Pizzas R Us, You Call That Pizza?!

[JimmyTheMook]

What did those pies cost?

The best pizza I've had in Thailand is at Pan Pan in Jomtien. Here are fotos of two (3-cheese with Gorgonzola! & sea food) we scarfed down last week. Thin crust, loads of good quality cheese. Pan Pan also serves very good Italian food. I live in Bangkok but stop at Pan Pan for these pizzas whenever I am in Jomtien.

[bingos1111]

The best pizza I've had in Thailand is at Pan Pan in Jomtien. Here are fotos of two (3-cheese with Gorgonzola! & sea food) we scarfed down last week. Thin crust, loads of good quality cheese. Pan Pan also serves very good Italian food. I live in Bangkok but stop at Pan Pan for these pizzas whenever I am in Jomtien.

Hi

I agree Pan Pan ist a good Pizza. But you should then also try Pizza2000 just opposite PanPan INSIDE View Talay Condo 1 Building B.

Shot at 2007-08-19

[Humphrey Bear]

II do agree with you (and, I think, Marco) that the crust (base) is crucial, which is why I think Tland is unable to produce decent pizza. Whatever the combination of flour, oil, water, etc. goes into the dough, and then the cooking process (oven, wood, etc.), I've never tasted any realistically decent crust. After that, and inferior cheese, the cause is lost before the toppings.

A friend of mine used to own a restaurant in Old Compton Street - the Amalfi.

The pizza chef used to spend half the evening 'throwing' the base for each individually prepared pizza. All was to Southern Italian taste and I have had nothing since (outside of southern Italy) that comes near to the glorious taste of those pizzas.

But normally I will eat pasta in preference to pizza and northern Italian dishes in preference to those from the South.

[bingos1111]

Most of the Pizza makers where I come from are not from Italy, but still make great pizza.

It does not have anything to do with where it originates from - it is the topping you add.... Simple!

Italians like their kind, Brits do their, Germans, Swiss, Thai, USA etc.

I still prefer, and I quote myself (linked below), pizza2000 in Jomtien. I believe it is German managed but still very good. It all depends where we are coming from and what dude is making the pizza behind the counter...

Pizza2000

When I'm at my place in Pattaya, it's either Pizza Service or Pan Pan.

You have completely got the wrong end of the stick - the base is crucial and that is one of the reasons why only an Italian pizza can justify the name pizza.

Shot at 2007-08-19

[Ulysses G.]

I do agree with you (and, I think, Marco) that the crust (base) is crucial, which is why I think Tland is unable to produce decent pizza. Whatever the combination of flour, oil, water, etc. goes into the dough, and then the cooking process (oven, wood, etc.), I've never tasted any realistically decent crust. After that, and inferior cheese, the cause is lost before the toppings.

Dave, of The Dukes, says that there is no real pizza flour available in Thailand, hence the lousy crust, hence the lousy pizza!

[wilko]

I've seen durum flour at Tops and Carrefour but not used it yet.

[wilko]

Is there such a thing as good cheese in the states? I've never come across any, but then I don't go shopping for food there very often.

Can anyone reccommend a good USA cheese and where to get it????

[theseveredhead]

jin - that sounds absolutely disgusting,

1. Catsup (if the "tomato sauce" on the pie wasn't enough catsup

2. Mayonaisse

3. Russian dressing (mix of catsup and mayo)

4. Sweet Thai chili sauce

The pizza did indeed need condiments. Like salt and pepper. Very bland. The only spice was SUGAR.

this cannot be from an american - no way.

for the record - americans can make superb pizzas, they can also make crap. you get what you pay for.

im sure flour may be an issue - but everything here sounds like bad cheese and toppings. the sauce is also key to a good pizza.

i always marvelled at pizza connection becasue the guy got screwed by pizza hut and just took the model and replicated it.

Edited August 20, 2007 by theseveredhead

[tt61]

No such thing as good pizza in Thailand. Only paper thin bases with a few scaps they call toppings, or the plastic tasting crap that the 2 major chains put out.

Let me guess ... An American ... or 'shudder OZ'

Guess you never been to Naples Billy Bob or Norm.

Naka.

Yes of course he's American. Who else would misspell KETCHUP as CATSUP Jingthing's the same guy I think who was thrown out and barred from Simons Fish&Chips in Jomtien because of his freebie beer coupon.

