cochran

I didn't want to bring up the free Sausage Sizzle - didn't know if this was a meal or a punishment! You have to protect your Sausage while in Pattaya, after all....

curlywatt, this one's for you - dinner at Beefeaters.

A series of unfortunate events (gf stuck in Bangkok longer than planned yesterday) prevented reaching the gym (which means now I go tonight instead) so we grabbed a late dinner at Beefeater last night.

The place was quite busy when we arrived (8:30-ish, I think), but the staff was keeping up admirably.

I didn't know that Beefeater's puts out chips and salsa, so ordered an appetizer when we arrived - garlic bread and tzatziki - and a bottle of Jacob's Creek grenache-shiraz (1195 thb). The wine came out quickly, accompanied by a bottle of water and the chips and salsa. Found the chips to be great - hot and salty, as nature intended. The salsa is very fresh, good seasoning, a very little touch of heat. It was quite good.

When we were discussing the wine, we voted against a straight shiraz as too sweet. Here's where my almost-complete lack of wine knowledge comes into play. I guess grenache is a very sweet variety as well. This bottle was good, but very much on the sweet side. Price was not terrible, and the restaurant was offering an Australian shiraz at 950/bottle. Note that none of this is a criticism of Beefeater's, just means I need more wine education.

The garlic bread was hot and, well, garlicky. Delicious. The tzatziki was creamy and worked great with the flavor of the bread. As we weren't too hungry, we didn't finish it off, but the flavor was great.

For entrees, she had the bbq ribs, small portion. This is a half rack of ribs, small corn on the cob, a little salad on the plate, cole slaw, and a baked potato. Quite a lot of food on this order, all told. The sauce here was the best we've found so far. It is somewhat sweet, but not ketchup-ish, and has some heat and some smoke as well. All around good sauce. The meat was very tender, and my girl was very pleased. Again, with portions this large she didn't finish everything. She's not a fan of slaw, so I tried it and found it crisp and creamy. All it needed was a dash of black pepper and was very good.

My dish, as recommended on this thread, was the planked steak, ordered medium. I really liked the presentation of this dish. For those of you who haven't seen it, mashed potatoes are piped onto a wooden plank, then garnished with half a small tomato, and then fired in an oven to "rebake" the top of the potato. The steak, gravy, and hollandaise are then placed on top and its served on the plank (ergo, planked steak). The potatoes were delicious, the hollandaise and the gravy were great. Very good flavors, great consistency to the potato and gravy. The only problem was the steak. It was cooked to the proper temperature, but had poor texture and was not very tender at all. I'm picky about steaks, and did not enjoy the meat here. The rest of the dish (supporting elements, if you will) were great, especially the two spears of bacon-wrapped asparagus that were served as garnish (I love asparagus and bacon, so you put them together and I'm sold!). I believe that choosing the planked salmon would have created a total win here. I don't know if the planked steak is of a different / lower quality than the rest of their steaks or if this was just an unlucky draw from the meat cooler.

Their stroganoff looks like its definitely worth a shot.

As it is, we will come back to Beefeater's. As promised, the dinner experience was far better than breakfast. We've already made tentative plans to try and hit their weekend brunch buffet on Saturday...or maybe sunday.

PBG = ?

Also, what/where is Bert's?

kdf, I like how you think. Sounds good to me.

So who is the chief wrangler to set all this up? I think raro is the OP for this thread, so if no one gives him time to decline, he'll be in charge, right?

Volterra and Le Arcate are both on the queue. i'll wait for a review of Madrid - seems odd to not have Spanish food in a place named Madrid.

We'll probably take a miss on Italian for a little while.

Tonight will probably be dinner at home (gasp! Say it ain't so!!) as this is a gym night and I probably won't feel like going out afterward. Of course, the best laid plans....

After asking about good Italian food on this forum, I was pleased to see the number of responses. We have really enjoyed Toscana and PanPan, and look forward to finding new Italian restaurants. Following up on a recommendation, last night we went to La Dolce Vita, soi 18 off of Naklua.

