The Bistro Wine & Cheese on Soi Yamato

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

The Bistro Wine & Cheese is a Swiss restaurant on Soi 13/1, aka Soi Yamato, about halfway between Beach Road and 2nd Road. It is a small restaurant, with about 20 seats in the enclosed air-conditioned part of the restaurant and a few more seats outside.

It serves delicious food prepared from quality ingredients with meticulous attention to detail. The menu is focused on dishes which are popular in Switzerland and many of its customers are not surprisingly Swiss ex-pats and tourists in Pattaya. It's been full or close to it the nights I've eaten there, so reservations are recommended if you plan on eating around 7 p.m. It opens at 2 p.m. and closes at midnight.

There are some Thai dishes on the menu as well as Swiss specialties, but it's not a place where you'll find cheeseburgers or beans on toast. Prices are premium for Pattaya, but so is the food. It's becoming one of my personal favorites in central Pattaya as I very much like cheese-heavy dishes. The decor is elegant but unpretentious and the service is extremely friendly and attentive.

The meals at The Bistro begin with an amuse-bouche, or complimentary bite-sized portion of food selected by the chef and generally not on the menu.

On a recent visit, I got a mini-portion of breaded fish with tartar sauce. Yum! There's also a spread to put on the warm, freshly baked bread. The spread reminded me of what we call Amish egg salad in the U.S.

Because of its national and linguistic diversity, French, German and Italian dishes are popular in Switzerland as well as dishes that developed locally from traditional Alpine farm products like meat, sausage, potatoes and above all, cheese.

I began with a tomato and fresh mozzarella salad at 240 baht. It was large enough that it could have been split among two people as a starter.

I don't know why, but tomatoes in Thailand often seem flavorless to me. Not so with the tomatoes in my salad, which were bursting with real tomato taste.

The salad comes with bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar so diners can dress it according to their own preferences. I didn't think it needed anything extra.

I choose macaroni with gruyere cheese at 190 baht as my main course. I love the nutty flavor of gruyere and it goes perfectly with pasta.

The generous portion of gruyere was mixed evenly through out the pasta and wasn't just a top layer. You can't get much simpler that cheese, pasta and a sprinkling of parsley, but due to the quality of the ingredients and flawless execution, it was a pleasure to eat.

I also had a recent meal at the Bistro with a friend. He's a fanatic for margaritas and ordered one. I told him The Bistro probably wasn't a natural place for a margarita, but he said it was both strong and excellent.

He had the tomato and mozzarella salad as his starter and I picked the French onion soup at 120 baht as mine . It was great, among the best I've had anywhere.

The beef broth was wonderfully rich and wasn't overwhelmed by too much wine or sherry. The onions were cooked perfectly and the gratinated slice of bread atop the soup was great.

My friend ordered spaghetti carbonara at 240 baht, which he ate to the last strand of spaghetti.

I ordered the German-style spareribs with potatoes rösti at 380 baht. Remember, these are Swiss-sized ribs, not Texas.

The pork ribs were high-quality and roasted as they should be. The rösti did justice to its name ("crisp and golden"). It was crispy on the outside but the shredded potatoes were fluffy inside.

However, I feel spareribs cooked in that fashion need a bit of acidity to perk up the flavor. Maybe this isn't part of the Swiss tradition, but I felt some sauerkraut or pickled red cabbage would have gone very well with the ribs.

The Bistro was fully booked from 7 p.m. that night, so we had gotten there at 6 p.m. That gave us a chance to follow the preparation of the evening's offerings in the kitchen. The owner was very active, supervision and discussing the food with his chef as he tasted it. That's a very good sign, one that smacks of real professionalism.

You can see the cheese and sausage the restaurant uses in its dishes. Top ingredients!

I'm running out of time, but I have more pics and comments about the food at The Bistro. I'll post the second installment ASAP.

Evil

 

Edited May 28, 2016 by Evil Penevil

[Bazle 1,491]

 

It's becoming one of my personal favorites in central Pattaya as I very much like cheese-heavy dishes.

 

 

We are at totally different ends of the food spectrum! I hate cheese and find the smell of it nauseating.

 

I walked into The Bistro once and had to walk right out again as the smell of cheese in that small place was overwhelming.

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

Another really tasty meal I had at The Bistro was also simple but delicious. The amuse-bouche that day was black olives with diced onions. I'm not a big fan of olives, but these were good ...

 

 

... as was the light rye bread topped with the spread.

 

 

I followed up with an open-faced tomato and sausage sandwich with dill pickles at 110 baht.

