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Posts posted by Evil Penevil
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Chinese Shaxian Snacks is one of the better recent additions to the local food scene as Pattaya has always been weak on the Chinese side. I've eaten there a number of times since it opened in September, 2018, and it's time for an update. I have to emphasize something I wrote in the OP:
On 9/29/2018 at 5:03 AM, Evil Penevil said:Chinese Shaxian Snacks is clearly aimed at ethnic Chinese visitors to Pattaya. It offers a taste of China, not Chinatown. Farang looking for U.S.- or U.K.-style Chinese food will be sorely disappointed. There's no General Tso's Chicken or chow mein on the menu.
Several times at Shaxian, I've seen farang families walk in, sit down but not recognize any items on the menu. After some fruitless questions the staff didn't understand, these families got up and left in frustration. On a couple of occasions, the family father made stupid remarks that reflected his ignorance rather than any shortcoming with the restaurant. If Orange Chicken at Panda Express defines your taste in Chinese cuisine, you're better off skipping Chinese Shaxian Snacks. While its menu has expanded at bit since it opened 5 1/2 months ago, it is still concentrated on a few types of Chinese food, namely dumplings, noodles and soups. If your heart beats warmly for boiled or fried dumplings, beef brisket noodles, herbal soups and wonton or noodles in peanut sauce, then Shaxian is the place for you.
I also want to correct an error in the OP. Shaxian does have air conditioning, but it wasn't working the first night I was there. It's been fine on every subsequent visit.
The big attraction for me is that the jiaozi are made fresh daily in the traditional fashion.
The fact that she sat in the dining area filling the jiaozi gives Shaxian a very authentic Chinese feel. It's a bit rough at the edges and about as far way as you can get from elegant dining, but the food is excellent.
And this is how those dumplings will end up: either steamed , boiled in broth-
or fried-
Most of the staff at Shaxian know I can use the nimble tongs, but a new waiter brought me the order above with a fork and side dish of ketchup ()!!! The fork was replaced with chopsticks and I used the dark vinegar instead of ketchup ().
One of my favorite dishes is the noodles in peanut sauce and topped with scallion and pickled cabbage.
You have to mix it thoroughly.
I have a fair amount of take away from Shaxian, but they tend to skimp on the sauce to avoid messiness. Dumplings do best for takeaway.
Bottom line: I eat at Chinese Shaxian Snacks two or three times a week. I can definitely recommend it, but only if you are familiar with and enjoy traditional Chinese snacks.
Evil
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3 hours ago, capdagde said:
Sometimes it's nice to just be walking by a place and make an impulse buy....... there seem to be so many new eateries!!!
Looking forward to sampling!
Thanks again Evil.
One reason I took a chance on the Chill Inn was the number of customers in the small cafe. It was more than half full at 11.00 a.m.
Evil
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Yesterday I had breakfast at the Chill Inn on Soi Buakhao. It's across the street from Jolly's and next door to the former premises of the Great American Sandwich Co. that are currently under conversion to a coyote bar.
It wasn't a calculated move on my part. I was walking past about 11.00 a.m., felt hungry and saw a sign for a 89-baht breakfast special. I gave it a try. The breakfast consisted of two fried eggs, back bacon, a U.K.-style sausage, fried potatoes, toast, jam and coffee or tea. It was neither an American nor a British breakfast, but had elements of both.
It was good for the price. The eggs were fresh and the bacon and the potatoes fried with onions- they weren't hash browns- were tasty. I don't like that sort of sausage so i didn't eat it. The bread was too lightly toasted for me, but that's down to personal preference.
I'm well aware you can get three times the amount of food (and probably five times the calories) with the Retox baht-buster breakfast for 99 baht, but the Chill Inn's special was enough for me. I don't eat big fried breakfasts anymore.
It also a pleasant place to sit; open-front, but the fans keep it cool.
I didn't like that they allow smoking- and one customer was even puffing on a pipe- but the fans kept the fumes away.
Bottom line: I doubt I'll have much occasion to eat breakfast again at the Chill Inn, but I was happy with my breakfast there.