The positives: Its nice to find restaurants with their own parking areas. The restaurant itself is large, open, nicely appointed, and has a gentleman playing piano during dinner. Nice touch, not obtrusive. The menu is not overwhelmingly large, but seems to cover all the bases.

The negatives:

This restaurant has some of the slowest service I've witnessed in Pattaya. While we were there, there were never more than two tables occupied, but it still took nearly twenty minutes to get our cocktails, with no water offered while we waited. The bread-&-butter basket got to our table perhaps 30 seconds ahead of an appetizer, which really defeats the purpose of one or the other. Preparation time for entrees was similarly long and frustrating.

The cocktails (a margarita and a Long Island iced tea) were simply not good at all. Too sweet, small serving size. We quickly switched to water.

Appetizer was bruschetta. While the tomatoes tasted fresh, there were not enough herbs in the mixture, and there was too much olive oil on the bread. It was quite oily. We each had a small slice and left the third one on the plate.

The entrees, quite unfortunately, were not worth the wait. My gf ordered sea bass in a red sauce with roast potatoes. The fish was not fresh in taste or aroma, and the potatoes, while cooked correctly, were entirely devoid of seasoning. The vast majority of this dish was still on the plate when we left the restaurant.

I had the Italian sausage and wild mushroom risotto. The risotto was cooked correctly in terms of doneness and texture, but again wasn't much on flavor. Perhaps a hot Italian sausage would have fared better. The sweet variety was used, and really tasted more like ground beef than sausage. I think a Portabello mushroom would have added some more depth to the dish as well, instead of the variety (?) that was in the dish. I added fresh black pepper and parmesan to the mix, but to no avail. I ate less than half of this item.

Cost was just over 1400 baht.

Overall verdict: Nice atmosphere, slow service, food and drink far off the mark. We won't be back to this one.

Next!!

I was very interested in this while I was browsing the forum in prep for moving here. Once I got here, it wasn't happening anymore. I'm not taking it personally, but could the timing actually be coincidence? Come on, I'm not that offensive.

Seriously, though, it would be good to meet some other TV members. I'd be interested in decent dinners with drinks and etc. to follow, but I'm not interested in the go-go / bargirl scene. I have a great gf who is not comfortable in those environs, so would split off on the nights this was indicated.

Places like the Blues Factory would be good for afters, in my opinion, but maybe a little small if this takes off again.

I'd settle for a bagel-shaped bread product, as long as its a) fresh tasty and c) somewhat convincing. I'm not a connoiseur of bagels - in the US you can buy Lender's bagels in the refrig. area of the grocery store, and they're reasonably good. The ones from Central were just totally stale, dried out, crumbly, and low on flavor. No chewiness left at all.

...and for the record, the cool smiley face above was supposed to be the letter 'b' with a closed parenthesis behind it....

jingthing, if you find good pelmeni, please let me know. I really want to try a good version of this dish. It will take real coercion to get my gf back into a Russian restaurant after Hawa (at Central) but for a place that's recommended here I'll make the effort.

Why haven't I been to Cafe Ritz yet? No excuse, really, and may try to get there on this coming weekend.

popshirt - one complaint about the breads at the market in Central. I bought some bagels there that could have been used to bludgeon people with. Do you know where I can find a good blueberry bagel around here??

So not much to update at this time. We were out of town on Saturday and most of Sunday. Light dinner at PanPan last night - sauteed spinach for her and half of a hot sandwich for me (parma ham, mozzarella, tomatoes, salad, light smear of mayo on thin, crispy foccaccia). Standard has been upheld at PanPan - good food, good portion size, good staff, fresh taste to the ingredients.

I'm going to have to steer clear of Central Festival from the 1st to 6th of April, I think. They're having an ice cream festival, and I'm only human....don't know if I can stand that much temptation!

bob4you - I'll agree that most of the time we eat in places that don't fit the "budget dining" template. Understand what we're dealing with, though. We work out in Amata City Industrial Estate, and so we have budget lunch every day since there's no other choice. Even though its a company canteen, its the same style / quality of food you find at most of the open-air lunchrooms around. You spend about 30 - 40 baht for meal and drink and rice, and its decent food, but not great. At night and on weekends, we try to make up for it. Our weekday breakfast is coffee from home and fruit, ergo the earnest search for good eats on Saturday and Sunday brunch. I agree that you can find really good food at really low prices around here, and I enjoy those meals as well.

