Evil Penevil

The Hilton Resort Pattaya at Central Festival has a slew of options for the holidays. The Hilton has a 12-page brochure (!) with all the details, in case you want more information. Santa Penevil

And it's a big thanks we all owe you. You've spent many hours on the upgrade that you could have spent on things which would have been more profitable or enjoyable. So for all your efforts to keep Pattaya Talk alive and healthy, you are definitely on Santa's Nice List. Santa Penevil

Some decent offers at the Robin Hood Tavern at The Avenue on 2nd Road, although I haven't been too impressed by the food on a couple of past visits. They may, however, be a bit optimistic with their Scotch egg promotion. I wonder if they have been inspired by the story of Robert the Bruce and the spider? "If at first you don't succeed ..." Evil

And for those looking for a fine-dining experience: The prices are reasonable for a restaurant of Bruno's standard, considering pubs are charging around 1,000 baht for Christmas dinner. Another more expensive option, The Point at the Dusit Thani: Santa Penevil

Yes, I've had the buffet at Big Fish at Siam@Siam and won't be repeating, either, for the reason you gave. I'm not recommending all the restaurants in this thread, just listing options. Sunny's gave the following explanation on its FB page for "no turkey.:" It's a supply problem, but Sunny's is too negative about the frozen pre-cooked whole turkeys from Butterball. If they are defrosted and reheated properly, they are actually quite good. Pre-cooked whole turkeys shouldn't be confused with pre-cooked and sometimes sliced "turkey rolls," which are basically processed lunch meat. I'd be furious if were served slices of turkey roll as part of a Christmas dinner and that apparently happened in some Pattaya restaurants last year. And a few more suggestions: Steak & Co on Soi Lengkee. Potatoes roasted with goose fat are great! The always popular Nicky's on Soi Buakhao, with pics of the Christmas desserts: Santa Penevil

Sunny's is a popular family restaurant on the Darkside. Note that there's no turkey on the menu and the FB page confirms no turkey will be served. Also ... Santa Penevil

It's on Soi Regional Land, about 15 minutes' walk from Tukcom (or get a moto). If you go to Dave's FB page (https://www.facebook.com/DavesCantinaPattaya/), you'll see a map. I believe there's also a map in the thread on Dave's on this board. Evil

And if money isn't a concern, here's a suggestion for Christmas Eve and Day from Casa Pascal on 2nd Road near The Avenue: The buffet at the Mercure on Soi 15 is much cheaper, but I doubt it will be very Christmassy, more of an Xmas buffet. Santa Penevil

Work continues on what will be a food court in the back section of The Avenue. I took the pics below two nights ago; this morning the ventilation units were gone, presumably installed. A half-dozen pickup trucks with construction tools or supplies were parked outside and work was going on full blast inside. Last week it had looked like this: Evil

I had the breakfast burrito at Retrox Game On this morning and it was mediocre. With the 50% Eatigo discount at 7.30 a.m., it cost 88 baht, plus 40 baht for a bottle of water. The menu description of the breakfast burrito was a bit optimistic. The pork sausage was tasteless; the small strip of bacon had been fried brittle, not just crispy; there was maybe a tablespoon of scrambled eggs; no hash browns but two chunks of what might have been baked potato; and there might have been a speck of mozzarella, not more. Except for the saltiness of the bacon, there was no taste at all. I had asked the waitress to hold the baked beans, but in afterthought, that was probably a mistake. The beans would have added some desperately needed flavor. I'm glad the sausage had been cut into chunks rather than diced, as that made it easier to avoid eating. Without flavor, sausage is just meaningless calories. And if Retox is not going to use proper hash browns, the potato should have been diced and fried with onions or sweet peppers for flavor. More scrambled eggs and less potato would have been a good thing. The tortilla was tough, a sign that it had been overcooked, maybe even reheated in a microwave. It would have been improved by Mexican or Tex Mex seasoning. Cheese would have helped, too, but not mozzarella. It would be unrealistic to expect r Monterey or pepper jack cheese in Pattaya, but Swiss, Emmenthal or even cheddar would be better than mozzarella. Bottom line: Unless Retox Game On changes the recipe for its breakfast burrito, I won't be ordering it again. There's no way much a bizarre combination of ingredients can taste good together. Evil

Still more options for Christmas dinner: Chik n Coop is a value-for-money (500 baht) , all-you-can-eat option for anyone interested in a U.S.-style Christmas dinner. Santa Penevil

