Evil Penevil

If you want to eat a meal in the wee hours (2.00 a.m. to 6.00 a.m.), some options are: Took Lae Dee next to the Foodland underneath Royal Garden Plaza on Beach Road is also open 24/7. The prices are on the same level as Kiss, but the food is better (although not great) and it's indoors with AC. No hawkers. Other possibilities are PakBungLoyFah on 2nd Road across from Soi 15; Marine Seafood on Soi Marine (aka Soi Lucky Star) just off WS; the New York Diner on WS next to iBar; Fra Pattaya on the dog-leg section of BR near the north entrance to NS; the all-night pop-up eateries on Pattaya Tai; and the food stalls on Pattaya Klang between 2nd Road and Soi Bukhao. All are better than Kiss. And you have dozens of stalls and carts on and around WS, LK Metro. Beach Road, 2nd Road, etc. that sell all sorts of food. Evil

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. EDIT IN: I posted this report at 32,000 feet just as the flight from Narita was making its descent to Newark Airport. I pressed the submit button to avoid losing the pics and am now finishing the text from a hotel room at Newark Airport. 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

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

I haven't eaten at Leng Kee for a long time now due to a non-food issue, so I can't answer. However, it's beginning to feel like I should have another meal at Leng Kee and when I do, I'll be sure to check out the pig's feet. In case anyone is wondering, the non-food issue had to do with the refusal of the Leng Kee staff to do anything about some young drunk farang customers who began to bother the young lady I'd brought to Leng Kee. It turned into a very ugly situation but the staff just watched. I decided not to go back after that , but this was several years ago. I'm ready to give Leng Kee a chance to redeem itself. Evil