Evil
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This may not be new, but Jolly's no longer seems to offer a Sunday carvery buffet. The restaurant and the Piss Stop Bar have had a checkered past due the major, major legal problems of the husband-and-wife owners. It doesn't get more serious than being sentenced to death. The food had gotten atrocious in the wake of all the hassles and the restaurant was closed for months. Apparently it's being operated by the family of the wife and old staff. The menu and specials haven't changed, but the carvery is gone. I just hope the food has gotten better, but I'm not brave enough to try it again.
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The 100-baht Sunday chicken dinner at the Marquee Bar on Soi Buakhao has declined a bit in quality compared with past meals, but I still rank it as good, just not as good as it once was. Here's what I had Sunday at about 2.00 p.m.
The chicken breast fillet was tender and moist with a natural chicken taste but no seasoning. The skin showed no sign of browning or crispness-
so i'm guessing it had been poached in water rather than oven-cooked or pan-fried. The roast potatoes were good, but I only got three small pieces. The Yorkshire was a touch too heavy and eggy for my taste, but not bad.
The vegetables hadn't had the flavor boiled out of them and I appreciated the sliver of sweet corn. The gravy was generic. The meal was pretty bland but nevertheless tasted good, especially considering the price. You can't expect a sensational Sunday dinner for 100 baht. However, if it slips even further, then it will belong in the mediocre category and that would be a shame.
By way of comparison, this is the Sunday dinner I got at Marquee a few months ago:
There had been more effort to season the chicken in the past.
The Marquee Bar is a pleasant enough place for a meal, so I hope its Sunday special doesn't lose more ground.
To make things clear: there are numerous restaurants in Pattaya that have bigger and better Sunday roast dinners, but the Marquee is up near the top when it comes to value for money. I also like the relatively small portion. It's enough for me and I don't overeat.
I'm not much impressed by the beef and pork dinners at the Marquee. I'd rather spend a bit more and get more elsewhere. But for chicken, the Marquee has offered a decent meal for 100 baht. It also has a 100-baht special on fish and chips on Fridays.
Has anyone tried it?
Evil
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I don't write often about fast-food chain restaurants in Pattaya, mostly because I don't eat in them except on very rare occasions. On an impulse, I tried Texas Chicken at Central Marina. I was pleasantly surprised; the chicken I got was better than I had expected and it qualified as good.
Texas Chicken is the name Church's Chicken operates under outside North America. It's the fourth largest U.S. fried chicken chain in both number of outlets and revenue, but I can't recall ever having tried it in the U.S. as it doesn't have stores in the eastern states.
I ordered the three-piece combination for take-away. It cost 159 baht and came with a small order of French fries. one biscuit and a "bottomless" cup of soft drink. I also got some mashed potatoes with gravy for 15 baht. I drank my ice tea in the restaurant; I didn't want to lug it to my hotel.
Here's what I got in my take-away box:
The three pieces of chicken were all white meat, not thighs and legs. They had been battered and deep-fried properly, crisp on the outside, the meat juicy and full of real chicken flavor. It was far superior to greasy KFC chicken with its soggy batter and tasteless meat.
The sides were less impressive. The French fries were industrial-style and the mashed potatoes had started out as flakes from a package. The biscuit had been topped with a honey-like sweetener and had a strange texture. It wasn't bad, but reminded me more of a dough-nut hole than a traditional biscuit.
Bottom line: I don't often get a hankering for U.S.-style fried chicken, but the next time I do, I wouldn't hesitate to make a return visit to Texas Chicken. The restaurant has plenty of special offers. In that sense, it lives up to its U.S. reputation as the "poor man's KFC."
Evil
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Big Kahuna is an American restaurant on Thappraya Road in Jomtien, about 100 meters north of the intersection with Thepprasit Road. The name, decor and some of the dishes on the menu are Hawaii-inspired, but Big Kahuna mostly offers U.S.-style finger food like burgers, sandwiches and pizza. It also serves U.S.-style breakfasts, with pancakes a notable item. It occupies the former premises of the defunct Pastrami on Rye and the menu at Big Kahuna reminds of PoR's.
There's a big kahuna painting on one wall, but the interior isn't dripping with kitschy tiki symbols.
In fact. the main dining area is pretty much free of them. It's a relaxing atmosphere in which to have a meal.
In the Hawaiian language, "kahuna" can refer to a traditional priest, sorcerer or healer, but also to an "expert" of any sort. The term "big kahuna" was applied to Hawaii's top surfer and was made popular by a character with that name (played by Cliff Robertson) in the 1959 movie Gidget with Sandra Dee in the title roll. Today it points to the leading expert or most influential person in any field. I made me think about who might be Pattaya's "big kahuna."
