bergen

Was disappointed by the food (and beer) options at the FC menu a couple of weeks back. Had a few Singhas and went elsewhere to eat........................

Hash, TexMex, cold beer and good company. See you there!

Onon

VG

Trond, Im in Ubon this weekend so I might tag along as well. See you there

Sounds great Carl, it'll be fun!

How i wish we had taken the time to walk to the starbeam.

Sound like a line from the song "Somewhere over the rainbow"

You wont have that option for much longer as it closes down this week leaving a big void in Surin farang eating options

Yes sad really! I'm happy I had nachos at Starbeam on Saturday. A delicious farewell..............

Hash, TexMex, cold beer and good company. See you there!

Onon

VG

In Ubon ,Believe it is a Blue/Greenish Building. On the main drag through town, heading north, park is on left and Governmental offices on right. Go to north side of governmental offices , about 2 blocks down that street (Saraksat?? Rd.) on left a blue-greenish two story building. Through main door and just to the left. For the wife a couple of years ago forms, pictures and question about 10 minutes time. Passport express mailed to you a week to 10 days later. That's quicker than in the U.S.

If you drive north on the main road in Ubon, the park Thung Si Mueang is on your right hand side, and if you turn left after the Gov. building into Thanon Surasak, the passport office will be on your left after a few hundred meters.

An early morning walk through the narrow sois in Chinatown.......

I like Mexican/TexMex, and this is an addition to food varieties in Ubon. Italian and steaks can be found several places already................

Sounds interesting! Will have a look next time in the big city......

Had a chance to swing by the 25 Degrees burger and breakfast place in the Silom area at the "Pullman Bangkok Hotel G" over the past few days and try a pair of the burgers -- first one of their fancy ones with assorted toppings and then to compare, a plain burger just with the included lettuce, tomato, fresh onion topping.

My verdict: while 25 Degrees offers decent burgers, I wasn't overly impressed for several different reasons, and they're not anything I'd be going out of my way to repeat. Basically, I didn't care for the taste of their beef advertised as ground sirloin (though I'm not sure why), I like my burgers char broiled and I didn't get any of that flavor, and at an advertised weight of 200g (.44 lbs), the burger actually left a feeling of too much beef in my mouth relative to the other ingredients, and my wife could barely get the burger into her mouth because it's built so tall/thick.

If you want to try one of their burgers, right now, they're advertising a Monday to Friday 11 am to 3 pm lunch special that includes your choice of one of their four featured menu burgers, a down-sized order of french fries and your choice of a soft drink or glass of draft beer, either Chang or Heineken. The menu price is 400b that with the tacked on 10% service charge and 7% VAT gets to total 470b.

M-F Burger Lunch Special 400b++.jpg

Here's what their No. 3 burger looks like, being a burger topped with jack cheese, green chilis, avocado and what looked like a kind of thousand island sauce. It sounded good or at least intriguing on the menu. But when the burger arrived, for me, the different topping flavors all kind of mushed together into an indistinguishable paste, not to mention getting pretty slippery so the burger kept sliding out of the bun as I was trying to eat it.

M-F Burger, Fries, Drink Lunch Special 400b++.jpg No 3 Burger Green Chili + Cheese + Avocado.jpg

On my first visit for that meal, it was just after the main lunch hour and the female waitresses serving me were sharp, pleasant and efficient.

On my follow-up visit, a Saturday early afternoon, we drew a couple of male waiters and while they were pleasant, they weren't especially sharp or efficient. They took a long time to come to take our order, even though the restaurant wasn't very busy at the time, and then longer more to deliver an ordered 60b++ bottle of water to the table prior to our food that required a second request. And then finally, after the meal, after we had requested our check and paid, nothing came back to the table for a very long time. So finally, I had to get up and go over to the bar, where I found my bank card and charge slip receipt had been sitting forgotten in a glass (which is they way they deliver and return bills).