So, what's for dinner tonight? I have no idea, and that's okay too. Spontaneity is great....especially when you didn't make any plans.

Alrighty then...I owe some details on Da Tiziano.

The restaurant was easy enough to find (thanks, aussiechick, for solid directions), and parking was absolutely no problem, for a change. The interior of the restaurant was clean, not too fancy, but in good shape and a pleasant atmosphere. The interior had no customers other than us when we arrived, but there was a party of four in the outside eating area.

The service was prompt, and our drink orders were filled quickly - a Singha for me and a tequila for the lady. For appetizers, we selected the tris de apetitosi (three slices of crostini, with cheese melted on top, and one slice each topped with anchovies, mushrooms, and parma ham) for me and cream of chicken soup for her. When the appetizers arrived, I was very surprised at the portion size on the crostini. I expected small slices from an Italian loaf, but these were huge slices of bread, well toasted. The toppings were not so good. Mushrooms tasted very canned, and the ham was just okay. The anchovies were standard - good fishy flavor, salty, etc. The anchovy one I finished. The ham I took off, and used the toasted bread with my entree. Left the mushroom one alone. My gf said the chicken soup was not good - nice creamy consistency, but the flavor was just not there.

For mains, I had the penne l'arrabiata and she had fried seafood. First problem: slow prep times, and in an empty restaurant. This is not too big a deal. After eating in German restaurants for over a month last winter, I understand glacial service, so Thailand is very good by comparison in general. Where this turned into a big problem for me was when my entree came out, and my girl's food was almost 15 minutes later getting to the table. That's not okay.

The pasta was cooked right - al dente and hot when it got to the table. The sauce just wasn't good. When you order l'arrabiata, you expect a little heat, and I didn't have any. The tomato flavor was there, but not pronounced (I know that's a terribly imprecise description, sorry.). The sauce was not overly oily, and there was a sufficient amount of sauce, just not very good. Didn't finish the dish.

On the fried seafood (shrimp and calamari mostly), the aroma and presentation were nice. Not overly breaded, not greasy. Unfortunately, also not too tasty. She did not finish her food either.

Overall, not a win. I've definitely had worse food, for sure, and we have to accept the occasional setback in our investigations of new venues. I really enjoy trying out places I haven't been before, and thanks again for all the recommendations. We left unsatisfied with the food, but happy with the progress on another place checked out.

For brunch today (11:00 am-ish) we went to Beefeater's. Once again, too early for the buffet brunch that starts at noon, but not willing to wait another hour for breakfast. I ordered the English breakfast with coffee and orange juice, and my girlfriend had orange juice and spaghetti carbonara (unusual brunch choice, but who am I to judge?). The food came reasonably quickly. Hers was served with an egg on the side for mixing in at the table, and looked great. Her verdict: it was okay, not great.

My food was decent, and there was one high point to be found - the bacon (but we'll get to that in a minute). The English breakfast comes on one plate, and is kind of all heaped up together. The beans are directly on the plate instead of a separate dish (you'd think by this time I'd remember to ask for it without beans!!), then the potatoes, sausage, and bacon are piled nearby, with the eggs on top. The eggs were served sunny side up, a little too done (lacy) on the bottom and a little too loose on top. Nicky's still has the edge on cooking eggs. The sausage was not so good - Nicky's and Jameson's still tied for first on that item. The potatoes were a generous portion, a little greasy, but good flavor. But the bacon was perfect. It was the streaky variety instead of back bacon, and was done just right - not too crisp, but well cooked. Tasty!! The orange juice was very good, and the coffee was better than average. Two very large slices of toast, served in a basket with butter and jam, completed the meal. Overall rating: Better than Apex Hotel's buffet, not as good as Nicky's, Jameson's, or Shenanigan's at the Avenue, or Pig & Whistle. Looking back, I guess that puts Beefeater's breakfast at last-but-one on the scale.