The other day I had the Small Pancake Special at 98 baht. It featured a single buttermilk pancake with syrup and butter; an in-house-made sausage patty; fried or scrambled egg; and your choice or coffee, tea or orange or pineapple juice. Considering the pancake was one of the best I'd had in Pattaya, it was certainly value for money at the price.
The pancake was light and fluffy, exactly how a North American pancake should be. The egg was fired nicely and the sausage patty was OK, if a bit bland. It was pancake and not real maple syrup, but you can't expect too much for 98 baht.
It wasn't a healthy breakfast unless you're running a marathon directly after, but it sure tasted good. I wouldn't eat it every day or even every month due to the jolt the syrup gives your blood sugar levels and I just can't have pancakes without some sort of syrup.
It was a fair-sized glass of pineapple juice, not the thimble full you get in some restaurants.
Big Kahuna has some of the best American food in Pattaya, but it's a bit of a trek to go all the way to Jomtien for a burger or sandwich. Fortunately they have delivery as well for 50 baht extra. I ordered the Cuban sandwich for lunch yesterday. It was a bit of a hassle as I've moved out of my condo and am living temporarily in a hotel. First the girl taking orders thought I had said, "Reuben sandwich," instead of "Cuban sandwich," but I caught that due to the disparity in price she named for the order. It also took some time to make clear my new address. I had anticipated that might happen. so I gave her the phone number to the hotel so she could call and get the directions in Thai.
Forty-five minutes later my order arrived, which was fairly quick given the distance involved. Big Kahuna didn't use a moto driver for delivery, but the same pretty young waitress who'd served me my pancake breakfast the day before brought me the sandwich. It consisted of ham, pulled pork. Swiss cheese and slices of dill pickle between the halves of a baguette that had been spread with butter and mustard, then toasted in a sandwich press. It came with a choice of one side dish and a soft drink and I had picked coleslaw and Coke Zero. It cost 285 baht plus 50 baht for delivery.
Some foods don't photograph attractively and a Cuban sandwich is one of them. I did indeed taste better than it looked and nevertheless was a fair approximation of the Cuban sandwiches you get in Florida or a big city like New York.
Cuban sandwiches should be made with Cuban bread, the recipe for which includes lard as a shortening. This helps give the final loaf an exceptionally crisp crust and and airy. light interior compared to its French and Italian counterparts. In NYC, I lived close to one of the best Cuban bakeries in the city, so getting Cuban sandwiches with the authentic bread wasn't a problem. It would almost be an impossibility to find Cuban bread in Thailand and the Big Kahuna's substitution of a French baguette is the only option short of baking Cuban bread itself.
In the pic above, I've opened the sandwich and included the coleslaw, Coke and slice of dill pickle that came with the order. Both the ham and pulled pork held a high standard. You can't make a good cuban sandwich from a sow's ear. I would have liked more mustard on the bread, but that's just personal preference. on the sandwich overall. The coleslaw was very good, with freshly grated cabbage and carrots. It wasn't swimming in dressing and celery seeds had been added for flavor.
Bottom line; I won't hesitate to return to Big Kahuna to satisfy my infrequent longing for certain types of U.S. food, but I'm more likely to use the delivery option.
The restaurant has numerous specials on food and drink.
I'll post some menu pages from Big Kahuna's Facebook page as well. Writing this review has made me think about a Reuben for lunch!
Evil
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Sukiya at Central Marina is the Pattaya branch of Japan's largest gyūdon (beef bowl) restaurant chain with 2,390 units in Japan and multiple branches abroad.
Gyūdon consists of thin slices of beef and onions simmered in sauce of dashi, soy sauce and mirin and served on a bowl of rice. It's a popular fast-food dish in Japan, although it's not considered part of classical Japanese cuisine.
I recently had the gyūdon with leeks and a softly poached egg for 109 baht.
It was very good and filling enough to serve as a lunch. In addition to beef bowls, Sukiya also offers fried chicken and pork bowls as well as various noodle dishes, combinations and sides. I also tried the fried chicken bowl set with four thick slices of salmon sashimi, miso soup and four minuscule sides (corn, mushrooms, potato salad and savory egg custard).