Anyway, the follow-up plain burger at 220b++ tasted about the same in terms of the beef and was sized the same in terms of the beef and the pretty thick bun as the prior one. The bun itself was toasted, still soft and had a nice flavor/tenture. The separate order of french fries at 80b++ was about double the portion size of that that came with the lunch special burger. While the plain burger wasn't nearly as messy and hard to handle as the fancy burger had been, my wife still could barely fit it into her mouth to bite, and believe me, her mouth isn't small.

Regular Sirloin Burger-220b++.jpg Regular Sirloin Burger w Garnishes.jpg

French Fries Order 80b++.jpg

All in all, I wished for a different presentation of their beef in terms of the flavor, and definitely a thinner beef patty that not only would make their burgers easier to eat, but also provide a better balance between the beef in their burgers and all the other burger toppings/fixings.

One last thing: perhaps because 25 Degrees is located as part of the hotel (in a separate room with its entrance doors fronting onto Silom Road), they're actually operating around the clock, 24 hours. A few other farang places around BKK started out advertising that, but then weren't able to manage it. However, the staff at 25 Degrees assured me they really are open continuously, for whenever the burger bug bites.

I probably won't rush to go there, but it is definitely a very good review!

I've seen them a few times, but know nothing about them. They have been talked about in earlier topics!

Tops is good as it has an additional selection of food that cannot be found elsewhere in Ubon so far!

Went back to Ubon Immigration today, to pick up my 1 year marriage visa extension. All went well, although it took some time, about 45 min. Immigration has moved back downstairs, with the Imm. officers behind an eight meter long counter. Aircon and computers up and running and an electronic "pick a number in the queue machine" . Everybody in a good mood except for a farang complaining loudly about his wife had made too many copies of something, where as one Imm. officer whispered to me: he doesn't make a very good example.....................

I think it will be Vertigo to start with. Is it possible to go there without staying at the hotel? For just a couple of drinks?

Yes....you will need to wear shoes though. No flip flops or casual football type stuff.

OK, fair enough. Thanks. And then of to La Monita sounds to be a good choice.

From Vertigo to La Monita, Isn't that going a bit downhill for a special evening.

The food in L M is good, but the rest is nothing special.........

What about The Hemingway in Suk soi 14...

I have been waiting 8 years up here near Mae Wong for a phone line.

However in December 2011 TOT put in a wireless link and my mate next door went on line.

I followed in January 2012 and it is OK for more than 90% of the time but is still interuppted by power outs and it went down for 5 days in May as a lightning strike took out the receiver head around 6 pm on a Friday night and nobody looked at it over the weekend, only 5 users and 3 of them are farang.

You lucky guys! I've been waiting 9 years with lots of promises, but still no light in the tunnel

I'll be there bringing at least one more.......

I thought I posted in this topic earlier today, but must have been dreaming.........

Anyway it's sad about Starbeam closing, it will be missed and I wish Mike and his family all the best for the future!

I'm also satisfied that the photo of Martin has been removed!

Good to hear that life goes on as "usual" IA.

Keep the whisky in the box and we'll empty the beer bottles when we meet!

Cheers!

I have never experienced anything like your post. But I suspect that if it did happen it would be my wife who stopped it because she doesn't take much nonsense from anybody (including me).

Very similar here. I would actually feel sorry for anyone making snide remarks re our family as my Missus would have their balls for breakfast.

Similar here as well.

If Ozzy111's wife is on his side, he'll be fine!

Heard and saw him play with Santana in Bkk earlier this year. A great experience!!

Where are all the birds gonna work? Nana plaza?

Doubt it.More ladyboys than girls there now. Cough!

So I hear.

Called Banana Plaza now

Never seen a lb in there, but then I'm just a frequent visitor................

Right, I just checked out the Burger Factory on Sukhumvit 63, Soi 10 in Ekkamai.

.............

The bun was great - fresh, like a brioche influenced bun.

That's a good sign...

So often here, a lot of places seem to use cheap or bad/tasteless buns... which really makes for a miserable burger...

It's true - all the elements must be right, especially the bun!