We may try Beefeaters again, but only for dinner or the brunch buffet. Not a do-over for breakfast. I still want to try Caddyshack for breakfast eventually.

In the quest for the best burger, April's entry will be Henry J. Beans. Should be tackling that Tuesday night-ish.

Keep the recommendations coming - we're planning to be out of Pattaya tonight and most of tomorrow, but the list - and the search - continue.

Quick update before I head out for Friday night funtime -

aussiechick, we have got to get recalibrated. Tried the Italian place you mentioned, and we didn't enjoy it at all. More details later, as we're late for drinking time.

My girlfriend enjoys western food and Thai food, but isn't a big fan of fast food, like burgers and pizza. She enjoys Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc. The only thing she doesn't want to try again is Russian, based on recent experience. She is a Thai native, from Bangkok, and she's the inspiration to make sure I follow your previous advice re: keeping the weight off. I have to thank her for introducing me to Thai food properly.

I find that Manhattan's review hilarious. What percentage of us would feel satisfied spending 5000 baht at a steakhouse (for two) and only praising the overpriced wine, the meat, and the dessert and panning everything else? This is not real world Pattaya. I haven't been to Manhattans and will never go, but that meal sounds INEXCUSABLE for the price. At that price, EVERYTHING should be brilliant.

Mr. thing,

Glad I could amuse you! We can all use a smile now and then, so you're welcome!

To each his (or her) own - I'm only offering up my experiences and opinions, and as always, your mileage may vary.

aussiechick, thanks for the recommendation for Italian. You and I are in sync at least as far as being Jameson's fans, so we'll give this one a whirl....provided of course that my infamous sense of direction doesn't get in the way!

patklang - I have a GREAT job in Thailand, seriously. Also a great gf, beautiful scenery, good health, etc. I have much to be thankful for, and I try to take nothing for granted. I don't think I'm spending 20k every week, but it is true that much of my disposable income goes to local restaurants and bars. Its what we enjoy that matters, right?

New review - Manhattan's

A total network failure at my job yesterday allowed me to leave much earlier than planned - no point in hanging about being unproductive. The lady and I went to Manhattan's (originally we were headed for Mata Hari's, but last minute change - no issue with Mata Hari's, and its still on the list).

The decor and atmosphere in Manhattan's is great. I like the shots of NY on the walls, and the etched glass on the wall between the restaurant and the pool. Staff were well dressed, spoke good English, and seemed very professional.

The wine: Of course, expensive as usual on the vino. We had a Penfold's Private Release Shiraz / Cabernet, 2007, on the ticket for 2400 baht (OUCH!! I can buy Penfold's for less than $15 US all day long at home, but here we are....). The wine was good, but didn't have as much body as the Tripudium we had at Toscana a few weeks back. A little sweetness from the Shiraz in the blend. Overall a good bottle.

The food: The girlfriend went for the avocado and prawn appetizer and the salmon fillet as a main course. I can't try the appetizer of course, but she said it was quite good. The presentation was great - complicated glassware arrangement including crushed ice under the bowl to keep things cool, nicely decorated and etc. Her main course looked good as well - a nice skin-on fillet, served on a dill sauce, with creamed potatoes and steamed veg to keep it company. Unfortunately, I did not taste it as I was busy with my own. She said it was very good, but a little too much to finish.

I ordered the 1350 baht set menu, which includes a caesar salad prepared tableside, a 200gr Waygu filet, and choice of sauce and potato, and a dessert (key lime pie for me). The salad was a non-event. Yes, its prepared tableside, but this doesn't have the same panache as a tableside flambe, preparation of fresh fish tableside, or teppanyaki tableside. Its just salad. That being said, the flavors did not impress. The romaine was quite fresh and good, but the all-important dressing just didn't have any flavor. They were generous with the parmesan and croutons, not so much with the bacon. I took a couple bites and put it away for removal.