It cost 214 baht, with the sashimi pushing up the price. The same combination with eel rather than salmon cost 159 baht. The taste was good and everything was fresh. I particularly liked the Japanese-style fried chicken and savory custard.
The interior is clean, comfortable and air-conditioned.
The times I've been there, the other guests have been Japanese or Thais, mostly families with kids. Sukiya does a landslide business with its 10-baht soft ice cream cones.
Bottom line: In terms of taste and value for money, Sukiya beats the hell out of Western fast-food places in Pattaya. Portion size is fine for me, but those with bigger appetites would probably need to order several dishes. Sukiya's slogan is "Save time and money," and that's a pretty accurate description. For a quick fix of Japanese food at a cheap price, Sukiya fills the bill.
I'll include some photos of menu pages and specials to give a better idea of what's on offer.
Evil
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I hadn't eaten at Jameson's Irish Pub in years but tried it again the other night as I was staying in a hotel nearby.
It wasn't a convenient location for me, but the main reason I didn't go back often was the funereal interior. When I visit an Irish pub, I want to be reminded of leprechauns and the Blarney Stone, not haunted castles, banshees and the Cóiste Bodhar. Typical American tourist attitude, I know, but I don't like gloomy bars and restaurants.
The food as I remember it had been good, but friends said it had gone down in recent years. I did have a good meal there the other night. The interior, though, was as uninviting as I recalled, except it was as cavernous as before. Jameson's has been cut in half to make way for a yet-to-open pizza place.
I had the roast chicken dinner for 245 baht. On the plate I got half a chicken, roast and mashed potatoes, a boast of gravy and the usual medley of boiled veggies.
The chicken had been roasted properly and was moist. The potatoes were fine. The veggies were a bit soft for me, but that's a matter of individual preference. The gravy seemed to a generic out-of-a-package and overly salty, so I didn't bother with it. In all, it was good meal. Not outstanding, but good.
A bottle of water cost 30 baht, so the whole meal put me back 275 baht.
Bottom line: Jameson's location and gloomy interior are negatives, but based on my chicken dinner, the food wouldn't deter me from another visit if I felt like pub fare.
Here's the location for those unfamiliar with it.
If you're riding the Second Road baht bus, get off just before Soi 6, cross the street and take Soi 4 to Jameson's.
It has some decent prices on pints during its Happy Hours, but so do many other bars.
Evil
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From what I have read elsewhere, the former owner of the Robin's Nest has had problems hiring and retaining staff, cooks in particular. I recall the Chunky Monkey canceled its Christmas dinner plans because of difficulties with the staff. It's also up for sale.
Evil
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- Popular Post
Tigglebitties Tavern is an American restaurant that serves mainstream U.S. food; Tex-Mex and Mexican-inspired dishes; and Thai food. It's located on Soi 17 (aka Soi Regional Land) about five minutes' walk south of the intersection with 3rd Road and ten minutes' walk from Tukcom.
The great thing about Tigglebitties is that the owners and kitchen staff understand what American food is about and how it should taste. It's also one of the few restaurants in Pattaya to offer freshly baked U.S.-style biscuits, including biscuits and gravy. It also features in-house-made U.S. desserts like apple and pumpkin pies and carrot cake. Prices are quite reasonable for the quality of food and large portions.
It's an open-front bar and restaurant with a casual tavern atmosphere. Plenty of drinking as well as eating goes on there. The fans keep the interior reasonably cool. It can get noisy, though, as Soi Regional land is heavily trafficked. Tigglebitties is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Every day Tigglebitties has two specials, usually one main dish and one appetizer or snack. They are true specials; they often aren't on the regular menu. The other day I tried the fish taco:
In the U.S., these are called Baja fish tacos. Japanese commercial fishermen were frequent visitors to the coastal cities of Baja California in Mexico during the 1960s. A group of them once asked a taco stand operator to batter the fish tempura-style rather than grilling it. The new version of the fish taco became popular among local Mexicans and North American tourists, except they favored a crispier crust. A U.S. college student was so impressed with the Baja fish taco he opened a restaurant serving them in San Diego in 1983. He now operates a chain of 200 fish taco restaurants.
Here's what I got:
That's a lot of food on the plate for 160 baht!