This calorie consumption has me a little worried...I mean Simon's fish/chips (1300 cals), Pizzas (1200 cals)...unless you go for the low-calorie San Mig Light instead of Beer Singh, Chang or Heineken (150 Cals/bottle) this'll add even more bulge to the belly. I think these eating habits are more a rule than an exception amonst the Pattaya expat community.

Get in touch and we'll pop out for a nice 10 k run along Jomtien beach rd in the morning. Will do us (and all the rest of the unfit beer drinking and pizza eating expats) very good!

Agree with the poster who says we should lose all the fast food crap joints in LOS, they only make us and and our slim companions fatter by the minute..

[Ulysses G.]

I've seen durum flour at Tops and Carrefour but not used it yet.

Durum flour is for pasta, not pizza!

[Weho]

Isn't that thick crust pizza called "Chicago style"? I like Pan Pan, across from Food Mart, on the way to Jomtien. I was there last night, had a pizza Margherita, excellent, 150 baht. And they only charge 10 baht for a bottle of chilled Minere water... in a nice air-conditioned restaurant. Their ice creams look great, 60 baht a scoop/cone.

And I really like their bathrooms, which appear to be cleaned and scrubbed down like every ten minutes. I think they have a guy there that watches you, and after you go out, he quickly goes in there and cleans up any residue you may have left. I'm sort of paranoid about using the bathroom facilities in a public place, then washing my hands, and then they expect you to open the door by touching that FILTHY door know, touched by hundreds who may NOT have washed their hands. I always grab some paper towels, and open the door by using the paper towels around my hand... then I just throw the paper towels on the floor... sort of as a way to REMIND the restaurant that they should have a little waste basket right there, by the door, for those of us who are paranoid about germs. There are a few places in town that DO provide this waste basket, or one real close.

If the place doesn't have paper towels, I'll grab some toilet paper, in a pinch, OR i'll wait for someone to go IN the bathroom, then I kick the door open with my foot... I'll do whatever it takes NOT to touch that doorknob.

And those frozen pizzas, I forget the brand, but available at Friendship and most other so-called "Western" style markets, are pretty good.

Sometimes they don't have the regular tomato sauce and cheese, so I'm forced to buy the frozen pizza with anchovies, and I have my maid remove the anchovies for me, as they are high in purines, which can cause gout in some people. Sometimes some people put a "the" in front of "gout", as in "I've got the gout"... sort of like in New York City, one "borough" is called "THE Bronx". Why do they do that... does anyone ever say "The Manhattan"?

The pizza upstairs at the Royal Garden, "The Wave", is pretty good.. but they never reheat it up hot enough. And those Russians buy them up real quick too. I saw on the MARTHA Stewart Show the other day, she had a guest on who made a pizza together, which looked pretty good. But I really hate when they put lots of junk in a pizza... I like it only with tomato sauce and cheese (mozarella). Although once every ten years or so, I might eat one with a piece of pepparoni in it.

There is a chain in the United States of Amerigay called "California Pizza Kitchen", and I know they have one pizza called something like "Thai pizza", which has cilantro and some bbq sauce. How is that Thai?

I would suggest eating pizza in moderation, as the cheese is high in cholesterol, which can clog your heart arteries, and cause you to have an irregular heartbeat and/or a heart attack. As a healthier alternative to pizza, I would suggest a mixed salad with lots of fresh vegetables, and a lite salad dressing.

If you do choose to eat a pizza, in order to make up for it's bad effects on your body, I would suggest 4 hours of HARD cardio exercise. And fasting for the next two days. There is almost no fiber in pizza. And if you don't know what that means, well, let's just say stock up on toilet paper. Like triple ply.

[Jingthing]

Either ketchup or catsup is perfectly correct. I don't know why I used catsup before. I grew up calling it ketchup as do most Americans I believe. In any case, it doesn't belong on pizza!

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ket2.htm

Senor Weho, the Thai pizza at California Pizza chain is topped with Thai BBQ chicken, so thats what makes it Thai. You can also get fusion Thai burrito wraps some places. I know it should be illegal.