When the entree arrived, it was a different story altogether. I allowed the waiter to grind a little fresh pepper over the steak, and that was all it needed. The presentation was a little stark - a relatively small diameter steak in the middle of a large white plate, accompanied by a tomato rose. The gratin potato and the blue cheese sauce were served on the side. The first bite of the steak made it all worth while. I ordered it medium, and it was perfectly cooked. Just a tiny bit of char / sear on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside, fantastically flavorful. The fresh pepper set it off just right. The gratin potatoes were okay, nothing to write home about, and I don't recommend the blue cheese sauce. Not very good. But the steak itself = excellent.

Dessert was great - the key lime pie was tart and sweet and delicious, but I couldn't finish it. Just too much. The bill was a little steep at almost 5100, but we don't spend like that every day, so an occasional indulgence is fine.

We liked this place, and will eventually be back.

Can anyone recommend a good Italian place, other than Toscana?

I love to take as many matches as possible.

(I'm a smoker and I have a bowel full of a lot of around the world matches)

Am I a cheap charlie??

Ouch! A bowel full? That's gotta keep the mail from moving!!

And no, matches as souvenirs don't make you cheap. My late brother loved it when I'd bring back matches from trips. We'd use them when smoking cigars and talk about the places we'd been and would like to go.

Just too lazy to cook, I guess!

Quick update -

Even though I thought I'd be working too late last night for dinner, I finished up earlier than planned. Found a lucky parking spot on the bottom end of Pattaya Klang and walked over to Tequila Reef.

What a neighborhood, huh?

Anyway, once inside we ordered a gold handshaken margarita for me and an ocean breeze for the lady. I must say that the margarita (rocks, no salt) was just as good as the ones at Mike's. Not too sweet, good size, enough tequila. Good job. My gf said the ocean breeze was good as well.

The staff serves up a small portion of chips and two small servings of salsa (one hotter, one milder) while you wait. The chips did not seem too fresh. While the milder salsa was okay, the hotter one seemed like it had been sitting a while. There wasn't much crispness in the vegetables, and overall not a good flavor. I think the heat in this one was ancho chilies instead of jalapenos (not a criticism, just an observation - ancho sauces can be quite good).

I ordered a small bowl of chili, and was surprised at the good flavor. Not too hot, good dose of chili powder, beans not hard and not mushy. The meat was finely chopped, but not ground, and had good texture. There was a small side of shredded cheese and chopped onion, and it was served with two small flour tortillas (these were not heated before being served, but should have been). I enjoyed the chili, and should have stopped there.

For entree, she had barbecued chicken with fries and corn. The sauce was okay, but really reminiscent of the bottled Kraft sauces you can buy in the US grocery stores. The meat itself was tender and moist, so not really bad. She prefers the sauce on offer at Bob's. Our original reason for stopping here was for bbq ribs, but they were out last night, so the chicken was a 2nd choice. Not a win.

My entree was the East Los Angeles burrito with chicken. The shredded chicken is combined with rice and beans in a flour tortilla and then covered with enchilada sauce and melted cheese. The whole dish tasted very processed - the tortilla was very dry on the ends, probably from being put under the salamander to quickly melt the cheese on top. The rice and beans inside the burrito were very bland - not much flavor at all. The chicken was okay - shredded white meat. The sauce tasted like a medium-quality canned product. I left almost all of this dish on the plate.

I'm trying my best to be objective here, but the problem is that Tequila Reef's mexican food suffers BADLY when compared to the excellent experience we had at Mike's - freshness, quality of ingredients, flavor, staff, everything. I think if we go back to Tequila Reef, it will be because we're in the area and I want a margarita. Not a place we'll have dinner again.

Thanks, jingthing. I don't get out that way often enough to know my way around yet!

Directions to Jomtien Complex?

Curlywatt, will do. I've driven past this place a couple times in the past week due to the closure of Beach Rd., and its within walking distance of my place. Its definitely on the list. The place across the soi from Beefeater has been recommended as well.

The reviews will be kind of sparse this week - working really late, so munching from local places near work, snacks from 7/11, etc - low-quality dining at its worst, but I'll be back!

Hey Cochran how much weight have you put on since you started your quest to eat everything in Pattaya?

Tolley, your concern is touching. And we just met....

