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Under 300 Baht ... And Good! (updated July 4, 2022)


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(The pic above is from Moon's Facebook page.  I went back after my first visit to take an exterior pic in daylight, but Moon was for interior work.  My pics below).

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The Moon Diner has been open in Tree Town for about six weeks and I tried it for dinner a few days  ago with two friends.  Its theme for the menu, decor and background music is an American diner from the 1950's and 1960's. 

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Of course, the Moon Diner has about as much in common with a real U.S. diner as the Siam Garden Restaurant in Norman, Oklahoma would have with any popular Thai restaurant in Pattaya.  But that's beside the point.  From what I've seen in real life and in Facebook pictures, the Moon's customers are by a big margin Thais.  Not farang, certainly not Americans, but Thais who have never gotten closer to the U.S. than a TV or movie screen.  The Moon Diner is playing into what its customers think an American diner should have been like 50 or 60 years ago.

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According to Moon Diner's Facebook page, the direct inspiration is Mel's Drive-In from the iconic 1973 film, American Graffiti.  Mel's was a real restaurant, but outside San Francisco, not in Modesto, CA, the site of American Graffiti.  Actually, Moon is closer in form and spirit to Arnold's Diner in the TV series Happy Days.  The layout with booth and counter seating is typical for some traditional diners in the U.S.

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but what the heck- you can't mistake it's supposed to be American something.  The Moon is covered with every possible American symbol, including three U.S. flags inside and four on the roof! 

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And you have to  love the statue of Marilyn Monroe ...


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as well as the baseball  bat and catcher's mitt on the counter.

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To cut to the chase-the food at Moon is good- not great, but good.  It is expensive for what you get and portions are adequate but not large. The decor and lighting are a bit gaudy, but the background music (rock'n'roll and pop classics from the 1950s and 1960s) was played at a very discreet level.  That's a big plus for me.

I wasn't very hungry the night we ate there and just had a toasted ham and Swiss cheese sandwich for 139 baht.  

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It came on a wooden platter with a fancy presentation and a small order of French fries.  You won't see that too often in a U.S. diner.

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The ham and Swiss cheese were good quality and the balsamic vinegar and tomato foam were nice touches.  I enjoyed the sandwich.

My friend had the chicken schnitzel  at 220 baht. 

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It also came on a wooden platter, this time with fries and a few lettuce leaves with but without much of a presentation.  It was a fairly large piece of chicken breast and he thought it tasted fine.  We both felt the fries- crispy on the outside, fluffy inside- were better than the fries you often get in Pattaya.

His Thai companion was hungry that night and began with an order of buffalo wings ...

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followed by a shrimp cocktail and Thai soup.  

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The shrimp cocktail cost 139 baht and the soup was 89 baht.  I forget how much the buffalo wings were.  She knocked back all of it.  I tasted a bit of a buffalo wing and it was fine, not as spicy as I had expected. My friend had one of the shrimp and said it was very fresh.  That shrimp cocktail did indeed hark back to the style of the 1960s.  

Another afternoon I went back to try the calamari. It was an appetizer-sized portion, but tasted good and had been deep- fried properly.

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The menu at the Moon is fairly extensive, covering a number of U.S. and international bases.  They offer the usual array of farang favorites, including hamburgers, sandwiches, pasta, pizza, pork chops, BBQ ribs and a few Thai dishes.  It also has some American-style ice cream sundaes.  The Moon offers a number of beers and cocktails.

It's located at the northwest end of Tree Town, across from a Thai nightclub that used to be called "Burn."   It could be the management of Moon is counting on business from customers at the nightclub.  Moon's opening hours are 4.30 p.m. to 2.00 a.m. seven days a week.  

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The night were ate there, Moon had more customers inside and outdoors than I had expected.

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Bottom line:  Moon is a fun place to take a Thai girl for a meal as it provides numerous opportunities for the ever-so-important selfies.  The kitschy decor is likely to be a turn-off for some farang, although it will probably prove popular with Russians if they find the place as it's hidden in a back corner of Tree Town.

One curious note:  Moon seems to have some connection with Thai photographers.  Moon's Facebook page features a number of photos of girls taken by various photographers at the diner.  The night we ate there, two Thais with heavy-duty professional camera equipment were sitting at one of the booths, but they weren't taking pics while we were there.

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(The two photos above are from Moon's Facebook page).

Evil

Edited by Evil Penevil
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MOON - looks interesting, (especially the calamari) onto the list it goes!  I saw one of those Marilyn Monroe statues outside a 2nd hand shop in Bootle on Sunday morning (we went to number one son's wedding).  Music was "discrete", or "discreet"?

HUMMUS 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?