Edited August 20, 2007 by Jingthing

[Weho]

Yes, I think you're right... Thai BBQ chicken pizza... but I don't recall if there is some Thai seasoning... i mean, what makes bbq chicken, even with some Thai spices, "Thai pizza"? And on a semi-related matter, I seem to recall this "California Pizza Kitchen" had this soup, that was really two soups in one bowl... one was, i think tortilla soup, (a cream colored soup), and the other one, on the other side of the same soup bowl, was, i think, tomato soup, reddish in color.

In any event, I was dining with someone who had a very ill mannered daughter, I think about 12 years old... the mother ordered the two-soup bowl... Upon it's arrival at the table, the ill-mannered child grabbed a spoon, and MIXED the two soups together. Needless to say, the mother was livid. She couldn't eat it.

But what really annoyed the mother was something else... the daughter was visiting the mother for dinner, as her biological father had custody of the brat. But the mother had a lot of money, and the father didn't have much. So when the mother went to the restroom, to take care of some biological function, the ill-mannered daughter goes up to a female server, and orders about $80 worth of food, TO GO... and the little girl told the server, "don't bring it until the very end".

So the waitress eventually brings the check, along with about 6 large TO GO dishes. The mother was MORE than livid.

No doubt, the crafty but poor father told the daughter to do that. The mother really couldn't say "no", because it wouldn't look good for her custody battle/case to deny her own daughter food.

Oh, and I recall that I had ordered a chicken caesar salad, and know that I always specify there to put COLD chicken on the salad, rather than cooked HOT chicken sitting on a cold bed of lettuce. I really hate that. I know that this restaurant has COLD chicken ready-made for those who request it in the salad as I always do.

One time I yelled at some restaurant manager somewhere for serving me hot chicken on cold lettuce. He said I was the first person ever to complain about that. Oh dear.

Am I right or what...

[JimmyTheMook]

Sometimes some people put a "the" in front of "gout", as in "I've got the gout"... sort of like in New York City, one "borough" is called "THE Bronx". Why do they do that... does anyone ever say "The Manhattan"?

It is really pronounced "Da Bronx" as in emphasizing what a shithole the place is.

I tried Pan Pan today and thought the pizza was good but I find Pizza Big in Nakula better.

[Weho]

Sometimes some people put a "the" in front of "gout", as in "I've got the gout"... sort of like in New York City, one "borough" is called "THE Bronx". Why do they do that... does anyone ever say "The Manhattan"?

It is really pronounced "Da Bronx" as in emphasizing what a shithole the place is.

I tried Pan Pan today and thought the pizza was good but I find Pizza Big in Nakula better.

I don't know Pizza Big... who has time to go past Pattaya Klang...

At Pan Pan, I get the feeling the place is clean, and there are always lots of people, which leads me to think there is high turnover of food, and it's probably very fresh. Does Pizza Big give that feeling?

But I do have one observation at Pan Pan that I don't like. They serve the pizza on these round wooden plank boards... which are HIGHLY unhealthy, and are a magnet for germs... they really can't be cleaned. And most people take a knife, and just dig it FURTHER into that wooden plank, creating more spaces for germs to hide, and GROW. Of course the wood looks nice, and you think maybe the pizza was cooked on the wood (which it isn't), and you think maybe that somehow makes it taste better (it doesn't, cause it's not cooked on/in it, it just sits ON IT... collecting germs).

And who knows how often, if ever, they clean the round wooden boards... I would guess never... and it's NOT possible to clean wood like that... especailly when farangs just cut into them, hourly, with sharp knives.

I always instruct the serving person NOT to put the pizza on the wood, but rather to put it DIRECTLY, repeat... DIRECTLY onto a porcelain plate... which CAN be cleaned.

If you're going to eat and cut pizza off one of those wooden planks, you may as well tongue-kiss every serving person in the restaurant...

I'm quite certain that isn't allowed in Amerigay, due to hygenic standards/laws.

And I recall, many years ago, I went into a "pub" somewhere in England, I think to get some light food... and I stood and watched the cashier/server/dishwasher (all one person), take the dirty filthy dishes, caked with dirty British food on them, and simply DIP the dirty dishes into a filthy vate of disgusting water... and then the broad just takes the dipped dishes, and puts them on the "clean rack". I ran out of there, horrified.

Generally Thai restaurants are much cleaner than western restaurants, as I very often see people wiping down surfaces.

And if you ever meet me, please don't try to shake my hand with your hand... I have no idea where it's been, of what it's touched recently. Just sort of nod your head, from side to side, like rapper Eve does.

