Evil Penevil

It's definitely finished for P O R in Pattaya. From their FB page: I'm sad to see it go. The combination of a location that was inconvenient except for those who lived in walking distance; premium prices and a narrowly U.S. menu probably did them in. It makes more sense to sell their products to other restaurants than struggle to operate a retail outlet. Anyone know of a restaurant in central Pattaya that offers a Reuben sandwich other than the Golf Club on LK Metro? Evil

Freudian slip! I fixed it now. Thanks for the correction. Evil

I guess I've been lucky, but I have never gotten food poisoning from a restaurant meal in Pattaya. Doctors have told me I have a strong immune system and that is probably the main reason. But a couple of things to note: 1) A lot of people are sensitive to different foods and it's not always food poisoning that makes them sick. It can be a type of food allergy that they aren't even aware they have. When traveling abroad, they may consume an ingredient they've never had before and they mistake the allergic reaction for food poisoning. 2) You can get food poisoning in any type of restaurant. Noma in Copenhagen, at the time rated the best restaurant in the world, had 63 diners fall sick from food poisoning in 2013. The U.K.'s Fat Duck had the same thing happen in 2009. A street food vendor in Pattaya can follow good food hygiene practices, while a top restaurant can fall short. 3) People often associate an upset stomach with the most recent meal they've consumed, but often that's not always the case. The viruses and bacteria that cause the most common types of food poisoning have incubation periods that range between eight hours and a week. It's not unusual for people to fall sick the day after they have eaten the tainted item. 4) You are most at risk from foods which have been un-refrigerated for two hours or more. Be very careful with buffets, especially breakfast buffets. Avoid raw, unprocessed food (seafood, meat, vegetables and even fruit) if you're susceptible to stomach problems. One advantage which Asian food has is that it is usually cooked at temperatures (fried, flambeed or boiled) high enough to kill bacteria and viruses. But if the food item is left un-refrigerated for hours, that advantage is lost. 5) Eat a lot of fiber so you have regular bowel movements. Some pathogens you consume can be eliminated from the body before they have a chance to affect you seriously. Evil

Many thanks for that update! Turkey and lamb are my favorites, so I'll be back to Dicey's next Sunday. It will be interesting to try the Beef Wellington as well. Evil

I didn't see Ban Chang on your list and it's worth a visit just to compare it to Pattaya. Talk to Adam at Cherry Bar as he still arranges trips there. IRovers and Retox also do them on a regular basis. Another possibility is a visit to Pattaya Orphanage or another charitable institution to make a donation. Be sure to take one or more Thai girls with you. I don't know if you've spent much time in Bangkok, but it is an easy day trip by bus or taxi. If you haven't visited Wat Po, the Grand Palace or Chinatown, you should. If you don't mind getting back late to Pattaya, check out the show at Siam Niramit. Evil

Central Festival on the 4th fl, Tukcom has them on the first floor, also the Soi Bukhao open market near Tukcom, Mike's Mall on 2nd Rd and any Big C. Evil :

This thread and the link are really good documentation of the underpass project. Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to do it. Evil

From P O R's FB page a few hours ago: Evil

There's also an elevator that's actually quite close to the Robin Hood. On the ground level, it's next to the lighted pool, just past the massage parlor. Evil

One more daily special, then I'm done with the Robin Hood Tavern for awhile. Pork cordon bleu with mushroom sauce, sauteed potatoes and fresh salad at 199 baht. Evil

Not that I can recall, but the situation changes quickly. The specials are advertised on the chalk board at the entrance: Most days the specials are also posted on the Robin Hood's FB page. They are definitely the best meals (and deals) at the Robin Hood. I was once told by a chef that the reason for foil on baked potatoes when served is to help keep the potato warm on the plate. Once cut, baked potato apparently loses heat quickly. Evil