For the record, I've lost weight since coming to Thailand. You can eat three meals a day and maintain a healthy lifestyle. You just have to exercise and watch the extras. Note the comments about infrequent desserts? We exercise frequently and we enjoy ourselves. If you met me on the street, overweight is not an adjective you'd use.

So, let's get back on topic!!

Sunday morning, and time to catch up.

Saturday morning's breakfast was the buffet at Apex Hotel. I like the variety that was on offer, as it really covered the spectrum from American to English to Thai quite well. I think the bacon (streaky bacon, for those of you keeping tabs) was cooked closer to the way I like it - a little on the crisper side of things, but not crunchy or crumbly. Didn't try the sausages, as they just didn't look too appetizing. I did put a couple poached eggs on my plate, but only realized after sitting down that they were cold. Not my cup of tea.

There was nothing overly impressive about the buffet, but also nothing offensive about it, really. And when you go to a buffet in general, and one at this price point in particular, you should have some idea of what you're signing up for. Overall, okay. Don't know for sure if we'll be back, as if just didn't impress, but I would not un-recommend it to others looking for this sort of meal.

We needed a little something on Saturday afternoon to tide us over till dinner, and so stopped at the new Jim Thompson's cafe on the ground level, outside, at Central Festival. Decor is nice and the seating is comfortable, and the staff is quite attentive. We were immediately served a shot of iced lemongrass juice and cold towels, a nice touch. I had a grilled salmon sandwich and fries, and the lady had a broccoli and shrimp dish and some seabass with three-flavor sauce (served in a small, boneless portion instead of the more typical whole fried fish). The food was good, but not excellent. I felt the portion of salmon on the sandwich (topped with lettuce, tomato, dijon mustard, and mayo) was really too small. Fortunately, i wasn't too awfully hungry so everything worked out. Flavors were decent, and the bread seemed to be a quite good quality wheat. Fries were the heavy steak-fry type and were cooked exactly right. Enjoyed those quite a bit. On the fish dish, the sauce was very good, but not quite as good as the same sauce from Leng Kee on Pattay Klang near Beach road - they do this dish up right! My seafood allergy prevented sampling the shrimp and broccoli, but my girl said it was great and she finished it all.

Beverages - she had a vodka tonic, and it was a little problematic. First sip without a straw showed the drink was not well mixed, and using a straw to get to the bottom of the glass did not completely fix things - there just wasn't enough liquor in the drink. My drink was an American iced tea. Being from the southeastern US, I'm used to drinking this sweetened, but being a recovering fat guy, I'm also used to an artificial sweetener that dissolves easily in iced tea. This one was served with a simple syrup as a sweetener (pro: none of the typical problems with dissolving sugar in a cold drink; con: pure sugar, lots of calories) and a small pitcher of lemon juice. Good touch, that. Overall my drink was quite refreshing and i did like it.

Will we go back to Jim Thompson's? Maybe, if we are already in Central Festival and have exhausted other possibilities. I don't think we'd make a trip over there just for this restaurant.

Dinner was a lackluster affair - we were still at home, not ready to go out yet, but I didn't want to wait for dinner, so called Door 2 Door. I ordered a NY style pizza from La Piola and a dozen wings from Great American Rib Co. Beverages were already on hand in the form of Singha kept in the refrigerator for emergencies.

The pizza was....a disaster. Even if you figure in the quality loss from the packaging and the delivery time, this was not good food. Toppings were very very sparse and the flavors were not on point. Vegetable quality was okay, meat quality questionable, and the sauce was not to my liking. We won't be frequenting this restaurant in person, I'm afraid.

The wings from Great American Rib retained the good flavor that I reported on in a previous post, but the delivery system caused some damage. They're packed in aluminum foil and then a styrofoam container, so the steam from the hot wings continues to cook them, and you lose the crispy crust on the wings that is so important. I am not saying there was anything wrong with the food, it should just be enjoyed in person and consumed fresh. Lesson learned. I think we're done with Door 2 Door as well.

