary faults, the Sailor has been in operation for many years and remains popular. I sat down at the last available table about 8.00 p.m. At least 30 people were dining, including three groups of eight. It thinned out a bit as I ate my meal, but still had plenty of customers when I finished. The day the zombie apocalypse comes to Pattaya, the Sailor Restaurant will be one of the last outlying bastions of Cheap Charliedom to fall before the final stand at New Plaza. I'll check back in 2019 to see if the Sailor has changed. Evil

A lot of the girls I have known have had conflicted feelings about the big city vs the village. When working in Pattaya or Bangkok, they miss the warmth and love of their families. The girls with children feel sad and guilty about not spending more time with them. Most also hate the humiliation of "working bar" and "going with many men." There's considerable danger to their souls and bodies as well, so the village is a haven for them, at least on an emotional basis. But when they go back to the village for an extended time, they begin to long for the big city life. They miss chatting and partying with friends; discos; shopping malls; restaurants; movies; karaoke; beauty salons and a hundred other things. Life on the farm is physically demanding and the girls sure can't sleep 12 hours a day. Everyone in the family goes to bed at 10 p.m. at the latest to be able to get up at 4.00 or 5.00 a.m. to start the day's work. "Boring" is how one girl summed it up. Another told me her dream in life would be to have a job in an office or shop in Korat or Khon Kaen and visit the farm every weekend. That's a realistic dream and thousands of Isaan girls live it. The downside is they'd be making 12,000-15,000 baht per month if lucky, whereas they can earn four or five times that amount as a bar girl. Through my visits, I gained a lot of understanding for the lives these girls live, which are often much more complicated than many farang think. They have hard roads to travel and I try in my interactions with them not to make it any harder. Evil

(from Facebook) The Soi Bukhao Buffet Bistro is a newly opened establishment that claims on its exterior sign to be more than just a restaurant. I went last night at 7.00 p.m. for the buffet dinner, but didn't see any sign of a beer garden, live music or DJ. I doubt the one ceiling-mounted TV at the front of the bar will attract many sports fans. According to SBBB's Facebook page, the live entertainment gets underway at 10.00 p.m. Perhaps they have plans for expansion, but it would be difficult to fit all those activities into the existing premises. The enclosed restaurant section seats a maximum 32 customers at eight tables for four. There's also an area at the back which appeared to be the staging area for the buffets (breakfast, lunch and dinner), but I guess it could also be used for live music. However, last night it wasn't a dinner buffet in the sense most of us use the word. The picture from the FB page is misleading. Only Indian dishes were offered and there weren't trays of food from which diners serve themselves as many times as they want. Instead, it was a "mix and match" variation that I remember from the Chinese restaurants in the U.S. when I was a child. Basically, it's "Pick two from Column A and two from Column B" on the menu, plus rice, roti and ice cream for 199 baht. There are no columns, but you choose two starters and two curries from a limited buffet menu. There's no farang or Thai food on the buffet menu. As my starters, I picked chicken tikka and a spring roll, but was told the spring roll "wasn't available." At the suggestion of the manager, I had the vegetables Manchurian instead. Apparently it's the creation of Chinese restaurants in India to appeal to local tastes. From the list of curries, I picked the butter chicken and the chicken tikka tawa masala. Everything came at the same time on one plate. There was no difference in portion size between the starters and curries. Those bowls may look small, but they hold quite a bit and I was full at the end of the meal. All of the dishes tasted pretty good, particularly the vegetables Manchurian. It was a new one for me; I'd never even heard of it before. It consisted of "vegetable balls" made from shredded carrots, cabbage and red pepper; minced onion and spices that had been fried, then simmered in a tomato-and-soy based gravy. Bottom line: I don't eat much Indian food, so I won't be rushing back for the dinner buffet. However, I had no complaints about the meal I got. Since SBBB is close to where I live, I may go back to try a farang or a la carte Indian dish. If the menu is correct, it's the same choice of dishes at lunch and dinner, but the lunch menu is 40 baht cheaper. That's a common offer in Indian and Chinese restaurants in the U.S. to attract diners throughout the day. SBBB also has a breakfast buffet for 120 baht. It's possible SBBB plans to switch to a traditional buffet once business picks up, which will be a hard struggle in its current location. If it sticks with the "pick two" model, then the owner should state this clearly on the FB page as the pic of a long row of serving dishes is misleading for now, but would become deceptive should there be no change in the future. Below is the a la carte menu taken from FB: Evil

I took these pics 10 years ago during an extended trip through Isaan. I posted them in 2009, but they disappeared when the image hosting site went down. I just rediscovered them on an external hard drive which had I had misplaced. The pics were taken on a farm with four houses and an extended family of about 30 people ranging from the great grandmother to toddlers. The little girl in the pic had never seen a farang before and couldn't figure out what I was. Once her fear wore off, she approached me and started rubbing my arm. Her family laughed and said even Thai babies like white skin! The great granny also commented she had never seen skin as white as mine. Everyone I met that day said something about my complexion and how lucky I was to have such light skin. I didn't have the heart to tell them that skin cancer runs in my family and so far I've been one of the few males to escape it. The main house where 10 people lived: The older boy was speeding around the compound with the infant holding on to the handlebars. I winced at that one. The uncle on the right was drunk at 4.00 p.m. This uncle was also drunk and had a gash above his eye that needed stitches. His wife, also drunk, had just stabbed him with a knife. Preparing dinner: The family gathered for dinner: The adult males ate at one table, the females and children at other tables. I had donated a carton of large beers to the meal. All were gone by the end of it. Those gentlemen were thirsty! I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto. I prayed to every god known and unknown I wouldn't have to use the outhouse while I was there. I don't think the cows had ever seen a farang, either. They stared at me in a spooky fashion. I understand now why Thai beef is tough. Those aren't exactly Black Angus. The houses were ramshackle, but inside all had 50-inch color TVs. Three of the young women in the family worked in P4P establishments in Bangkok. That's how I met one of them and ended up in the village. Evil

TripAdvisor lists 98 Indian restaurants in Pattaya and that list is unlikely to be complete. Two Indian restaurants have opened up at opposite ends of Soi 15 off 2nd Road and I have never seen a customer in either. I pass by on a daily basis. I've heard the same about Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants in the U.S. It's a way for families who have money to qualify for U.S citizenship. In the tiny village (population 5,000) where my parents lived in retirement, there was a Chinese restaurant and gift shop for about 10 years. Rents were very cheap in that village because the population had been declining for decades, so even if the restaurant never made money, the loss wouldn't be that large compared to operating a restaurant in a big city with high rents. The "main owner" of the businesses didn't live in the village but in New York City. Other members of his family did live there and managed the businesses on a daily basis. They couldn't have possibly made a profit and were closed for two months every summer. It was a smart way to qualify for a green card and once enough family members got U.S. citizenship, they closed the restaurant and gift shop. Evil

Yes, the back section of the ground floor of The Avenue has been cleared. Tonight a six-member crew was washing it down. The front bottom section still has food stalls, plus more tables and chairs: A new eating section has opened on the second floor: A Thai man was celebrating his birthday with his wife and a friend. He asked me to take pics. I will email him a copy of them. Evil