Keep it up Uncle Evil! (Greetings from Flo)

Edited by capdagde
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16 hours ago, capdagde said:

Keep it up Uncle Evil! (Greetings from Flo)

 smiley-saying-thank-you.png and tenor.gif  to Flo.

 

Quote

HUMMUS 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

Edited by Evil Penevil
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I've had Nueng's pies in the past and they are good, but I fully acknowledge I have limited experience of UK-style meat pies.  She's located on the Darkside and  (edit in) delivers to central Pattaya.  All the pics come from Neung's Pies FB page.

 

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Edited by Evil Penevil
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7 hours ago, Evil Penevil said:

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says I.  I just read the following on Facebook: 

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I'll try to find out if it's finito or he is just moving to a new location.

Evil

That's a damned shame - I reckoned top word of mouth and a smidgen of lying low to avoid any beardy unpleasantness could have made a happy medium in this case.  You're the man to let us know the next destination!

5 hours ago, Evil Penevil said:

I've had Nueng's pies in the past and they are good, but I fully acknowledge I have limited experience of UK-style meat pies.  She's located on the Darkside and  (edit in) delivers to central Pattaya.  All the pics come from Neung's Pies FB page.

 

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These are something else that we miss in Frogland (we make our own hummus btw).  Anyone know an outlet in town where her pies and other products are available (I'll have a look at the Facebook page)?  The farang bloke just off the scooter looks like he's trying to eat them all.  I'm a bit worried the sweet versions might be a bit dry however... Scotch Eggs are a culinary triumph and not that easy to make.

Oh my lord!  She has SCOTCH PIES!!!!!

Edited by capdagde
Scotch Pies hmmmm
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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!

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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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2 hours ago, Evil Penevil said:

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

Thanks for that info Evil.

I'll get some 500bht-ish of stuff delivered to our rented flat.  (Thailand holidays are no-cooking periods for Flo!!!!)

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Thanks for the write up Evil.

 

That Italian on Soi Lengkee., looks good.

 

Im there in 2 weeks time, I usually eat Thai food only (and the odd English breakfast, when the hangover is too bad!), I sometimes fancy some pasta, so this place looks ideal!

 

Many thanks.

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On 1/13/2019 at 6:53 PM, Evil Penevil said:

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.

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Thanks for the review.  Now I am curious to try.  Had watched the soi dogs at the bottom many times, as well as roided up dudes swaggering down the stairs.  Have drunk in a bar opposite many times and that's the view.  Had assumed there was a gym up there.  Oh well, now have a reason for a stroll upstairs...

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14 minutes ago, Barhop said:

Thanks for the review.  Now I am curious to try.  Had watched the soi dogs at the bottom many times, as well as roided up dudes swaggering down the stairs.  Have drunk in a bar opposite many times and that's the view.  Had assumed there was a gym up there.  Oh well, now have a reason for a stroll upstairs...

There is also another post saying the place is up for sale.

 

Edited by jacko
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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.

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I went back yesterday to try the Taco Tuesday special:

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And a tempting pic from Taco Taco's Facebook page:

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The following tacos cost 60 baht each all day Tuesday and you can mix and match as you please:

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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.

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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 16 - Copy.jpg ) and pineapple salsa.

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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.

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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.

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Taco Taco also has weekly specials and this week it's three-bean chili con carne with rice and nachos:

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Evil

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Some pages from the menu at Tigglebitties:

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And a few more specials:

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The pics Tigglebitties uses to illustrate its specials correspond closely to what you get on your plate.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Evil

 

Edited by Evil Penevil
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  I'm not a regular poster here, but I have been reading for a long time.  I want to give a big THANK YOU to Evil Penevil for your restaurant reviews.  Thanks to you I found So's Place during my recent trip to Pattaya.  The food is excellent, the beer is cold, and the gals are friendly.  Since So's Place was close to my hotel on Soi 14, I ate there many times, and every meal was excellent.

 I would never have found it without your review.  The photos add a lot to the story, as everyone has different thoughts and likes about food.  Keep up the good work Evil, it is appreciated.

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Jameson's  has some memories for me as in my early days I often stayed at the adjacent Nova Park. Very similar to the Residence Garden, suite type, 2 rooms and the place a bit out of the way! I had some good meals delivered to my room from there, I recall the ribs well. The pub interior was indeed gloomy but the weekend roast carvery often got me in there. Too far off the beaten track to be a contender, walking back down a dark soi SaiSong 4 very late was a little concerning but mostly I was on a M/C taxi being followed by another. 

A pizza shop next door is a fair fit for the hotel, but I wonder how Jameson's survived. 

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  • Evil Penevil changed the title to Under 300 Baht ... And Good! (updated July 4, 2022)

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