Everything- the fish, veggies and tortillas- was fresh and tasted fine, although I could have done with less lettuce and more salsa. I had to use a knife and fork to eat the mound of green stuff, but a taco is a quintessential finger food.
The original Baja fish tacos were served in corn tortillas and topped with purple cabbage, salsa and Mexican crema (similar to crème fraiche), but since moving across the border to the U.S., fish tacos have taken on many variations.
Each of the fish fillets was good-sized and flaky with a crisp batter. I had no real complaint with the tacos, just some niggling about details. Were they the best fish tacos I ever had? No, but they were good and they aren't very common in Pattaya.
A breakfast sandwich with a Jimmy-Dean-style sausage patty, fried egg and cheese on a in-house-made biscuit is another classic American dish and well worth 150 baht.
It's the biscuit that makes the sandwich for me, but the sausage patty was also good.
I topped off the sandwich with a piece of in-house carrot cake. It was delicious. Neither the cream cheese frosting nor the cake were too sweet and the frosting had the proper tang. The crushed walnuts atop the frosting was a really good touch.
The Monday specials at Tigglebitties center on BBQ ribs and chicken:
It's a good way to satisfy a BBQ fix at a fair price. The pics Tigglebitties uses to illustrate its specials correspond closely to what you get on your plate.
Bottom line: Tigglebitties is one of the best options in Pattaya for American food- and that includes Tex-Mex and Mexico-inspired dishes. The main dishes and sides, such as coleslaw and potato salad, taste like they would back in the USA. The staff is friendly and speaks better English than is often the case in Pattaya restaurants. Prices are reasonable given the quality of the food and the size of the portions.
Evil
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16 hours ago, forcebwithu said:
@Evil Penevil, if this idea is something you'd like to pursue, I would be willing to set up the initial map and Google Sheet for you. I could then either grant you edit rights to the map and sheet under my Gmail account, or you could copy that map and sheet to your own Gmail account.
@forcebwithu I think it's a great idea! I'll be busy moving out of my condo the next few days, but I'll PM you as soon as I have some free time.
Evil
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Three strikes and the Chunky Monkey on Soi Buakhao is out for me, at least when it comes to eating a main meal there. Last night I had my third mediocre meal at CM and I'm being generous to call it mediocre.
I had the meatloaf, mashed potatoes with onion gravy and garden peas for 169 baht. This is the classic meatloaf meal and one I remember fondly from my childhood. My dad loved it hot with mashed potatoes and peas, or cold the next day in a sandwich, so my mom made it one night every week. It was also one of the very few school lunch dishes I liked as a child.
Meatloaf is popular in home and institutional settings because it is an easy recipe that is cheap and quick to make. If newlywed brides as well as the cooks in schools, prisons, mental hospitals, homeless shelters and on military bases and aboard ships can get it right, it's a shame the cook at Chunky Monkey can't.
It is indeed a large portion, but a heaping mound of mediocre food is not a positive thing in my book. It just means more of it will remain uneaten. However, I do appreciate that if someone on a tight budget cleaned that plate, they'd be getting around 1,500 calories, which is what an older person needs every day.
The meatloaf screamed "no seasoning!" at me. A mixture of ground beef and pork baked with egg and bread crumbs as a binder has very little taste on its own, but there are 1,000 ways to add flavor. Any kind of sauce ( Worcestershire, BBQ, chili, steak); bacon bits; garlic; any of a number of herbs and spices; ketchup; mustard; even salt and pepper would perk up the meatloaf. The cook at the Chunky Monkey skipped all of them. Bland, bland, bland. The ground meat itself must have had a high fat content, as it was greasy with an unpleasant mouth feel.
The frozen peas hadn't been boiled long enough and were quite hard. The gravy was very salty and also a bit greasy. The mashed potatoes were OK, but could have done with some sort of seasoning.
To lift the meatloaf from the depths of insipidity, I made liberal use of the well-stocked condiment basket on the table. That pushed the meatloaf into the somewhat palatable category. If it hadn't been for the condiment basket, I would have rated the meatloaf as poor.
North American meatloaf is almost always topped with a glaze. ranging from dollops of BBQ sauce out of a bottle or spaghetti or pizza sauce out of a can to complicated variations based on homemade tomato sauce. The Chunky Monkey's meatloaf had no glaze, so it was U.K. style. But if you read the meatloaf recipes from Gordon Ramsay or Jamie Oliver, you'll see they use a lot of seasoning and other ingredients to add flavor, which the CM's didn't have.
