Fraser's on Thrappraya Rd in Jomtien

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

 

Fraser's is a popular sports bar and restaurant in the Chateau Dale Complex (above the News Cafe) on Thrappraya Road in Jomtien.

 

 

When I lived in Jomtien a few years ago, I ate at Fraser's on several occasions and always found it offered good if unexciting pub-style food. It was always a nice place just to have a drink or watch sports in a non-girlie environment.

 

 

 

 

I went back last week a couple of times to try two dishes: Beef Wellington (325 baht):

 

 

 

and the Friday Wagyu Rib Eye Special at 350 baht:

 

 

 

Since on both occasions I was there between 4 pm and 7 pm, I had the Happy Hour pint of Tiger at 95 baht.

 

I'll start with the good news. The Friday wagyu rib eye was very tender but somewhat light on beef flavor. It came with a choice of potatoes and a salad or vegetables. I took salad and boiled potatoes, One of my dining companions had it with veggies and mash ...

 

 

The other had veggies and the thick-cut chips, what would be called steak fries or maybe potato wedges in the U.S.

 

 

It wasn't a giant steak, but I'm guessing it was 8 ounces (225 grams).

 

 

We all ordered our steaks medium rare and that's how they were cooked:

 

 

 

 

I wasn't bothered about sauce or gravy, but the ladies took what I think was supposed to be Bearnaise sauce. It had a very mild flavor, but they were happy to put it on their vegetables. The vegetables must have been cooked al detente and retained some taste; otherwise, my main companion wouldn't have eaten them.

 

 

My salad was fine, a mixture of coleslaw and lettuce that worked well:

 

 

The ladies split a formidable piece of chocolate cake (95 baht) between them for dessert:

 

 

 

I'm getting worried about my Internet connection, so I'll finish my review in a second post.

 

Evil

Edited April 5, 2016 by Evil Penevil

[atlas2 4,329]

I went there for the first time on Saturday with my son who's over.....

 

He enjoyed flicking through the sports channels on our table and his Lancashire Hot-pot.......I had a burger..... which I rarely do. They fill you up but i rarely relish them.

 

We left before the famous Saturday free drink at 4.27.

 

I'll go again with mates...not girls........but for the sport not the food.

 

For me, for falang food it's Maggs round the corner in Teprasit ...... particularly their pork belly special.....The pork-belly is slow cooked then rendered and stored under weight in the fridge........Compressing the crackling and pushing the juices through into the meat.....Before serving the crackling goes under the grill to crisp it to crunchy perfection.....

 

Also their lamb shanks or roasts are very, very hard to beat.

 

My mate of 53 years who was over, came with me to Maggs on his last night here. Ever the epicurean, his face when he tasted the pork belly was pure bliss. He did that thing with the thumb touching the ring finger where you almost kiss them and then rolled his eyes to heaven.....Collected himself and uttered the ultimate commendation of.."Good shout atlas" And you can't say better than that! ......Well he can't.

Edited April 5, 2016 by atlas2

[nkped 1,208]

I agree with the assessment on Fraser's. Nothing wrong with the food but not a great attraction either. As to the burgers, they don't compare to Punch 'n Judy or Brooklyn Diner. As to the furnishings, they need to raise the bar stools or lower the bar and I'm fairly good size.

 

I had had no awareness of a farang eating establishment at Maggs apparent location despite many trips up and down Thepprasit. I'll have to give it a try. It probably won't be for the pork belly special, which, to be diplomatic, probably points out some of the differences in American and UK tastes.

[Lucky 47]

I live near Frasers and go there once a month or so. I agree that the Friday steak special is a good deal and that's probably my favorite thing to eat from there although everything that I have ordered from them has been good. Service is usually quite good, my only complaint is that they only have four or five booths and most evenings they are full and you have to sit outside or at one of the large tables inside that aren't very private or comfortable. I think that I would go there a lot more if they had regular tables like most restaurants.

