MK Restaurant, Central Festival (updated March 20, 2016)

[captcraig2 120]

I thought the food sucked but the wife likes it.

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

An update to keep everyone abreast of some recent developments at MK.

The a la carte menu has been expanded for those who don't like the "Thai suki" hotpot-style meals. There are more roast duck and pork dishes, with several combos (duck and pork or several types of pork on the same platter). They all cost 305 baht, which is good value for money. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics as we had the hotpot the other day. I should have snapped a pic of the menu, but I was distracted. They say a watched pot never boils, so I was looking elsewhere.

Anyway, here's a couple of screen shots of part of the menu from the restaurant's Web site. Many more a la carte dishes are available, including noodles, soup, dim sum and vegetarian stuff.

Some pics I did take of the recent meal, as well as some earlier meals. We were both hungry and a lot of ingredients went into the pot besides the vegetable set. It was a meal of tit anic proportions.

...

The finished product:

It cost 700 baht for the two of us, including drinks. It's good value for money considering we ordered ten small trays of ingredients as well as the vegetable set. That's a lot of very healthy food for a small price.

MK is a great place to take a large group of people.

That time round I was helping the single mothers of Isaan, one meal at a time.

Evil

[Butch 3,456]

Always enjoy my meals there. Unfortunately I don't have such distractions to allow my food to go cold

 

Thanks for the pics Evil.

[atlas2 4,329]

Yes I udderly utterly enjoyed this review………..

 

MK is not for me however. I was in MK at the Harbor Mall in Lam Chabang today……….I can't fault it in any way, just not for me.

[jacko 8,825]

Yes I udderly utterly enjoyed this review………..

 

MK is not for me however. I was in MK at the Harbor Mall in Lam Chabang today……….I can't fault it in any way, just not for me.

I haven't used one for a while but that might be due to my aversion of doing our own cooking and the heat from all the paraphernalia involved.

I would go more often just for the duck and dimsum, but the missus doesn't eat duck.

[Nightrider 340]

I've never been a big fan of cooking food at the table but plenty of people enjoy doing this kind of stuff........!

[bigbadbaz 69]

 

Line dancing, not natural and not normal.

 

It's a bit like having sex with a goat, it happens but should not be done in public.

 

For the record, I have never line danced and never had sex with a goat

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

Time for an MK update. I eat there at least once a month because it's a favorite of a dining companion, but I haven't bothered to take pics or do any additional reviews because not much really changes at MK. The popular chain has hit on a sure-thing among Thai diners and it stays true to its long-standing formula with Thai hotpot cooking as its anchor. Some of the dishes on the a la carte menu may change at infrequent intervals, but MK remains pretty much the same year-in and year-out.

 

One thing that has always fascinated me since I was a child is the display of "plastic food" in the windows of Asian restaurants. Food dummies and models began about 100 years ago in Japan and were originally made of wax. In the early 1900s, workers from Japan's countryside began flocking to urban areas, many were illiterate and unfamiliar with city food. The fake food displays served the same purpose back then as they do with with foreign tourists today.

 

 

Whatever company is making the models for MK does a damn good job of it. You get a very clear idea of the types of ingredients you can order for the hotpot.

 

 

 

 

We stepped into MK at Central Festival around 5.45 pm and it was busy but not crowded.

 

 

The "base" for our hotpot was a plate of thinly-sliced pork.

 

 

 

My companion, who does all the ordering, also chose two of the "standard" sets of ingredients, featuring meat, seafood, vegetables, tofu and herbs.

 

 

 

 

She's also a big fan of enokitake, so we ordered a plate of the long, thin, crisp white mushrooms.

 

 

 

She also favors the salmon cakes shaped like fish.

 

 

A lot of assorted pics will follow, so I'll cut to the chase: the meal cost 1,200 baht and fed three people to the "I'm stuffed" point. That includes unlimited refills of Japanese-style iced tea. None of us had any alcohol or other beverages. Of course it's possible to eat cheaper by choosing other ingredients. You could have a very satisfying meal for three for 600 baht.

 

Once the soup stock was boiling, she began adding ingredients in an order I don't really understand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It doesn't take many minutes before the first bowls are ready to be eaten.

 

 

 

More ingredients are popped into the pot as the meal progresses. There's a range of tastes and textures which is very pleasing.

 

 

 

 

In all, Thai-style hotpot is a satisfying and healthy meal. You can find hotpot variations all over Pattaya, but a lot of the girls have a particular fondness for MK.

 

 

Evil