(pic from the Internet) In the words of Richard Nixon, let me make on thing perfectly clear: I ate at Kiss Food & Drink under protest. I was supposed to have had dinner with a friend and his Thai companion at a different restaurant near Kiss, but she didn't see anything on the menu she liked and asked to eat at Kiss. I suggested other options, farang and Thai, that were close by, but she insisted on Kiss. At the urging of my friend and for the sake of harmony, I agreed to eat there for the first time in about five years. To cut to the chase: It was stunningly undistinguished food. Not good, not bad, just mediocre. As an overall dining experience, it was below average due to the heat, fumes and noise of Kiss' exposed location at the corner of 2nd Road and Soi Diana. The poor personal hygiene and even worse manners of some of Kiss' customers also contributed to the unpleasantness. The sole mitigating factor would be the low price, but I'd happily pay more to avoid getting Kissed in this fashion. I hope it is at least another five years before my next meal at Kiss. I took some menu pages from Kiss' Facebook site to illustrate what's available. These FB pages aren't up to date and prices are five to 20 baht higher at Kiss, depending on the dish. Kiss is one of the oldest restaurants in Pattaya, having opened in the 1980s. It's also probably the best known restaurant among foreign tourists and residents. I doubt there are many farang visitors to the city who haven't been there. Maybe they have never gone back because much better food is available nearby at similar prices, but just about everyone has tried Kiss at least once. And however many people don't go to Kiss any longer, hundreds still do, whether for the first or 50th time. It remains a busy place. Often when I have passed by, all seats under the roof were taken as well as at the long outdoor table. A convenient location, cheap prices and 24/7 hours of operation are probably the main reasons for Kiss' fame. It couldn't possibly be the food as it's average at best, horrible at worst. However, many, many would disagree with me. On Tripadvisor, Kiss ranks 55th out of 853 reviewed restaurants in Pattaya. Of the 566 individual reviews, 20% rank Kiss as "Excellent" and 46% rate it "Very Good." That's TWO THIRDS of the reviewers who consider Kiss "Very Good" or better. When Kiss opened in the 1980s, it had been a decent place for a quick and cheap meal. Over the years, the quality of its food has declined as it struggles to keep its prices low. The Cheap Charlie segment of the market is very fickle. It will go anywhere the prices at the moment are lowest and the portions largest . The quality and taste of the food is not important. It's all about paying as little as possible and getting a lot: a big bowl of noodle soup or plate of spaghetti is culinary ecstasy for the CCs, with a big bucket of fried chicken the equivalent of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. There's one hungry little fellow who writes reports for the punter boards and FB groups that try to convey a semblance of restaurant reviews. Unfortunately, he could put everything he knows about food in a thimble and still have room for his own sausage. What he can do is wax lyrical about the amount of food on his plate. His readers are probably the type of customer who would rate the quality of the food at Kiss as "excellent." But given the CC preference for heaping plates, it's worth noting that portions aren't large at Kiss. The restaurant has become ensnared in a Catch-22 situation: to earn a profit and stay in business, Kiss must either raise prices or reduce costs by serving smaller portions. Here's the paradox: doing either will cost Kiss customers, while doing neither puts the entire business at risk. There's no easy way out of that one. I'm not going to spend too much time on the meals we had. As I stated, the food was average but cheap. What more needs to be said? I did find out why my friend's companion had wanted so much to eat at Kiss. She really likes cured salmon and she knew Kiss had it on the menu. This was the "salmon salad" she ordered. For her main dish she had a bowl of tom yum goong. My friend had the "garden salad" as his starter ... ... followed by what was called Norwegian salmon on the menu ...with Hollandaise sauce I ordered the beef with kale in oyster sauce for 50 baht... ... as well as the staple egg dish kai jeow , usually called a Thai-style omelet for want of a better term in English. It cost 80 baht. I don't recall how much my friends' meals were, but I believe both the salmon dishes cost around 190 baht each, while the soup and garden salad were about 100 baht each. My food totaled 130 baht and with a Singha, bottle of water and tip, it cost me 250 baht Bottom line: Don't bother with Kiss; it's not worth your time or your money. Walk a couple of minutes from Kiss in any direction- north, south, east or west- and you'll come across better places to eat. Don't accept mediocre meals when much better food can be just as easily had for about the same money. Evil There's one incident from Kiss that doesn't have anything to do with the above review, but I want to share it anyway. Back in 2010 and 2011, the homeless German guy in the picture used to hang out in the LK Metro area. I had a conversation with the poor guy in mid-September, 2011. I saw him sitting near the corner of Soi Diana and Second Road, close to Kiss. He looked terrible - filthy, in rags and clearly malnourished, perhaps even starving. You can see it in the pictures. No body fat and very little muscle on his arms or legs, His body was eating itself. The foot without the sandal was inflamed and swollen. I'm sure if it went untreated it would have become gangrenous. I had tried approaching him before, but he had been incoherent those days. He looked so bad I felt I had to try to do something. Not knowing what to say, I just asked him in English, "You OK, man?" He nodded yes with a very unconcerned facial expression, then asked me if I knew of a hotel with a dinner buffet. That took me aback, but I answered without letting my jaw drop. I said I didn't, but I'd be happy to get him some take-away food at Kiss. He declined and said the food at Kiss was "too bad." He wanted a buffet! He wasn't begging, but he sure was choosing. I offered him 100 baht to get food later, but he answered he didn't need it. He said he liked my shirt - I tend to wear loud print shirts - and I offered to get him one just like it. Again, he refused. I offered food or money one more time, but he repeated he didn't need it. On one level, this is quite humorous: a raggedy homeless man refusing food at Kiss because of its poor quality. But on another level, it's tragic and not at all funny. For a man in his condition to refuse food is a clear indication he had become so delusional he was a threat to himself. He needed to be institutionalized at least in the short run, but that wouldn't happen in Pattaya. A few weeks later, after many, many complaints, the police did pick him up and I heard he was deported back to Germany where he would receive appropriate care. I still wonder how things turned out for him and if he's still choosy about his food.

It was the same for me. I ate the frankfurter and most of the chili topping, but left 2/3s of the bun. Evil

Try this: Thailand sets new excise tax on alcohol, cigarettes Evil

Mystery solved, see the the edit I made to post #72. Evil

You lost me on that one in the context of this thread, although various conspiracy theories involving bar owners and friends of bar owners certainly do ring familiar. EDIT IN: Now I see what happened. MM was answering a Mr Hankey post from another thread (my highlight): Now we are on very familiar ground. I, too, would hope Mr_Hankey would name a few of these bar owners and their friends as well as giving an example of posts that shill for a particular WS go go bar. Evil

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

... You should read the forum a bit more before posting such comments- and take to heart the words you edited out of your initial version. It's definitely a good idea to avoid heavy drinking on an empty stomach, but it's best to have foods that are high in beneficial natural fats, like salmon and avocado. Less healthy but still good are pasta, chicken and mashed potatoes and even a grilled cheese sandwich is a reasonable choice. Yogurt is also a good belly liner. Evil

That reminds of the April 1st column by Stickman in 2012 that said regulations would be changed in Thailand to make it much more difficult for tourists to bring girls back to their hotels. It caused a lot of discussion on the punter boards, including two threads on Talk. Stickman's Weekly Column Spells End of Sex Industry in LOS New Regulations Coming? Most members of Talk had caught on that it was joke, but that wasn't true on all the boards. Stickman himself said the April 1st column generated a huge email response, but only a few people realized it was a joke. Evil