But theirs no doubt many Pattaya residents and visitors like the Chunky Monkey. I ate at about 8.00 p.m. and there were 25 diners in the enclosed section and another 15 or so outside. Just about all of them were eating, not just drinking.
I assuming that has to do with the prices and not the quality of the food. No doubt CM is a cheap way of filling your belly. There are numerous specials on top of the low everyday prices. Wow! But the prices of the Monkey Madness specials on chicken, fish & chips, sliced steak and pork chop debuted at 79 baht and are now 99 baht.
It seems to me that the food and service at the Chunky Monkey has gone down steadily since it opened. In the beginning, the food was good and the staff friendly. Not so last night. The server literally threw down the menu on my table without a word of greeting or a smile, then came back 30 seconds later and asked, "What you want?"
If that were to happen to me in a restaurant in North America or Europe, I would answer "Nothing" and walk out. However, in Pattaya I make allowances for language skills and work load. They were very busy last night at the CM. It's also possible several months of dealing with chea- I mean, price-conscious, budget-minded customers- has left the wait staff jaded. It does appear the service at CM is getting close to the infamous "service with a scowl" at the original cheap-Charlie bastion, the Sailor Restaurant.
Bottom line: I won't be back to the Chunky Monkey unless I have strong reason to believe the food has improved.
Evil
I'm including a few pics of the menu to give a better idea of what's on offer and how much it costs.
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Following on a tip in a post on another board, I checked out a new Vietnamese restaurant, Phở Mr. Nam (it's Nam who's the Mr.), last night for supper. It opened a few days ago on Thappraya Road and is attached to Mr. Mac's Hotel (see map below). I got there about 6.15 p.m. and initially was the only guest. During the 45 minutes I sat there, five other diners entered.
Phở Mr. Nam is currently in a soft-opening phase and will officially open in February. The one-page menu is limited to three types of Vietnamese soup, three sorts of Vietnamese rolls and beverages. According to the friendly waiter who greeted me and took my order, more dishes will be added in time. It will also function as a coffee shop called Saigon Cafe.
Since I've had beef pho dozens of times, I decided to try the crab noodle soup. It was actually crab cake noodle soup (bún riêu). The waiter explained that there was only a "little bit" crab in the crab cakes, but the soup had many other ingredients. According to the menu, it contained crab cakes, fried tofu, shrimp, pork ribs and pork sausage. It came with the customary plate of herbs and veggies and a small dish of super-hot chili paste.
It cost 85 baht and a bottle of water was 15 baht.
As you can see from the pic, my bowl of bún riêu didn't much resemble the one on the menu. The pic on the menu is what you would expect crab cake noodle soup to look like.
Bún riêu customarily contains tomatoes and mine had none, which may in part account for the lack of red color. However, the main reason is the lack of bún riêu seasoning or Vietnamese crab paste. The broth tasted good, but it was more a pork flavor than crab or seafood.
A generous helping of the herbs and bean sprouts and a squeeze of lime are crucial components in any Vietnamese soup.
There was the usual four-flavor condiment tray, except garlic gloves had been substituted for chili oil or powder.
As befits a new restaurant, everything was clean and shiny. It seats about 30 people in the enclosed air-conditioned section and another eight outdoors.
The main kitchen is in the back, but there's also a front area where the soups are ladled out.
The service is friendly and more than attentive. I saw a waiter wipe off the tops of soft drink cans before pouring the contents into the diners' glasses. Now that's elegance!
Bottom line: Phở Mr. Nam is cheap. cheerful, well-lit and clean. I'll definitely be back to try the beef pho and Vietnamese rolls, despite the bit of a miss with the crab noodle soup. Hopefully a few more dishes will be added once it officially opens.
It's located on Thappraya Road a few hundred meters south of the intersection with Third Road. If riding the baht bus from central Pattaya, press the buzzer as soon as you reach the Residence Garden Hotel. Here's a map for anyone not familiar with the area.
There's also a big street sign for Phở Mr. Nam.
Evil
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I'm a big fan of Taco Taco, but I haven't been back too many times since they moved to Soi 9 off Pattaya Klang, simply because the old location, a stall in the Soi Buakhao night market, was more convenient for me.No doubt, though, that the new enclosed, air-conditioned restaurant is a far more comfortable place to have a meal than a fold-up table in front of the old stall. The menu has expanded considerably, too.