Because of special circumstances In the past 10 days, I have eaten at the Robin Hood Tavern more often than I would have. The Robin Hood is only a 5-minute walk from where I live and a temporary medical problem has limited my mobility and kept me close to home. Construction on and re-painting of my building has interfered with the Internet, so the Robin Hood was a convenient solution both for meals and the net. I've mostly had the daily specials. They were good and value for money at prices between 199 and 269 baht. There were likenesses to the specials which had been offered at the former Bite Me Bistro, but were several notches below. The food at the Robin Hood is on the same standard as the other Retox bars, but I have noticed some misses at the Robin Hood. One thing is very clear, though- Bite Me bistro it ain't. Last week I had the Oven Roasted Duck Breast with Potato Roesti, Sauté Peppers and Rosemary and Orange Jus. The duck was very tasty and cooked properly. Mango might have been a better accent than the sharply acid and rather sour orange bits. It would have also been better not to have heaped the duck and sauteed sweet peppers on the potatoes, which wiped out the crispness of the roesti. Another day I had "Grilled Chicken Supreme" with tomato salsa, pea shoots and garlic butter baked potato for 199 baht. The tomato salsa was well spicy for my tastes. It never entered my mind to ask for anything "mai pet" at the Robin Hood. The pea shoots also had too prominent a flavor in the salsa. Less chili and fewer pea shoots and the salsa would have been better. The baked potato was fine. I tried the apple crumble at 160 baht, but wasn't much impressed. Too much crumble and too little apple. The custard was the best part. It should have been broiled at the end of the cooking time to allow the sugar to caramelize on the top layer. Now that I'm mobile again I'll take a break from the Robin Hood for meals. And if I need to sponge off a free WiFi connection, I'll go to Starbucks. Evil

But rye bread goes a lot better with pastrami. Evil

There have been contradictory reports (surprise, surprise!) on the punter boards about the fate of Pastrami on Rye. Some reports said it was closing down, period. Others said only the retail outlet in Jomtien was closing and POR products would still be available for delivery. Here's what appeared on POR's FB page yesterday: The official POR explanation is that the restaurant will be temporarily closed from Feb. 6 through Feb. 8 and re-opening on Feb. 9. POR has also apparently acquired the business of The Sweet Spot, a chocolate and confectionery maker formerly associated with Bite Me Bistro. No other details were given. Evil

Don't fire until you see the whites of their eggs! The Robin Hood Tavern has been offering an American breakfast for about a week now and I tried it a few days ago. It was the most disappointing meal I've had so far at TRHT. Here's the Robin Hood's FB ad for the breakfast: and here's what I got (it included two pieces of toast, coffee or tea and orange juice) for 179 baht : No sausage link, overcooked eggs, pseudo pancakes and hash browns, and worst of all, honey instead of maple syrup. North American pancakes demand maple syrup! The pancakes were stodgy, almost hard, like hockey pucks made from flour. Imagine a short-order cook at a truck stop in Norman, Oklahoma trying to make Yorkshire pudding. That's how TRHT's pancakes turned out. Coarsely diced potatoes are the basis of one style of North American hash browns, but they should be fried with onions and seasoned to some degree. These weren't. The bacon was good, though. No complaints there. However, I thought it a bit unusual to get one egg sunny side up and the other over lightly. Both eggs were overcooked, almost to the hard-boiled stage: I'm thirsty in the morning, so I ordered a blueberry smoothie for 110 baht. It looked good, but the only taste was sweet, no blueberry or any other flavor. That surprised me as I've had several watermelon smoothies and they were excellent. This breakfast was disappointing enough that I would have had a word with a farang manager if I had seen one. In my experience, it's not worth the time or effort to complain to Thai staff about unacceptable farang food. I ate what I could- mainly a bacon sandwich- and wrote the rest off to a bad morning for the Robin Hood kitchen. I've had the English breakfast at the Robin Hood and it was OK. Maybe an American breakfast was a bow-shot too far? The best thing about my breakfast that morning was a strong WiFi signal. The food was quite good when the Robin Hood opened a month ago, but has unfortunately gone down since then. Inconsistency has always been the hobgoblin of small restaurants in Pattaya. I'm only guessing, but perhaps there was more involvement/influence from the Bite Me crew in the beginning. Evil

Can you explain what you mean by this? I have a hard time imagining how this would apply to ads on social media. Evil

