Evil Penevil

The MK Restaurant is located on the sixth level (5th floor) of the Central Festival Mall on 2nd Road. It is one of the six MK branches in Pattaya and the three hundred or so nationwide. Like all MK Restaurants, the Central Festival branch specializes in Thai-style hot pot meals cooked directly at the diners' tables, but also has an extensive a la carte menu. MK itself says the main offering of its restaurants is Thai-style "suki," although Thai-style hot pot cooking isn't very similar to Japanese sukiyaki. The MK hot pots are more akin to Chinese hot pot cooking, which has existed for at least 1,000 years in Chinese cuisine. The MK Restaurant at CF is spacious, brightly lit and very clean. Service is fast and attentive and has one special feature you won't find at many restaurants- more about that later. The diners order the ingredients for the hot pot- meat, seafood, veggies, noodles, dumplings, etc.- from an extensive photo menu. The waitress fires up the cooking plate under the pot of broth and the ingredients are added as they arrive. We ordered some dim sum as an appetizer and it came immediately. The main ingredient in our hot pot was finely sliced pork. Chicken livers: In goes the first set of ingredients: Then the tray of mushrooms went in: And the veggies: A taste test: And a sample to see if the pork and veggies had cooked long enough: One of many bowls out of the hot pot. The broth was delicious! There are different sauces with varying degrees of heat in which to dip each bite. My dinner companion: I'm not sure of the timing, but several times over the course of an evening the staff will do a line-dance routine to music. Just about all the staff - waiters and waitresses; bus boys; managers, etc, get into the act. It's fun and amusing, but the staff didn't really look like they were enjoying themselves. I really liked the hot pot meals I've had at MK. It's also very popular with Thai girls. How cheap or expensive it gets depends on what and how many trays of ingredients you order, but our meal came in at around 700 baht for two. Before anyone comments, I know there may be cheaper, more authentic and perhaps even better hot pot restaurants in Pattaya, but my companion asked to go MK at Central Festival. It was her choice. Our goal wasn't to eat in Pattaya's best hot pot restaurant, but to go to a restaurant she liked and she wanted to go the MK at Central Festival. Evil

Could be difficult. Reuben sandwiches are an American thing, but hardly a U.S. staple, so demand is probably rather limited. The ingredients, Russian rye bread, corned beef, saukerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian or Thousand Island dressing, are pretty specialized. For many Reuben aficianados, a slice of kosher dill pickle is also a must. Best chance of finding all this would be at a deli-style cafe attached to one of the big hotels with American clientele. I can't speak from personal experience because it's not one of the U.S. dishes I'd order abroad. But I remember eating lunch with a friend at La Brioche Deli at the Novotel Hoetl at Siam Square. It was a really big sandwich he thought was good. Some foods just don't photograph well. I doubt it. Twinkies went out of production in November due to the bankruptcy of Hostess Brands, but made a comeback in mid-July. I looked for Twinkies in a couple of U.S. stores on July 15 and 16, but they had either been reserved for regular customers or had sold out. I had wanted to buy a couple of boxes for U.S. friends in Pattaya as a joke, but I had to return without any Twinkies. This whole episode has generated priceless free publicity for the owners of the new Hostess Brands. Smart move! It's complicated, but the bankruptcy judge allowed the assets of Hostess Brands to be sold separately, rather than as one big package at auction. The recipes and brand names for Hostess products (Twinkies and cupcakes) were bought by an investment group, but the sale did not include the bakeries and other tangible assets. The original company, which dates back over 100 years, went through many name changes. It's now called Old HB and is still in liquidation. It made more products than Twinkies and at one time was one of the biggest producers of bread in the U.S. Twinkies were considered its most profitable product. More background here. I always disliked Twinkies. Whenever I got them trick-or-treating as a kid on Halloween, I'd trade them with my sister for something else. Those would be twinks, not Twinkies. Evil

The deep-fried Twinkie was also invented in the U.K. (the deep-fried version, not the Twinkie itself, which is a U.S. cream-filled sponge snack cake). The deep-fried Twinkie, however, was a minor hit on the U.S. carnival and fair circuit. The Mars Bar was first made in the U.K. in 1932 or 1933 by Forrest Mars, an American and son of U.S. candy tycoon Frank Mars. It was identical to the Milky Way, introduced by Frank Mars in the U.S. in 1920. When he died in 1999, Forrest Mars was the 30th richest man in the U.S., according to Forbes. His two sons were in 29th and 30th place. Forrest Mars also invented M & Ms, which whould be appropriate as the official snack of FLB. Deep-fried Mars Bars were a Scottish invention that dates back only as far as 1995. Evil

Charles Ranhofer first made Baked Alaska at Delmonico's Restaurant in New York in 1867 to celebrate the U.S. acquisition of Alaska. Ranhofer, a French chef who had immigrated to the U.S. at age 20, didn't invent the technique of baking ice cream insulated by cake on the bottom and meringue on the sides and top, but he refined and popularized it with his Baked Alaska. It's actually an easy dish to make. Just be certain the ice cream and cake are frozen as hard as they can get, the meringue is stiff and the oven very hot so the meringue cooks and solidifies quickly. Baked Alaska shouldn't need more than three minutes in the oven. Evil