Burger Factory, one thing I forgot to mention was that the bacon was VERY crispy - this might not be to everyones taste. I was biting into it and thinking, what is that crunchy stuff? I thought it might be where they perhaps burnt the burger on the grill but then I realised it was the bacon.

I actually likied it, it added another dimension of texture and the flavour was very good. But just a note for those who prefer a softer bacon.

Overall, I'll say it again, it was a really good burger by anywhere's standards! I've had a few in London, some good, some not, this one was up there with the best.

It DID have that sloppy goodness that I agree a burger MUST have! Hence my eating it with your hands, it's a burger, knives and forks must be thrown out the window!

Thanks for tips on Bourbon St, I'll go

Every Tue. he has an all you can eat tex-mex buffet for around 300. Recommended

Absolutely!!

I think he's referring to the Black Swan at the bottom of the staircase of Asoke Bts.

nothing of interest then..............

I think it must be a thai ethnic group that is not my cup of tea, but didnt stick around long enough to pin it down to get a true answer. sentiment improves noticably the closer to the laos border one gets from ubon. looking on the ethnic map https://upload.wikim...nic_map.svg.png i see a culture change explanation is possible there.

loas has visa on arrival for most, going to cost about $30-40 nationality dependent. that border has a long pedigree of scamming so you are going to be hit if you pay in baht. the exchange there will refuse to give you dollars. didnt notice a place there to get rentry visas but then i wasnt looking, worth checking for those who need it. . has bridge not a ferry over the mekong. direct standard big blue thai bus a few times a day from ubon to pakse in laos. bus station is a long way from train station in ubon but has direct songthew between for about 10-15 baht if i recall. many other cheap transport options on both side of the border if not taking the direct bus. need to walk a little after immig to get them on the laos side. pakse has quite a number of hotels/GH but only one or two of them are not price scammers. ubon hotel pickings are slim. one cheapie near the train station vying for the highly sough after rudest staff in thailand award.

havent been to bolivan but sure would like too. am afraid of imagined bad roads and that has stopped me in the past. google maps shows the terrain for roads is dreadful. might risk it if this eventuates sounds good. mekong islands in the south are also a draw for those who have time. called don det and don somethings else. goes without saying with them being in loas that scamming abounds. thailand is a pure pristine wonderland in comparison. however loas people in the region in general are amiable. pakse is pleasant enough for short stays. going to be paying noticably more for everything than in thaland. can get through to cambodia that going way too. and vietnam direct too.

You must be joking!

which part do you thing is joking? the part about amiable laos people? vietnam canbe direct from laos as in not needing to go through cambo if you dont want to but once again you got those raods to contend with..

Try and see if you can find a sentence put in bold letters!

loas has visa on arrival for most, going to cost about $30-40 nationality dependent. that border has a long pedigree of scamming so you are going to be hit if you pay in baht. the exchange there will refuse to give you dollars. didnt notice a place there to get rentry visas but then i wasnt looking, worth checking for those who need it. . has bridge not a ferry over the mekong. direct standard big blue thai bus a few times a day from ubon to pakse in laos. bus station is a long way from train station in ubon but has direct songthew between for about 10-15 baht if i recall. many other cheap transport options on both side of the border if not taking the direct bus. need to walk a little after immig to get them on the laos side. pakse has quite a number of hotels/GH but only one or two of them are not price scammers. ubon hotel pickings are slim. one cheapie near the train station vying for the highly sough after rudest staff in thailand award.

havent been to bolivan but sure would like too. am afraid of imagined bad roads and that has stopped me in the past. google maps shows the terrain for roads is dreadful. might risk it if this eventuates sounds good. mekong islands in the south are also a draw for those who have time. called don det and don somethings else. goes without saying with them being in loas that scamming abounds. thailand is a pure pristine wonderland in comparison. however loas people in the region in general are amiable. pakse is pleasant enough for short stays. going to be paying noticably more for everything than in thaland. can get through to cambodia that going way too. and vietnam direct too.

You must be joking!