Late last night we went out along Beach Road to enjoy the craziness of the music festival. We didn't eat anything, so I won't dwell on it as its off topic, but for the

This morning (Sunday) we rose typically late and were ready for brunch around 10 - 10:30. Following a recommendation from expatgaz, we headed for Nicky's on Soi Buakhaow. After we got there, I commented to my lady that our mealtimes on Sundays are robbing us of the opportunity to try the Sunday carveries that are on feature at so many of these places. We need to either have an early breakfast, or wait till noon for one of the roasts at some of these places. They sound so good.

Anyway, this morning's experience: I'll start by saying that I've found a new favorite breakfast restaurant in Pattaya.

We walked to Nicky's from home, so had a good appetite by the time we got there. It did not take us long to review the menu and decide on the full english, fried eggs, hold the beans, for both of us. I also asked for a small bubble&squeak, orange juice for her and pineapple juice for me.

Quibbles: Let's get the negatives out of the way first, as they are few and I'd prefer to wrap on a high note. 1. The menu for full English includes tea or Nescafe. I would have liked a cup of tea, and expected it to be delivered with my meal, but it didn't come out and by the time the food got there, I didn't care enough to bring it up, having had a cup of coffee before leaving home. We were charged extra for the juice even though the normal beverages were not provided. Not a major problem, just an adviso - ask for your tea or nescafe if you want it. 2. The bread and butter would be better, in my opinion, as toast cooked on a griddle. The bread was quite good quality, i just like it toasted. 3. Staff was not overly friendly. 4. Not served with potato, so if you want potato, order separately.

The positives: This was good food!! The bubble and squeak came out about half a minute before the rest of the food, and you should order the small portion unless you're voraciously hungry. The plate was full, and the taste was good. Needed a little salt, but the kitchen (quite appropriately) leaves that to the customer to handle. The eggs were perfectly cooked (sorry, Pig & Whistle, but them's the facts). The back bacon was lean. The sausages have the same texture and type of flavor as the one at Jameson's, and you are served two smaller ones at Nicky's vs. one larger one at Jameson's, with equal quality. The tomatoes were good, as were the mushrooms.

We really enjoyed the meal here and will definitely be back sometime in the future. I'm interested in their dinner menu as well...and they have Stowford Press on draught!!

aussiechick - we LOVE Jameson's and we know we're bound to have a good meal whenever we go there. Just don't want to overdo it on the places we know we like. We're trying to experience as many new places as possible. So far, Jameson's is on the (short) list of places we've been to more than once and will go to again. I can not get over how much I love that beef and Guiness pie, and they have a great breakfast as you recommended before - best sausages, hands down. Nicky's is also on the list.

expatgaz - Caddyshack and Nicky's are in queue - we'll get to those eventually. I don't think they're all that far from home, actually....

kickin - thanks for the recommendations. I've reviewed the Casa Pascal website and will definitely try that one. In fact, was all set to try it tonight until my girlfriend decided we were having Indian food tonight. So we wound up at Indian by Nature.

Wow. A great meal. More than made up for the unfortunate venues of the previous two nights. We now have a new favorite place for Indian cuisine. While we were finishing up, the manager came over to ask about the meal. We were quite pleased, and he told us that the main difference between Indian by Nature and Madras Darbar (previous favorite) is that while Madras Darbar serves primarily south Indian cuisine, Indian by Nature focuses on northern Indian food.

We started out with a black russian for her and a Long Island iced tea for me (not my usual drink, but they couldn't make a Tom Collins since it wasn't on the menu - a minor weak point in the evening). Both drinks were made exactly right, strong enough, and refreshing. As an appetizer we had the massala poppadums. Amazing! My only previous experience with poppadums was at Ali Baba's, where they are very crisp to the point of crumbly and fairly plain. At this restaurant they were crisp, but were well seasoned, and were topped with chopped vegetables, much like an Indian salsa, including tomatoes, onions, and herbs. Delicious! Could have had two orders of this as a main course - it was that good.

For mains, my girlfriend had the baked chutney fish and an order of rumali roti. The fish was mild, flaky, and tender, and was served in an outstanding red sauce with just a hint of heat. The roti was great - I prefer naan, but this was good as well. The only thing left when she was done was a little sauce on the plate and a smile on her face. Win!!