Yup, it's one of the best desserts ever. Have you ever had it done the traditional way: not baked, but chilled, with the chemical reaction between the acidity of the limes and the sweetened condensed milk-egg yolk mixture thickening the filling? Not easy to get these days because of the fear surrounding uncooked eggs. Some more pics of Key lime pie and other U.S. desserts: Baked Alaska: Boston Cream Pie and Boston Cream Poke Cake: Various cream pies:

Some more dishes that can be considered American because the ingredients or style of preparation originated in what would become the U.S. Despite its Spanish name, chili con carne has little to do with Mexican cooking and probably had its origin in pioneer and cowboy one-pot cooking. Louisiana Cajun and creole cooking is an example of adapting a variety of influences - French, Spanish, African, Native American - to local ingredients. Jambalaya, file gumbo and red snapper creole style: Sweet potato pancakes from New Orleans. Pancakes weren't an American invention, but maple syrup was, A crawfish boil: Turducken is a deboned chicken roasted inside a deboned duck inside a mostly deboned turkey, with some sort of stuffing in the cavities. Nobody knows who first cooked a turducken, bu it first became popular in New Orleans. The concept goes back to ancient Rome. It's a complicated and time-consuming dish to make and a lot of people prefer to buy a commercially prepared turducken. Frogmore stew from the South Carolina low county and Key lime pie from Florida: Biscuits and gravy: Pecan pie: Boston baked beans and coleslaw: San Francisco sourdough bread and a small round loaf filled with New England clam chowder: A few more dishes that were created in the U.S. Lobster Newberg, Caesare salad, Oysters Rockefeller and Frito pie . In the dessert category, pumpkin pie is a natural. The saying should go, "As American as pumpkin pie," since the pumpkin was unknown before the discovery of the New World. Same-same with popcorn. The ice cream sundae was invented in Evanston, IL, where I went to university. In 1890, the city fathers passed a blue law forbidding the sale of ice cream sodas (another U.S. creation) on Sundays. At that time, soda parlors were a gathering place for young people and the religious people of Evanston didn't want the children diverted by sinful thoughts of soda on Sundays. An enterprising soda jerk simply left out the soda water and poured the syrup directly over the ice cream. It was called an ice cream Sunday at first, but the spelling was changed when fundamentalists objected to the using the name of the Sabbath for an ice cream treat. The ice cream soda was first put together in Philadelphia in 1874. It quickly became a nationwide hit. Evil

Since the USA is country of immigrants, its food is the result of input from many cuisines applied to "New World" ingredients. Over the years, popular dishes have changed so much from their original source of inspiration that they can be considered American food. The hamburger is perhaps the best example. It's based on the Hamburg steak, which consisted of fine chopped (not ground) beef that was fashioned into a patty and fried, usually with onions. It was commonly served on ships sailing between Hamburg and New York. Here's a pic of how the original Hamburg steak looked. It isn't much like a modern hamburger. And it doesn't really matter whether it was a caveman or a Mongol warrior who first barbecued meat. That has nothing to do with today's barbecue styles in the Carolinas, Texas, Memphis and Chicago. You can add beans, pumpkins, cranberries and peanuts to the list. The turkey is also a "Native American." The traditional US Thanksgiving dinner of turkey with cornbread stuffing and cranberry sauce, potatoes, green beans, corn and pumpkin pie reflects ingredients native to the New World, but weren't eaten at the pilgrim's earliest harvest feasts. The traditional menu came much later. Other American dishes that have a uniquely American origin are pemmican, which isn't eaten much today, although beef perky is a popular snack; succotash (lima beans, corn and other vegetables); grits and cornbread. Maybe scrapple will become as popular as tinned beans in tomato sauce. They were first imported to the UK from the US in the early 1900s as a luxury item and sold by Harrods. But it's doubful. Scrapple (left) is similar to the white pudding (right) already sold in the UK and Ireland. Evil

There are quite a few places in Bangkok for decent American-style food. At the high end, you have the New York Steakhouse at the JW Marriott on Suk Road, the Rib Room and Bar on the 31st floor of the Landmark Hotel and Prime at the Millennium Hilton. The Marriott Cafe in the JW Marriott also has breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets which are heavy on American main dishes, sides and sweets. More moderately priced is the Avenue New York Grill on Suk Soi 16. Some pics from its Web site: I've never eaten at the Roadhouse Barbecue in Silom not far from Patpong, but I've heard it's good for typically American fare. It has an extensive menu of U.S. favorites. In the budget category, you have the V8 Diner on Suk Road near Soi 12. It's been awhile since I've eaten there, but it was good when I did, Some pics from its Web site: I don't know if it still offers the same deal, but it used to be if you ate in the diner, you got free entry to the attached nightclub, now called Insanity. A lot of freelancers hung out there, but again, I don't if that still holds. And for a true American snack, try a corn dog from the Corn Dog Dude in K Village (an open-air mall) on Suk Soi 26 near the Davis Hotel. Evil