[Jingthing]

Pizza Big pizza is quite nice. And quite big. I only had the calzone at Pan Pan so far and found it not exceptional. Their pizzas look good though, have to try one.

[booman]

I've been quoted before for saying pizza is like sex, when it's good it's great, but when it's bad it's still pretty good. this pizza is like (Chuck Wow) less then sex and masturbation combined. Holy crap!!!! Do not eat here, who is the owner? Probably British.

[Monkeypants]

when in Rome do as the romans, don't you Yanks know this ?

If you want the perfect cr@p pizza then have it in America.

You guy's whine to much, not to much, but over the top as ever.

Moan moan moan moan.

And yes I have been to the states,

Wouldn't go again though

Cos the yorkshire puddings are cr@p!!!

Edited August 20, 2007 by Monkeypants

[booman]

when in Rome do as the romans, don't you Yanks know this ?

If you want the perfect cr@p pizza then have it in America.

You guy's whine to much, not to much, but over the top as ever.

Moan moan moan moan.

And yes I have been to the states,

Wouldn't go again though

Cos the yorkshire puddings are cr@p!!!

Yes, but our pizzas don't suck

[Jingthing]

And yes I have been to the states,

Wouldn't go again though

Cos the yorkshire puddings are cr@p!!!

Excuse me!

My Yiddische-Yankee mama made a Yorkshire Pudding that would have inspired Maggie Thatcher to invade Cape Cod!

Edited August 20, 2007 by Jingthing

[booman]

And yes I have been to the states,

Wouldn't go again though

Cos the yorkshire puddings are cr@p!!!

Excuse me!

My Yiddische-Yankee mama made a Yorkshire Pudding that would have inspired Maggie Thatcher to invade Cape Cod!

But.. that a pizza. Yorkshire pudding is good... and I am sure your mum's is the best!

[Tinkelbell]

Welcome back ! My faverite 'Weho'

Your story about rule of hygine when using public bathrooms, reminds me of the late american billionaire- Howard Huges. I'm sure you knew him and heard of his peculiar behavior. In his last years, he could not live without Kleenex tissue. When he died in a hotel penhouse in Las Vegus. They found thousands of Kleenex boxes piled up from floor to ceiling. Acording to his aids, he never touch anything with his bare hands, he used tissues.

But your concern is only public bathroom. I have that habit too. I think it's a good one. I also washing my hands any time when I'm near the sink. You would be surprised if I said since I made a habit of washing my hand and and nose as often as I could, I have not had a cold all these years.

Glad to have you back !

[booman]

But, what was on the tissues, eh? HH, who's company now employs me was a...freak. Happy here to cause conversation.

[Weho]

Welcome back ! My faverite 'Weho'

Your story about rule of hygine when using public bathrooms, reminds me of the late american billionaire- Howard Huges. I'm sure you knew him and heard of his peculiar behavior. In his last years, he could not live without Kleenex tissue. When he died in a hotel penhouse in Las Vegus. They found thousands of Kleenex boxes piled up from floor to ceiling. Acording to his aids, he never touch anything with his bare hands, he used tissues.

But your concern is only public bathroom. I have that habit too. I think it's a good one. I also washing my hands any time when I'm near the sink. You would be surprised if I said since I made a habit of washing my hand and and nose as often as I could, I have not had a cold all these years.

Glad to have you back !

It's a good habit... imagine, using a public bathroom, then washing your hands, and immediatly touching that FILTHY bathroom door knob, touched by hundreds, most of whom don't wash their hands. Then 1/2 hour later, you rub your eyes, or rub your nose, or touch your mouth, and now you've got a bad cold, or worse.

I don't get colds either.

I guess the key is to have as little human contact, or contact with the outside world as possible. But sometimes you can't help it... like if you use an A.T.M. machine, you simply have no choice but to touch those filthy buttons, and collect that filthy cash.

Or like if you're at Carrefour, and you want to select a piece of brocolli, you have to touch all the brocolli they have wrapped in plastic, to conceal the rotting brocolli under the plastic. Just picture in your mind every prostitute in Pattaya, at Carrefour, before they go to work, like around 5 pm, touching that wrapped brocolli. Where have those hands been? How many times a day do they take the trouble to wash those hands? How many times has that prostitute rubbed his/her nose, THEN touched that brocolli? It's called "cross-contamination"...