,, I had the Saturday special at TRHT on Jan. 21, which was the same special yesterday: Oven Roasted Fish Fillets, Mustard Mashed Potatoes served with a White Wine and Pepper Cream Sauce for 225 baht. It didn't look too much different than the pic on the Robin Hood's FB page: The potatoes didn't have toasted peaks and the plate I got didn't have grape tomatoes, but otherwise pretty much the same. It sounded and looked like it could have been Bite Me special, which is the main reason I wanted to try it. It was good, but kind of like a dumbed-down Bite Me dish. Make no mistake, it was good and I had no problem finishing it, but it lacked the "something special" in terms of flavor that was the hallmark of Bite Me specials. The fish was a bit watery, most likely dory. The mustard mash was fine and the portion size was good in terms of the price. The night before, on Jan. 20, I'd wanted to try Friday's special, poached chicken breast filled with salmon mousse and served with fondant potatoes. Unfortunately, it was finished by the time I got there (8.00 p.m.), so I tried the poached egg with back bacon, black pudding and bubble and squeak for 160 baht. That definitely wasn't a Bite Me dish, but what the hell, once in a while I have to expand my culinary horizons. The hollandaise sauce was pretty bad. If they had just left it off, or served it in a boat on the side, the dish would have been OK. The egg was poached properly and the bubble and squeak had plenty of flavor. The black pudding was, well, black pudding. Hollandaise sauce is a bit of a minefield; one wrong step and it blows up. Even properly made hollandaise is tricky for restaurants because it has to be held at just the right temperature or it coagulates. Also worth noting: the nights TRHT has live music, the volume is too loud. In the future, I'll avoid eating there on the nights they have music. To be fair, TRHT is a sports bar, so you have to expect a certain level of noise from the TVs and the music, but it was too much for me. The thing for everyone to keep in mind in that TRHT is primarily a sports bar and pub that serves foods, not just a restaurant. On the plus side, the rules against smoking inside are strictly enforced. Moreover, TRHT is beginning with an all-you-can-eat Sunday carvery for 395 baht. The single plates with remain at 199 baht 9plus 30 baht for lamb). I haven't tried the Sunday roast at TRHT, but some others were critical of its initial offering. Evil

Definitely worth a mention. I just meant I'm not going to speculate about the next step- will the re-branded Bite Me be more Bite Me or Retox? Only time will tell. Evil

I have my that one way or another we'll be able to continue to enjoy the great food for which Bite Me Bistro was noted and it won't disappear under waves of breakfast specials and meat pies with chips and gravy. There's not much point in further comments until we see how the "merger" is handled and how distinct the former Bite Me menu remains. Here's hoping for the best! Evil :

One less in hiding. Evil BREAKING: British man assassinated in gangland hit in Pattaya Pattaya police are investigating the death of 39 year old British man, who was shot dead in his car at Mabprachan Reservoir, Pattaya by two men on a motorcycle around 10am this morning. Police revealed that two men were seen riding up on a Honda Click motorcycle reg plate 7992 before one of them approached the car shooting Mr Tony Kenway twice in the head, killing him instantly. UPDATE: Thaivisa understands police are investigating links to the deceased and foreign 'boiler room' gangs in Pattaya.

Is bounty hunting legal in Thailand? If it is, Dog and Beth Chapman should do a Dog the Bounty Hunter special from Pattaya. The bars of New Plaza would be deserted! Evil

This was an interesting article from The Nation: "THAILAND’S role as a haven for transnational criminals has been reconfirmed with the separate arrests in Bangkok of criminals on the run from India, Hungary and China." More foreign ‘criminals’ found in police swoops I recall reading a few years ago an estimate by a top Thai cop that 10,000 foreign criminals with active warrants in their home countries were hiding in Thailand, with 1,000 in Pattaya alone. I'm surprised the figure for Pattaya wasn't higher. Based on the number of prison tattoos I've seen on the forearms and hands of men from 40 and upwards, there are a hell of a lot of ex-cons in Pattaya, but I would assume most of them have already paid their debt to society. Several small-scale con men are regular posters on the Pattaya punter boards. I wonder how many are actually on the lam? Evil

I saw on Jim's Burger's FB page that the restaurant will be open from 11.30 a.m. to midnight from Feb.1. Current hours are 5.00 p.m. to midnight Monday-Friday and on Saturday-Sunday open for lunch in addition to the evening hours. I also read on another board, but haven't confirmed, that Jim's Burger now delivers. Despite its location, Jim's is proving quite popular for both its beer and burgers. One of the best, if not the best, place in Pattaya for hamburgers that hold a consistently high level of quality with a creative touch. Evil