"Hoagie" is a local name for what was called a submarine sandwich- sometimes a hero or grinder- in other areas. Evil

Last night I tried the September special, the chili cheese dog for 195 baht and a small order of coleslaw for 45 baht. It was a good meal! I wrote "meal" because there was enough food on my plate to fill me up. I couldn't have eaten any more at one sitting. I usually think of a chili dog as a snack, but this GASCO's chili dog was sufficient as my evening meal. Part of the reason it was so filling was the size of soft bread roll that encased the sausage and toppings. It was bigger and more bread-like than the hot dog buns with which most North Americans are familiar. The sausage, well-covered by the homemade chili topping- it wasn't just a sauce- was a high-quality German-style wiener, not a mystery meat hot dog. The ad for the September special says it's 10 inches, but I think it was more sausage than that, a longer and shorter piece that together stretched the length of the roll. The chili topping had plenty of ground beef as well as flavor. It also had just the right amount of heat (for me at least) and wasn't sloppy. The cheese topping added a bit of contrast in texture and flavor. Same-same with the coleslaw. It was the standard picnic variety with shredded cabbage and carrots, but not too heavy dressed. Again, it provided contrast in texture and flavor. It all went together very well. Bottom line: If you enjoy U.S.-style chili dogs, then take advantage of GASCO's monthly special. It's also great value for money! Evil

I have no idea how the owner of the Atlanta is using the term, but some cultural critics use it to mean certain social "manifestations" that have arisen since the 1950s, everything from rock 'n roll music, outlaw bikers and hippies through disco, football hooligans, punk rock, grunge, heavy metal and rap. Depending on who is doing the criticizing, the time frame could be limited to the post-hippy era, from about 1975 onward. The basic idea is that popular tastes in culture have degenerated and have yielded to more "primitive" instincts. I think he means Western intellectuals who are culturally conservative. I won't disagree! Evil

The Atlanta was built in 1952, but has had the explicit "No Sex Tourist" policy since the 1980s. The facility is now hopelessly outdated, plus the outdoor areas are overrun with feral cats and dogs. The lobby area is apparently kept in good shape as it is sometimes used in TV and movie productions, but the rest is in terrible condition, according to a an ex-co-worker of mine. Evil

Twenty to 30 years ago, a fair number of people who stayed at the Atlanta agreed with the owner's "ideological" positions on issues like sex tourism and the ecology. However, even back then, the place was very outdated and run down. The rooms didn't have TV or radio; the building didn't have an elevator and some of the rooms lacked A/C. Today it's even worse. Twenty more years of wear and tear on facilities that are never updated or improved. There's no WiFi for the guests' use. The place has gone from quaint and eccentric to a dump. I can't imagine anyone choosing to stay at the Atlanta for any other reason than dire economic necessity. Evil

There are several ways to make iced tea. You can use a mix (as in the post above) or brew your own using either loose leaf tea or teabags. Just brew the tea twice or four times as strong as usual, then use ice cubes or cold water to dilute it. I mostly cold brew iced tea. I mix one big tablespoon (8-10 grams) of loose leaf black tea with a liter of water and let it stand in the refrigerator 8-12 hours. Couldn't be easier. The easiest way to make peach iced tea is to use the appropriate tea bags. such as: Another way is to use either peach essence (concentrated flavoring) or peach nectar (juice) to add the peach flavor to iced tea. The most complicated way is to use fresh peaches or even canned peaches. You can boil fresh or canned peach slices in water to make a reduction, either with or without sugar, and use the reduction to flavor iced tea. Or you can run slices of either fresh or canned peaches through a blender, then add to the tea. Evil