Like if you buy a package of uncooked chicken that hasn't been washed, and might contain some bad bacteria... if you put it in a bowl, THEN wash it, THEN put it back into that dirty now contaminated bowl, what's the point of pretending to wash it?

And not to "name drop" too much, but I went to some parties, where present, was a famous celebrity that dated Howard Hughes for many years. This person loved those Corgi (sp.?) dogs.

[Ulysses G.]

Holy crap!!!! Do not eat here, who is the owner? Probably British.

[brooklynbridge]

when in Rome do as the romans, don't you Yanks know this ?

If you want the perfect cr@p pizza then have it in America.

You guy's whine to much, not to much, but over the top as ever.

Moan moan moan moan.

And yes I have been to the states,

Wouldn't go again though

Cos the yorkshire puddings are cr@p!!!

Whenever you Brits who "have been to the States" make judgements, I want to ask "Where in the States have you been?" It's an awfully big and diverse country, you know. Have you been to Las Vegas? Miami? New York? Boston? Nebraska? How long have you spent there? Have you been anything more than a tourist? Did you venture beyond Wendy's and Mc Donalds? Did you look for anything else than pubgrub?

America has thousands of cuisines and tens of thousands of restaurants. Unlike England, the US has absorbed generations of immigration and, in the urban centers like New York and San Francisco, generations of fine international cooking. In all its 300 years of empire, Britannia aborbed nothing more than vidaloo and soggy Chinese food. Chicken curry is still the English idea of exotic cuisine.

I find your "crap pizza" remark typical of the provincialism and insularity of the British, who, until a few years ago, were eating pasties and beans on toast almost exclusively. Now that they can cross the Channel for cheap cigarettes and booze, they have expanded their tastes somewhat. But what you find wherever the yobbo British settle in droves -- the coast of Spain, Normandy, and, yes, Pattaya -- is a proliferation of steak and kidney.

You can find more varied and delicious food on Second Avenue in Manhattan, or along the No 7 Subway line in Queens, or in San Francisco, or in many other American urban centers than you can in London (forget about other English cities).

Anyone who judges the cuisine of a country of 280 million by the availability of Cornish pasties is quaint.

Among many benefits of 1776 was independence from English food.

By the way, Dean and DeLuca, on 14th Street and 8th Avenue has excellent pasties, and other savouries.

Edited August 21, 2007 by brooklynbridge

[Ulysses G.]

Many people say that London now has some excellent world class restaurants, but I don't think that good taste has trickled down to more common people who are not profesional Chefs. I have seen a lot of British people all over the world raving about how good restaurant food was that I found absolutely putrid.

I did meet the wife of an English diplomat once many years ago that actually knew good food and good restaurants, but that was a long time ago and she seemed to be one of a kind.

[Weho]

I know it's not fair to judge all British food, based on one bad experience, but I feel this has to be told:

Some years ago, I walked into a semi-charming looking restaurant in the Earl's Court area of London town. I ordered the "bbq chicken", thinking to myself, "how bad could it be... what could they possible do to mess it up..."

Thinking it would take about 10 or 15 minutes for the to bring the platter to my table, I was surprised when it only took 2 minutes.

I was presented with a platter, which had a ROTISSERIE chicken on it, which was then smothered, I mean DRENCHED in cheap, cold ketchup.

I enquired, and they said what was served was correct, and I was, of course, the first person to complain about it.

Even the bottled waters from the U.K. are pretty bad.

In their defense, I do like that Cadbury chocolate bar, the one that's mostly air, not sure of the name, but it's real flakey, I think... I guess the less food, and the more air, the better the British food.

I had a friend that got food poisioning at the famous Simpson's on the Strand restaurant in London... I told them to order the roast beef, but my friend order some kind of shrimp dish... sick for a whole week...

[wilko]

I've seen durum flour at Tops and Carrefour but not used it yet.

Durum flour is for pasta, not pizza!

Pizza IS pasta!

[Ulysses G.]

I've seen durum flour at Tops and Carrefour but not used it yet.

Durum flour is for pasta, not pizza!

Pizza IS pasta!

Not in my book. To me, pasta is noodles, where pizza is a type of bread. The dictionary wasn't very specific, but it didn't mention pizza as a type of pasta.