I went back yesterday to try the Taco Tuesday special:
And a tempting pic from Taco Taco's Facebook page:
The following tacos cost 60 baht each all day Tuesday and you can mix and match as you please:
You can also choose hard-shell corn tortillas or soft wheat tortillas. I picked column B and had the conchinita pibil and chicken tinga in corn tortillas and the smoky beef on a wheat tortilla.
The order came with three in-house-made sauces: the iconic Mexican pico de gallo (aka salsa fresca or salsa mexicana); habanero chili hot sauce (fiery hot ) and pineapple salsa.
The pork, chicken and beef in the tacos had been slow-cooked with Mexican spices. The cook didn't skimp on the chili content and the chicken tinga and smoky beef had quite a kick without the hot sauce. The conchinita pibil was a bit milder with a sweet-sour flavor to the pork. It's based on a traditional pork dish from the Yucatán Peninsula and is a favorite of mine. I hope Taco Taco spins off conchinita pibil into a main dish and not just a taco filling.
The meal cost 180 baht for the three tortillas and 20 baht for a bottle of water.
Bottom line: Since Dave's Cantina closed, these are the best tacos in Pattaya. They aren't the biggest, but definitely the best tasting. Some other taco variations on offer on the regular menu.
Taco Taco also has weekly specials and this week it's three-bean chili con carne with rice and nachos:
Evil
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Il Peccatore ("The Sinner') is an Italian restaurant that's been open since mid-November on Soi Lengkee, about half way between Soi Buakhao and 3rd Road. I read that the owner named it Il Peccatore because Pattaya is a city of sinners.
It features indoor and outdoor dining areas, with the enclosed area strictly non-smoking. The indoor area had about 15 diners when I arrived and I didn't want to get intrusive with my camera, so I only took pictures of the bar area.
I had been meaning to try Il Peccatore for awhile, but never got around to it until last night. Il Peccatore posts its daily specials on its Facebook page and yesterday's special really caught my eye: paccheri cacio e pepe. Il Peccatore
Paccheri is large tubular pasta and cacio e pepe translates as "cheese and pepper." The cheese is pecorino romano, a very salty type made from sheep's milk. Cacio e pepe is one of the oldest dishes in Italian cuisine, dating back to shepherds in Roman times. It's a simple dish, consisting of only a few ingredients, namely cheese, pasta and pepper. Modern variations often add extra virgin olive oil to give the sauce a shine.
Since the 1950s, cacio e pepe has become a staple in Rome's restaurants and has more recently become popular outside Italy. In 2016, it was named by a New York City magazine as the year's "trendiest dish." I haven't seen it before on a menu in Pattaya, so I was eager to try it.
I wasn't disappointed. The sauce was excellent and coated the fresh pasta as it should.
I thought it could do with a bit more pepper and ground more on the pasta from the miniature pepper mill on the condiment tray. A basket of fresh bread preceded the pasta.
After the meal. the waitress offered me a complimentary glass of chilled limoncello as a digestif. Nice touch! I really like limoncello.
I was happy with the meal. The portion wasn't large, but the paccheri was very filling and adequate for me. Considering the meal was based on fresh pasta and pecorino romano and included bread and limoncello, I thought it was value for money at 270 baht. I know there are restaurants where you can get bigger plates of spaghetti for half the price, but a mound of dry pasta with canned sauce is a long way from paccheri cacio e pepe.
The service was fast and friendly. The waitress I had spoke good English, which isn't always the case in Pattaya restaurants. The owner (or perhaps manager) greeted me both on my way in and out. I didn't study the menu, but there seemed to be a wide range of Italian dishes, including pizza.
I noticed another diner had taken the other special, the grilled T-bone steak for 490 baht, and I almost regretted my decision to go with the pasta. The steak looked large and thick and the gentleman ate it with gusto. Il Peccatore's daily specials follow a pattern of fresh pasta dishes under 300 baht and a meat dish (beef, lamb, pork, duck) under 500 baht. The meat dishes aren't necessarily Italian, such as roast beef with roasted potatoes and T-bone steak. I'll include some photos of the daily special lists from Il Peccatore's FB page at the end of this post.