Don't forget Dave's Cantina, owned and run by BM beer belly. It's the best option in Pattaya for a full Mexican meal. The menu at Dave's is much more extensive than at Taco Taco. In central Pattaya, Taco Taco is a great option for Mexico-inspired food in or on a tortilla. However, Dave's is better if you're looking to have more than tacos, burritos, quesadillas, etc. Evil Sent from my Sunny2 Plus using Tapatalk

Yes, Taco Taco has gotten overwhelmingly positive reviews, even from guys who seldom have good things to say about any restaurant. Evil Sent from my Sunny2 Plus using Tapatalk

Good news for fans of tacos, burritos, quesadillas and other Mexico-inspired food! Taco Taco Tex-Mex has opened a new restaurant on Soi 9 off Pattaya Klang, not far from its former stall in the Buakhao Night Market on Soi Buakhao. 9 The menu has expanded considerably since the food-stall days. Prices have also risen, but that's understandable considering it's now an air-conditioned, enclosed sit-down eatery with about 20 seats. The young woman who owns Taco Taco is throughly familiar with Mexican and Tex-Mex cooking. Remember, they aren't the same thing. Tacos, the restaurant's menu mainstay, are basically street food in Mexico and her tacos are closer to the Mexican original in flavor and form than the U.S. fast-food taco. The pork and beef in her menu offerings are slow-cooked. In all the dishes I've tried. she's captured the big, bright flavors of Mexican and Tex Mex in the right proportions. The other night I tried the shrimp ceviche tostados at 260 baht. Small bowls of pineapple salsa and home-made hot sauce ( fiery hot!!!) accompanied the tostadas. Pieces of raw shrimp had been marinated in lime juice, mixed with pico de gallo (diced tomato, onion and chilies with cilantro) and placed on three toasted corn tortillas. Excellent! There was nothing Taco Bell-ish about those tostadas or the sauces. The pineapple salsa gave a sweet hint and a few drops of the hot sauce (enough for me!) added heat. The interior of Taco Taco is clean, functional and well-lit. As well as its food items, Taco Taco also offers hand-shaken margaritas (120 baht), beer and other beverages. I've tried the margarita and it's both delicious and strong. It was reassuring the walls weren't covered with sombreros, Mexican blankets, pinatas, burros or guitars. Instead of Frito-Bandito-style symbols, Taco Taco uses painted skulls as a table decoration as well as on its logo and exterior neon sign. Skulls have been a common motif in Mexican art since Aztec times. This has to be the most original restaurant bin I've seen in Thailand. As a nod to Tex side of its food, Taco Taco has begun with Taco Tuesdays, a U.S. innovation since the 1950s. It began as a promotion on a weekday that was slow for a Mexico-inspired restaurant in Texas. and now encompasses many restaurants across the U.S. that sell tacos. According to the owner, Taco Tuesdays have already become popular and Tuesday is the busiest day of the week for her. It gives customers the chance to sample a variety of tacos at a discounted price. The above graphic and the first pic in this post come from Taco Taco's Facebook page. You can see more photos of Taco Taco's food on its FB page. Taco Taco's hours of operation are; Monday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Tuesday- Saturday, 12 noon to 10 p.m.; closed Sunday. Below is a map that pinpoints its location for anyone not familiar with the area. Bottom line: Taco Taco is a great option for anyone who enjoys Mexico-inspired street food served on or in a tortilla. I'll be reporting again from Taco Tuesday. Evil

I went to Steak 9 Rai on Third Road last night at about 9.30 p.m. to have a steak. Unfortunately, the beef steak for 139 baht and the T-bone steak (300 g) for 229 baht were both finished. Considering the restaurant is open between 4 p.m. and 1.00 a.m., it seemed a bit early to run out of beef, but maybe they were busy earlier in the evening. There were six other diners when I arrived. Anyway, the waitress recommended I take the chicken steak for 85 baht. I wasn't thrilled but I went ahead with the chicken. This is what I got: a good-sized piece of chicken breast fillet; a handful of industrial crinkle-cut fries; a mound of salad, mostly lettuce; and a tiny bowl of stone-cold generic gravy from a packet. The fries were hard, dry and room temperature. They had obviously been sitting for awhile. The gravy was straight from the refrigerator. The salad was fresh, but had been covered with bottled Thousand Island dressing, much I dislike. The chicken was tender, but overcooked and totally lacked any sort of seasoning. even salt or pepper. The liquid on the plate in the photo below is from the Maggi sauce bottle in the condiment basket. I had doused the fillet to give it some taste. A bland grilled chicken fillet is good as a low-calorie source of lean protein, but not much of an eating experience. I finished the fillet and left the fries and most of the salad. The worst part of the meal was crossing Third Road. Even at that hour it was busy and I had to wait a long time for a break in the traffic both coming and going to Steak 9 Rai. Crossing Second Road is bad enough, but Third Road is a nightmare due to cars, motorcycles, trucks and buses zooming along at a higher rate of speed. Bottom line: Steak 9 Rai is regarded fondly by resident ex-pats for its inexpensive but good quality beef. I've also had good pork chops and fish fillets there and have written positive reviews of them. That said, last night's chicken steak was a disappointment. Once I summon sufficient courage to attempt to cross Third Road again, I will go back to Steak 9 Rai for the beef. But it's a bit of a Catch-22 situation for me. The best chance of getting a steak is between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., but that's also when Third Road is busiest. Evil Trivia: In one of those unintentionally humorous transcription errors, Steak 9 Rai has become Steak 9 Rat in the blurb for free WiFi on the cover of the menu. And in case anyone is unfamiliar with the location, here's a map:

Before I continue with the reviews, here's a note of explanation on the set-up at Terminal21. It has six levels, five named after cities (Paris, London, Tokyo, San Francisco and Hollywood) and one named Italy. All but Hollywood (the cinema level) have food or beverage outlets. The Pier21 Food Court and many restaurants are concentrated on the 3rd Floor San Franciso level. There is also a "food hall" on the M(ezzanie) London level, which includes the 24-hour Foodland supermarket. It's ironic, but I don't think you'll find fish and chips on the menu of any outlet on the London level, except maybe Foodland's Took Lae Dee. I wonder if Hawker Chan will succeed in attracting more customers than it did on Beach Road? The Hawker Chan branch at Terminal21 is said to be very popular, even crowded at times. More reminders of London: The restaurants aren't always tied to the level's national cuisine, but are spread hodge-podge throughout Terminal21. The girl below asked me to take her photo and therein lies the start of a story, but not one for a food thread on this level. This is Pattaya and anything can happen any time, anywhere. I do think, though, that a lot of women in Pattaya are burdened with excess baggage. The reviews and comments will continue. Evil

Love it or hate it, Terminal21 has bolstered the Pattaya food scene with new dining options, some which didn't exist before or had been difficult to find. The brand-spanking new mall boasts an impressive 95 food and beverage outlets spread across five of its six levels. About two-thirds of them offer Asian food (Thai, Chinese, Japanese and Korean), while one-third are farang-oriented. Nearly all the food outlets, Western and Asian, are branches of international chains. However, the farang places are mostly fast food, pizza, coffee or dessert outlets, with only a handful of full-menu Western restaurants. Terminal21 also has a food court on the San Francisco level. It's truly Asian, with displays of plastic food. I haven't tried the food court yet because other food outlets tempted me more. I was happy to see Marugame Seimen Udon & Tempura had a branch in Terminal21. It's a big Japanese chain with 1,100 branches worldwide. I had a big bowl the niku udon pork for 139 baht, which included three fried gyoza as a special offer. I also took a piece of prawn tempura and a tempura corn fritter, 39 baht each. The entire meal, with a bottle of water, cost 236 baht. The udon soup was tasty and filling, with a lot of pork. I'll definitely be back to try more of Marugame Seimen's menu. I have also eaten at Jiao Zi Guan, a 20-seat restaurant centered on Chinese-style dumplings. The name Jiao Zi Guan means "dumpling place" in Chinese. Jiaozi have long been a personal favorite of mine, but they have been difficult to find in Pattaya other than frozen. There's no lack of gyoza, the Japanese equivalent, but they are not the same thing. I had the Shanghai beef noodle soup for 89 baht and ... pork and leek dumplings for 109 baht. The meal, with a bottle of water, cost 218 baht. The beef noodles had a real Chinese taste, which is a rarity in Pattaya. Most of what is called Chinese food on menus is actually Thai-style Chinese. That's not a bad thing and I eat a lot of it, but there are differences in flavor compared to traditional Chinese cuisine. The dumplings were freshly steamed and had the proper taste and texture, again hard to find in Pattaya. Jiao Zi Guan also offers xiaolongbao, another specialty from the Shanghai region. They are small, pinched buns that have been filled with meat aspic that melts into soup during the steaming process. That will be my next meal at Jiao Zi Guan. On my third outing to Terminal21 I tried the pig's trotter noodles (99 baht) at Hong Kong Noodle, which has a number of noodle dishes and dim sum on its menu. I also had a Golden Bun (45 baht), which I hadn't eaten in 20 years. The noodles had a generous amount of braised meat with vegetables in a great broth. I had a glass of roselle drink for 19 baht. The Golden Bun was filled with a rich and thick duck-egg custard, but was too sweet for my taste. The restaurant is well-lit and decorated in bright colors, especially red which symbolizes good fortune, success and happiness in Chinese culture. I'm impressed so far by the meals I've had at Terminal21 and will be back again and again to try more. Whether you want a hamburger, pizza, a cup of coffee or Tai, Chinese and Japanese specialties, you'll find what you want on one of the floors at Terminal21. Durian pizza, anyone? Now that's what I call fusion! And there are also reminders of how you might end up if you indulge too heavily in culinary delights, particularly the sweet stuff that abounds at Terminal21. And this is what happens when you try to take photos while a lot of people are in motion. Still more food reviews and comments to come. I have barely scratched the surface of dining at Terminal21. Evil