My entree was Shahi kofta curry, lamb meatballs in a red curry sauce, served in a chafing dish. I had a side of butter naan with it. The naan was great - didn't have the slightly burned outside that we've come to expect from other Indian restaurants. The meatballs had great texture and flavor, and the sauce was simply amazing. There's a spice in there that I can't identify, that carries a hint of cinnamon, but isn't. Anyway, I typically don't like allspice or cinnamon flavors in anything that isn't dessert related, but this dish was just phenomenal. I ran out of naan to mop up the sauce, or I'd still be working on it. Great flavors.

Portion sizes on the entrees were not overwhelmingly large, but were definitely sufficient. They were exactly the right size for the two of us.

We ordered dessert, which we don't do too often. I had the coconut creme brulee and she had gulab jamun, a sort of Indian donut in a light syrup. She loved hers. Mine was okay, but I don't consider this a weakness of the restaurant - creme brulee has never been a favorite, but I wanted something sweet and the selection was limited. Outside of the ones we had, there was also a rice pudding (which in retrospect I should have tried) and a layered parfait with tapioca, then chocolate, then red jello.

Atmosphere wise, this place falls in the middle between Ali Baba's and Madras Darbar. Ali Baba's is a little kitschy and Madras Darbar is minimalist, with almost no decor at all. This place strikes a comfortable middle, but retains real tablecloths and napkins, nice tableware, etc. Service was prompt and professional without being overbearing. The management was attentive, which is always a plus for me - you can't manage a restaurant from the back of the house. We've seen that kind of manager / owner participation at several places in Pattaya, which I consider a huge plus.

All in all, this was a great meal. We will most definitely go back to this place. I recommend you try it, if you like Indian food at all. Now to sleep it off....and start planning tomorrow's brunch!!

I appreciate all the recommendations.

I think Toscana is the Italian place I mentioned in an earlier post, but couldn't remember the name of the place. Had a great meal there, and will definitely go back.

For tonight, I'm not as concerned about value as I am about a can't-miss good dining experience. Know what I mean? Again, keep the recommendations coming. From recent posts, I'm only seeing Bruno's as a real solid recommendation - I'm not that old, and not gay, and the decor doesn't really matter (see earlier post re: Cherry's Restaurant) - just after good food and decent service.

Okay, so where did I leave off?

Wednesday night we went to Nag's Head. On a previous expedition, we'd seen their menu sign out front and decided that we'd go there eventually. It's within walking distance of home, so there we were.

We both started with a bottle of Singha, and they keep it cold, so good on that note. As a starter I ordered some garlic bread. It arrived hot, soft, and well seasoned. The plate was quickly emptied, and while this is not (as previously noted) always a sign of excellent food, I'm picky enough that it does mean more than edible. The garlic bread is quite good here.

Unfortunately, that's about the only thing I could recommend for the Nag's Head at dinner. I had the roast pork tenderloin with apples and dried prunes and balsamico vinaigrette, with rissole potatoes. The apples turned out to be a rather thin applesauce and the standard tableware here doesn't include spoons. Flavor was not great, and the meat was not very exciting. The potatoes were cooked correctly, so the meal was not a total loss. There was a nice veg mix on the side which was left still crisp and fresh, and was quite good.

My girlfriend had the Hungarian goulash, served with mashed potatoes and the same veg as above. It wasn't finished and did not get rave reviews.

Tonight we thought we'd give the Great American Rib Co. a try. Not a great success. I will say that they have the best margarita I've had in Pattaya, and the chicken wings were very very good - the medium sauce is just about right for us. She and I both ordered a half rack of ribs, hers with garlic bread and baked potato, and mine with potato salad and bbq baked beans. While the meat was tender, the sauce was sweet and had been allowed to carmelize on the ribs, leaving them sticky and somewhat crunchy on the outside. The baked potato was underdone, the potato salad underseasoned, and the baked beans way overcooked.

We won't be back to either of these establishments. Two losses in a row! The home team needs a real win. I'm thinking maybe Manhattan's or Bruno's. Is either of these a sure bet?