During the peak days in December 2012 (20-31 Dec) and January 2013 (Jan 1-6), the baht buses from Jomtien used the left-turn-before-the-overpass variation. In the evening rush hours, about 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., there were still huge delays due to the sheer volume of traffic. If the traffic lights aren't timed properly and adjusted to the actual flow of traffic, they can create the same effect as increased volume would. Evil

I believe I remember reading somewhere that Seaside had closed and was for sale. Also read Crazy Dave's was up sale, but don't know if that's correct. Best thing about the Sailor! Evil

Maybe for the same reason the homeless shelter in NYC was packed every night. Evil

The Sailor Bar and Restaurant is well-known for its cheap drinks and food. Since cheap booze in and of itself isn't a big attraction for me, I've never had a drink there and can't comment on the bar side of the business. But I have eaten twice in the restaurant and I strongly doubt there will be a third time. On the upside, it's clean, well-lighted and above all, very cheap. Some of the Thai dishes you can get for 20 or 30 baht and most farang food runs between 80 and 150 baht. The breakfast has to be one of the least expensive in Pattaya. The downside is the food is horrible. The first dish I tried was beef goulash. Here's what I got. I believe the price was 150 baht, but can't really remember. And it didn't taste any better than it looks. The meat was tough beef cut stir-fry style. The only taste to the sauce was American-style ketchup. But tasting that sauce did give me one magical moment: I was transported back for a second to lower Manhattan. Some years ago I had volunteered two nights a month at a Bowery shelter for the homeless and the Sailor's goulash tasted exactly the same as the goulash served on Friday nights at the shelter! The shelter's clients loved that goulash and the dining area was packed every Friday night. A formerly homeless guy who'd had some background in food preparation came in most Fridays to prepare it. One Friday, he couldn't make it and a NYC semi-celebrity chef supplied the goulash, made from top ingredients in his restaurant and delivered to the shelter for re-heating. I wasn't there that night, but I was told the clients didn't like the celebrity goulash at all. They much preferred the ketchup goulash. I thought I also recognized one of the guys from the shelter in the Sailor Restaurant, but my imagination must have been playing tricks on me, perhaps because my sensory nerves were over-stimulated by the ketchup taste. My companion that evening, a lovely Thai lady, had declined the offer of food, Thai or otherwise, at the Sailor. She'd just wrinkled her nose and said, "No good." But so she'd have something in front of her, she had a butterscotch sundae. I thought it was bizarre a sundae would come with Ritz crackers, but they turned out to be some sort of almond cookie. The sundae itself consisted of a few drizzles of caramel sauce on three tiny scoops of ice cream - one that was supposed to be chocolate, another vanilla and the third she couldn't tell because it had no flavor. The sundae was mostly commercial whipped topping. After a couple of bites, we chek binned and abandoned the Sailor. She got som tam from a street stall and I had barbecued skewers of meat. A much better choice. But I had seen a customer eating a schnitzel that looked pretty good. The menu said potato salad was an option as a side and I decided to come back alone another day to try it. Since the Sailor's menu is very German inspired, I been hoping it would be a warm potato salad with a vinegar-based dressing. This is what I got: No magical moment for me that time because I had never before tasted American-style picnic potato salad that bad. Pieces of under cooked potato swimming in mayonnaise that had a rancid taste. The schnitzel had been pounded so thin and fried so long it was rock hard. Except for an oily taste to the breading, it had no flavor at all. The shredded carrot and cabbage was the only part of meal that was edible. It cost 120 baht, so it wasn't much of a loss, more a waste of time. If you want to economize on food, are very hungry and have a strong stomach, you might do OK at the Sailor. Otherwise, give it a miss and head to the nearest street vendor where you'll get far better food. It's also service with a scowl at the Sailor. I've never seen unfriendlier waitresses anywhere else in Pattaya. Evil

Again, excellent pics. It seems like a great place to spent a secluded holiday. Thanks for the tip. Evil

The marathon will cause havoc in traffic on Sunday and the big Buddha days on Monday and Tuesday will stop the sale of alcohol. If like other years, most bars will be closed those days. Either stock up in advance or allow your liver to make merit. Evil

Evil

More likely dontcha. Evil

Again, really nice pics. Thank you for posting! Evil

It will depend a bit on the time of day, but you're right, the side streets streets around TukCom are heavily congested with delivery vehicles at just about all hours. Evil

I'm really happy that I decided to move into central Pattaya from Jomtien. I wonder how long it will take before it's changed back again. The new routing will mean it will take two or three times longer to get by baht bus to WS from Jomtien, even if the drivers find shortcuts past TukCom to Pattaya Tai. Evil