I haven't had much luck at the Chunky Monkey. I tried the 99-baht daily special yesterday- chicken rissoles with onion gravy and mashed potatoes- and it was as bland as, well, unseasoned chicken.   The only flavor came from the thick, glutenous package gravy to which a few bits of onion had been added. The chicken patty itself was totally lacking in any sort of seasoning and consequently, no taste either. On the plus side, the mash was good and the patty had been cooked properly. It wasn't dry inside, but it had an extremely smooth texture, though, which gave it a weird mouth feel. The rissoles would have been much helped by the addition of diced onion, garlic, carrot, green pepper, whatever, but most of all it needed herbs or spices. There are dozens of variations to Australian-style rissoles. There's no one right recipe, but there is a wrong way. I scraped off the icky gravy and gave the rissoles a few splashes of HP Sauce from the condiment basket. That improved them, but it didn't make them good. Bottom line: The Chunky Monkey now has two strikes against it in my book. In the near future, I'll try either the Sunday roast or the meatloaf dinner. A third strike will put it out for me as a dining option for quite awhile. That's unfortunate, as it has a convenient location and an enclosed air-conditioned dining area. It's well-lit, clean and spacious, with the background music played at a blessedly low volume and friendly service. Not many budget restaurants in Pattaya tick all those boxes. The prices for bottled beer are very low (55 baht for Leo and Chang, 65 baht for SML) and big bottles cost 79 baht. Perhaps that will be enough to attract customers who aren't concerned about bland food. However, the cocktail van across the street could give it a run for the money.

I'm almost blushing! Your kind words are much appreciated. It's reactions like yours and Yujin's that make it worthwhile to continue with food reviews. Thanks again! Evil

for the kind words! They are always appreciated. Evil

Christmas is coming and the girls aren't getting fat. Please try to give them an extra 100 baht. If you haven't 100 baht, 50 will do. If you haven't got 50, tough luck you! It's about six weeks until Christmas and already the adverts for Christmas dinner are starting to appear. Some early ones: The advert above right is for the Sportsman Pub & Restaurant. The Hard Rock has two options: Santa Penevil 

The Chunky Monkey has raised the price of its Monkey Madness specials to 89 baht from 79 baht. It has also added inexpensive Sunday dinners (chicken, pork and beef): I have a feeling the pics that accompany the menu listing for the Sunday dinners are a bit optimistic. Otherwise, the prices of main menu items seem unchanged. Evil

I wish I could have included the Chunky Monkey's 99-baht spaghetti bolognese special of the day in the "Under 300 Baht ... And Good!" thread, but it just didn't make the grade. What I got was tasteless sauteed ground beef dumped on top of a plate of spaghetti. There was no real sauce and no seasoning at all, Italian or otherwise. Some pieces of onion and garlic and maybe a spoonful of tomato puree had been added to the beef, but in such a small quantity and cooked for such a short time they didn't add any flavor. The watery liquid wasn't a sauce. Even the little dish of grated Parmesan cheese from a package was flavorless. If there were an Olympics of Blandness for restaurant food, this would be a gold medal winner. But as standard restaurant fare, it ranks no higher than mediocre. For 99 baht, I'm not expecting the best spaghetti in town, but it should at least have a proper sauce with an Italian flavor. The Chunky Monkey (on Soi Buakhao across from Tree Town) ... has been open about three weeks and has already established itself as one of the more popular eateries in the area. I certainly wish it well, but I hope the spaghetti bolognese will improve. I've only eaten there twice and so far the Chunky Monkey is batting 50-50 with me: one good meal, one mediocre. You can read about the good meal here (post #259). Bottom line: The mediocre spaghetti special won't deter me from returning to the Chunky Monkey. Evil

So's is closed for a "major renovation," according to a sign on the front metal shutter. Evil