From what I overhead of the other guests' table conversation, almost all were Italian. That's a decent comment on the quality of the food.
Bottom line: I'll definitely go back for another taste of Italy and maybe the steak and roast lamb as well.
Evil
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1 hour ago, capdagde said:
I'm seeing lower down Neung's Pies Facebook page that her products are available at Tequila Sunrise (Jomtien) and McDoners (Soi LK).
I think I need to plan a solo Darkside MBT only-for-crusty-food takeaway shopping trip at the start of our holiday!
Someone I know personally wrote on another board that Nueng's Pies do indeed deliver and delivery is free on orders above 300 baht. He said Nueng responds quickly to messages via Facebook.
Evil
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says I. I just read the following on Facebook:
I'll try to find out if it's finito or he is just moving to a new location.
Evil
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16 hours ago, capdagde said:
Keep it up Uncle Evil! (Greetings from Flo)
and to Flo.
QuoteHUMMUS LABORATORY - that is our type of place, hummus with everything! Signage too discreet and resto sadly discrete from the passing footfall. The Special Bourekas sound nice and the grilled chicken will be good if spiced right. We'd better try it this year. Do those upstairs restaurants usually last?
Simon's has been going for awhile, but has changed locations a couple of times. He has a dedicated customer base and gets a lot of word-of-mouth recommendations among Israeli and other Middle Eastern visitors as some of his dishes aren't available elsewhere in Pattaya.
Evil
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It's a very long jump.
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23 hours ago, short said:
Where's Fonzi?
Maybe he's jumping the Shark?
Evil
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- Popular Post
I've finally gotten around to writing up a review of Simon's Hummus Laboratory on Soi Buakhao at the north side of Buakhao Night Market. It's on the upper level above the SCB branch and next to Amazon Coffee. Whether it's on the first or second floor depends on what country you come from. ? It's easy to miss Simon's because there is no eye-catching signage on the ground level. The yellow arrow marks the entrance to Simon's.Simon's is an Israeli and Middle Eastern restaurant. As the name indicates and the Web site proclaims, it is focused on "hummus, hummus and more hummus." In Israel and at Simon's, hummus has gone beyond an appetizer (meze) or accompaniment for drinks and become The Base for main courses.
The mainstay of the menu seems to be hummus platters in numerous variations accompanied by pita bread and small side dishes of cabbage, carrots and hot sauce. I like the classic hummus with falafel and have had it several times.
It costs 180 baht.
Hummus itself is boiled, mashed chickpeas, which can be bland. The addition of olive oil, herbs and spices give it a lot more flavor, as do the side dishes.
The portion is large enough for a light lunch or supper. But if you're looking for a more substantial meal, Simon's doesn't disappoint. The baked chicken with potatoes is very good at 220 baht.
There's plenty of chicken and potatoes in a well-seasoned sauce. It comes with the same side dishes as the hummus platter.
I don't usually post "after" pics, but one below shows how much I enjoyed my meal.
Another favorite of mine at Simon's is the shakshuka, a combination of poached eggs simmered with tomatoes, onions, garlic and spices. It costs 150 baht. There are many variations of shakshuka and at Simon's it comes with cheese melted on the eggs.
Food historians can't decide if it originated in Turkey, Morocco or Yemen, but it has been adopted as an Israeli staple, eaten for breakfast or dinner.
It's light and healthy, but filling. I much prefer it over Western fried breakfasts.
Simon's has many tasty and interesting dishes from Israel and other Middle Eastern countries. I'll post excerpts from the menu at the end of this review
The decor at Simon's is eclectic to say the least.
It's clean and well-lit. I can't remember anything about the background music, so it must have been unobtrusive.
The service staff and Simon himself are friendly. Each time I've eaten there, he's asked me how the food was.
Bottom line: The Israeli food at Simon's may be new to a lot of plain-vanilla farang, but don't hesitate to try it. Simon's is open every day from 10.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m.
Evil
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Chinese Shaxian Snacks on 2nd Road Near Soi 6 (updated Feb. 28, 2019)
in Restaurants and food
Posted
Shaxian is very close to Corner Bar, diagonally across the street.
When I took this pic of Shaxian,
I swiveled 90 degrees and snapped a photo of Corner Bar.
They are in a line of sight, maybe 100 meters distance.
Evil