 

 

There's not much skill required to make a sandwich, so it all comes down to the ingredients; otherwise, you might as well slap some salami and tomatoes on a piece of bread at home.

 

 

Every component of The Bistro's sandwich was high-quality and fresh. The toppings were placed on a section of a sliced baguette.

 

 

 

Of course, if you have access to top-quality ingredients make such a sandwich at home. But he salami was light years above the sliced package sort you get at the Friendship Store or Villa Market.

 

 

Next I had fried eggs on rösti for 120 baht. Again, a simple dish that began as a breakfast meal on Swiss farms several hundred years ago. The only ingredients in traditional rösti are shredded potatoes and butter and that's what you get at The Bistro, but cooked perfectly.

 

 

The eggs were fresh and fried exactly as they should be.

 

I'd eat breakfast in The Bistro on a regular basis for the rösti and eggs, but unfortunately it doesn't open until 2 p.m.

 

 

 

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a few items on The Bistro's menu that I haven't tried yet. It features Swiss hallmarks like fondue and raclette, but those are dishes best enjoyed with friends and few of my acquaintances have wanted to try them, perhaps because of the fondue craze in the U.S. during the 1960s and 1970s? Anyway, the fondue and raclette at The Bistro are on my list.

 

The other aspect of The Bistro's menu that deserves mention is its wine list. I don't drink wine due to a weird food allergy, so I can't comment on wine choices, but The Bistro's list is extensive.

 

Bottom line: The Bistro serves great Swiss food, but you have to appreciate cheese. It's premium food at a premium price, although several of its dishes fall into the "reasonable" category.

 

Evil

[MM 6,562]

It sounds (and looks) like a very nice place to try something a bit different.

 

If you want to have a fondue evening, shoot me a PM. I haven't had fondue since the Marin hot tub days and water beds.

[MeGoDanceNow 4,281]

Nice! I can't wait to try it. Oh lordy, still at least two months till I can get back...

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

It sounds (and looks) like a very nice place to try something a bit different.

 

If you want to have a fondue evening, shoot me a PM. I haven't had fondue since the Marin hot tub days and water beds.

 

I'll be outside Thailand for the next two weeks, but when I get back, I'll definitely send you a PM. Maybe we can put together a small group for an FLB Memorial Fondue Evening. It's been a while since I've had fondue, but within the past decade. There's a small restaurant in NYC called Raclette that specializes in melted cheese dishes.

 

 

 

At The Bistro, the dish raclette is done with a table-top grill that looks like this:

 

 

Anyway, I definitely look forward to it, fondue or raclette! And wine white is the drink of choice with fondue.

 

Evil

[Butch 3,456]

Great looking dishes and a great report EP. I'm a softie for French Onion soup, sadly where I live in the UK it's hard enough to find a decent French restaurant let alone one that can make it as it should.

 

Brilliant report, thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing.

[MM 6,562]

 

I'll be outside Thailand for the next two weeks, but when I get back, I'll definitely send you a PM. Maybe we can put together a small group for an FLB Memorial Fondue Evening. It's been a while since I've had fondue, but within the past decade. There's a small restaurant in NYC called Raclette that specializes in melted cheese dishes.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6dZSWeVKZk

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-nl4tWhfJQ

 

At The Bistro, the dish raclette is done with a table-top grill that looks like this:

 

81yZ1xex4ZL._SX425_.jpg

 

Anyway, I definitely look forward to it, fondue or raclette! And wine white is the drink of choice with fondue.

 

Evil

Our schedules are at odds on this one. I'll be out of Thailand in a week, with an indeterminate return date.

We'll try something, schedules willing, when I return.

 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[capdagde 1,954]

I agree Evil, that sausage looks excellent quality, not likely to sweat in the heat.....

 

 

This is our southern French family reunion meal when someone has been away (last week with our son) - Pierrade-Raclette. You grill the meat on the stone above and the little trays go underneath the stone where the grill is. Although traditionally meant for cheese (you can get raclette cheese ready cut in the supermarket) as in your post, you can make anything - garlic mushrooms, bacon and onion, sliced potatoes, which you top off with cheese or an egg (sunny side up or whisked to make a little omelette).

 

No cooking for Flo and time to get all the news....(the machine is made by Tefal)

 

Andy le Cap

 

P.S. We have a fondue as well (no food fads in France) - try Fondue Vigneronne - red or white wine in the pot with garlic, chopped shallots, thyme, bayleaf.... simmer and dip in meat or seafood (great broth at the end)... less heavy than Savoyarde (dipping bread in cheese) or Bourguignonne (meat in hot oil) - and there's Thai fondue of course......

Edited June 1, 2016 by capdagde