Board members sometimes get upset over joiners' fees. The Atlanta Hotel in Bangkok is a lot worse. Here is their caveat: "Caveat The Atlanta is run on conservative principles and fosters traditional values. The Atlanta does not hesitate to refuse rooms to persons unsuited to the prevailing ethos of The Atlanta – even if they have a confirmed reservation. 1/ The Atlanta does not welcome SEX TOURISTS, and does not try to be polite about it. Borderline cases are not given the benefit of the doubt, but are treated as sex tourists. Those who are borderline cases should stay elsewhere. Guests who attempt to bring in bargirls, catamites and their like will be told in plain language to settle their bills and leave. Remaining on the premises after being told to leave will be treated as a police matter. The Atlanta does not ask for or listen to explanations or excuses, and does not apologise for the manner in which miscreants are thrown out. The Atlanta also does not apologise for any mistakes it may be accused of having made with regard to the identification of sex tourists. To keep The Atlanta private, secure, wholesome and sleaze-free for the kind of guests we welcome, room guests are not permitted to take visitors / outsiders upstairs into the building and their rooms, or into the garden and pool area. Exceptions may be made in appropriate circumstances at the management's discretion. Suitable visitors / outsiders may be entertained in the restaurant. 2/ The Atlanta operates a "ZERO TOLERANCE " policy regarding TROUBLE-MAKERS, POSSESSORS AND USERS OF ILLICIT DRUGS and ALL OTHER ILLEGAL AND NEFARIOUS ACTIVITIES 3/ The Atlanta also does NOT WELCOME UNDOMESTICATED PEOPLE – the sort of people whose conduct and appearance give tourists in general and their compatriots in particular a bad name. When The Atlanta states 'NOT WELCOME', The Atlanta means it. There will be no politeness about it. 4/ The Atlanta welcomes FAMILIES and prides itself on its child-friendly staff, but families are welcome only if CHILDREN are KEPT UNDER REASONABLE CONTROL. The Atlanta is not a playground for children: children must not be allowed to disturb other guests. Families that do not keep their children under control will be told to settle their bill and leave in no uncertain manner. 5/ The Atlanta particularly welcome guests who like PETS and ANIMALS. The Atlanta is home to many rescued cats, terrapins and one dog, all of which are well cared for. The garden of The Atlanta is also home to many squirrels, birds, etc. However, guests are not allowed to bring in pets or other rescued animals. The Atlanta already has too many rescued animals on the premises. Visitors who object to any of The Atlanta's policies or who intend to spend their time in Thailand whoring, behaving badly, indulging in alcohol abuse and illicit drugs should stay elsewhere. The Atlanta is not that kind of place. Tourism is not about going on a rampage through other people's country: those who cannot travel abroad without behaving badly should stay home. On these policies, The Atlanta is not interested in dissenting public opinion or what the business world calls 'customer feedback'. The Atlanta caters to a certain kind of clientele and that is the end of the matter. No discussion. No compromise. " |Any of you want to book a room there? Evil

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 rebate 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

You have to keep in mind the difference between registered and unregistered overnight guests. Simply booking a double room in no way gives you the right to bring back a series of unregistered overnight guests. It depends on each hotel's policies and in some cases, how strictly they are enforced. Charging a "joiner fee" discourages registered guests from bringing back an unregistered overnight guest. It's a business policy, not a scam, much less a crime against humanity. Every hotel has the right to charge a joiner fee for any UNREGISTERED guest who spends the night in a guest's room, even if the guest has paid for double occupancy. Many hotels (such as the Avani) won't allow you to register a guest one day and register a new girl the next. Virtually all three-, four- and five-star hotels that are considered guest friendly still retain the right to charge a joiner fee, even if they never do so in practice. That's to prevent extreme cases, in which someone - not necessarily a punter - allows five or six people to sleep in a room in which two or three are registered. More guests in a room than have been registered is an everyday problem in hotels around the globe and doesn't relate directly to P4P all the time. One of the managers at a international Suk hotel in Bangkok told me that while joiner fees aren't a regular policy, they are sometimes used as a disciplinary measure when punters get too carried away, i.e., four or five people are staying in a room or too much rowdiness late at night. So while a hotel can be guest friendly, it doesn't mean it welcomes wild partying. If you know that you'll be taking several girls back to your room each day as well as drinking heavily, you want to make sure you get a monger-friendly as well well as guest-friendly hotel. Evil

The Avani is the old Marriott Resort and the new owners haven't done much to change it EXCEPT there is now a 1,000-baht joiners' fee. I don't have personal experience, but from a discussion on another board, the Avani has become quite family-oriented and anti-monger. For 4,000 baht/night plus joiner fee, you can do a lot better in Pattaya than the Avani. In View Talay 6, you can rent a luxurious condo four times the size of a room at the Avani for 4,000 baht/night. From guest houses through five stars, many accommodation options in town are preferable to the Avani. Evil

The BBQ bacon cheeseburger proved very popular and has been added to GASCO's regular menu. It's also part of the all-day Friday special. It's an excellent burger at a very reasonable price. Evil

I am a big fan of iced tea and drink it by the gallon at home. However, I don't usually have it with meals in restaurants in Pattaya. It's usually beer or Coke Zero for me. My perception could be off, but I think fewer and fewer restaurants are offering ice tea that they brew themselves. But if I do have ice tea while eating out, I'll be sure to mention it in any review I write. Evil

September's special and new lunch specials, which look to be great value for money.