[atlas2 4,329]

I had had no awareness of a farang eating establishment at Maggs apparent location despite many trips up and down Thepprasit. I'll have to give it a try. It probably won't be for the pork belly special, which, to be diplomatic, probably points out some of the differences in American and UK tastes.

 

I'm not sure where pork-belly originates.......I'd never had it before, or my mate. It was my son who lives in Australia now that first suggested trying the dish.

 

If you like succulent pork.....and crisp crackling its worth a try.

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

To recap: we were all satisfied with our Friday special wagyu steaks. I doubt the steaks had a marbling score above 1 or 2, but they were nevertheless tender compared with much of the beef that masquerades as steak in Pattaya. Australian wagyu with a marbling score of 4 to 5 corresponds to USDA Prime (the highest U.S. grade), so the steak at Fraser's was roughly equivalent to USDA Choice, which can still be quite tender. 350 baht is a good price in Pattaya for meat of that quality.

 

Service is usually quite good, my only complaint is that they only have four or five booths and most evenings they are full and you have to sit outside or at one of the large tables inside that aren't very private or comfortable. I think that I would go there a lot more if they had regular tables like most restaurants.

 

I agree, the service is fine and food comes quickly even when Fraser's is busy. I also agree about the seating; in the main bar area, it's very uncomfortable except in the booths. However, Fraser's also has another dining area in a separate "family room," but I'm not sure how often it's brought into play.

 

One cool thing about the booths is that they all have individual wall-mounted TV screens.

 

 

Unfortunately, I don't have anything positive to say about the Beef Wellington I had recently at Fraser's. I had ordered it with considerable trepidation because I doubted it would be possible to offer an adequate Beef Wellington at 325 baht. It's a finicky and time-consuming dish to prepare and it's ingredients aren't cheap. My fears proved well-founded.

 

 

On first glance, it didn't look bad. But when I examined it a bit closer and above all, tasted it, I found a lot that was wrong. Basically, it was inedible.

 

 

 

 

Beef wellington is beef tenderloin that is covered with duxelles, a paste made from mushrooms and herbs and sometimes foie gras, then wrapped in pastry, usually puff pastry, and baked. Many variations exist and the seared tenderloin is often brushed with Dijon or English mustard for extra flavor. In modern recipes, the coated tenderloin is often wrapped in slices of prosciutto ham rather than foie gras.

 

This is what Beef Wellington is supposed to look like:

 

 

Fraser's Beef Wellington had been coated with English mustard and liver pate, which gave it a horrible bitter taste. Chunks of mushroom had been pressed into the pastry.

 

 

 

 

The outer layer of the pastry had been browned, but the other layers were raw.

 

 

 

 

In and of itself, the rather small pieces of tenderloin weren't bad once I scraped off the abominable coating. I'd asked for medium-rare and it came medium, but that was the very least of the problems. I pushed the food around on the plate so I could take the pics, but I didn't eat more than a mouthful and came close to spitting it out. The salad that came with the Beef Wellington was good (the same as with the wagyu steak) and I ate all of it. The mashed potatoes were watery and the only flavor came from a liberal dose of butter.

 

Since I had plenty of room left after my one-bite main course, I decided to try the apple crumble. That was another mistake. It was 4/5s crumble with a layer of very thin apple slices on the bottom. The topping was sickeningly sweet even for my American tastes. The vanilla sauce was good, though.

 

 

 

I've had a very mixed experience with Fraser's, but I wouldn't hesitate to eat there again. I have learned an important lesson: when eating in British pub-style restaurants in Pattaya, it's safest to stick to standard dishes. In the future, I'll leave fancy dishes like Beef Wellington to fancy restaurants.

 

Evil

Edited April 6, 2016 by Evil Penevil

[harro1 256]

I think it only opened about 16 months ago.

 

I think the tiger pint is 95฿ All day. I'll check next time.

 

It's an Aussie style bar. Try the Chicken Parma, an Aussie pub classic.

 

You can eat outside on the veranda as well. Fans out there and sports on TVs.

 

Anyone Googleing veranda?