The Best Meal Value In Pattaya Is...

[Weho]

In the food hall area, downstairs at Carrefour, at the Carrefour booth, in front of the door going to the parking lot, they sell excellent roast beef sandwiches for 35 baht. It is very high quality REAL roast beef, good bread, and priced right. A sandwich at nearby Subway sandwiches, with processed/high nitrates ridden fake "roast beef" is something like 120 baht.

Another good deal in town: I like the children's meals at some of the fast food places, where it's sort of like "portion control", where you can't overeat. I like the small sized drinks, where you're not drinking huge quantities of sugar since it's a child's portion. KFC has one for 65 baht, with a nice toy. 10 baht extra for greasy fries though... and KFC will usually let you substitute the child's drumstick for a nice breast piece. (Always remove the skin, no matter what, or you'll end up like one of those European pot-bellies, that hangs out at Royal Garden in a tattered TANK-TOP that says something like "Manchester United", or "Chang Beer"... very impressive!

McDonald's is o.k too, cause you get a small hamburger... Yes, I know they aren't too healthy, but the point is the portions are small, so it's not as wicked as if you were ordering 2 big macs, a large fries, and a large sugary Coke.

For a healthier meal, at a fair price, the Sizzler salad bar is good, but don't take any of the mayonaise-ridden "salads" there, and go for the low calorie salad dressing. Their low-carb pesto fish is a great choice too, but a few more baht.

[Globeliner]

Hi Weho, just been reading your last post, are you male or female by the way?

[libya 115]

Hi Weho, just been reading your last post, are you male or female by the way?

What's that got to do with the price of fish?

Anyway, Drunken Duncans on Soi Buakhaew is a sit-down-meal snip for 20 baht with free iced water thrown in.

Edited May 27, 2007 by libya 115

[Luckydog]

Ate myself silly in one of those Eat All for 99bht places, then found they had charged 120bht for a small bottle of water!

[Weho]

Hi Weho, just been reading your last post, are you male or female by the way?

Maybe I'm "gender-neutral", maybe I'm both, maybe I'm neither. Maybe I drive a pickup trick and wear flannel shirts, and have lots of cats running around.

Please explain why you need to do, or what it has to do with the price of a cheap sandwich, and I'll be happy to respond, if convinced.

And regarding the good value meals, I was referring to farang-type food... I'm sure you can get local Thai food for 5 baht... but you might also get Tomaine (sp.?).... or trichinosis.

[ErikD]

Hi Weho, just been reading your last post, are you male or female by the way?

Maybe I'm "gender-neutral", maybe I'm both, maybe I'm neither. Maybe I drive a pickup trick and wear flannel shirts, and have lots of cats running around.

Well if you are both you will fit in well here in Pattaya! Driving a pickup trick would be a good trick since most of us drive pickup trucks here (LOL).

And regarding the good value meals, I was referring to farang-type food... I'm sure you can get local Thai food for 5 baht... but you might also get Tomaine (sp.?).... or trichinosis.

BTW I eat loads of the cheap 5 baht Thai food available in and around Pattaya from the street stalls and I think it is great and have never been ill or got anything from it!

[wilko]

Weho - are you compliling a guide or something....."Pattaya on 20 baht a day"?????

[PhilHarries]

Weho - are you compliling a guide or something....."Pattaya on 20 baht a day"?????

Don't know so much about that but he/she's been a member over three years, made 170 odd posts of which I reckon 50 have been in the last couple of days.

Anyway there have been threads on living in LoS on a tight budget so it might be useful info to someone and one of the most common words on TV is cheap and it's derivatives.

PS Weho, I wouldn't recommend KL for your visa runs. Over the weekend I paid the equivalent of 130 Baht for a plate of som tam. It was good though.

[Weho]

Weho - are you compliling a guide or something....."Pattaya on 20 baht a day"?????

Don't know so much about that but he/she's been a member over three years, made 170 odd posts of which I reckon 50 have been in the last couple of days.

Anyway there have been threads on living in LoS on a tight budget so it might be useful info to someone and one of the most common words on TV is cheap and it's derivatives.

PS Weho, I wouldn't recommend KL for your visa runs. Over the weekend I paid the equivalent of 130 Baht for a plate of som tam. It was good though.

I don't recall ever writing what my personal budget was, I was simply pointing at a few places I found to be "good value", that I may go to from time to time. Perhaps I eat at more expensive places, perhaps I starve, or eat out of trash cans. I just didn't say, so you have made an assumption about something unknonw to you.

[Hobgoblin]

Hi Weho, just been reading your last post, are you male or female by the way?

Maybe I'm "gender-neutral", maybe I'm both, maybe I'm neither. Maybe I drive a pickup trick and wear flannel shirts, and have lots of cats running around.

Please explain why you need to do, or what it has to do with the price of a cheap sandwich, and I'll be happy to respond, if convinced.

And regarding the good value meals, I was referring to farang-type food... I'm sure you can get local Thai food for 5 baht... but you might also get Tomaine (sp.?).... or trichinosis.

Driving a pickup trick? Sounds kinky.

I disagree with the "local food"comment you referred to. I've eaten many delicious meals at small noodle stands or other varieties of what we can refer to as "street food", and I have never gotten sick from eating any of it. The places I *have* gotten food poisoning from include Subway (Carrefour), Bob's Texas BBQ (Beef Brisket) and the slop atop the Russian Erection (Pattaya Park Tower Revolving Buffet).

I do however, understand why people avoid street food. Some people have a higher tolerance for bacteria and other things that swim in undercooked or poorly kept food. A friend of mine got a violent case of ptomaine from some duck... which I also ate, and did not affect me at all. I suppose I've eaten enough street food to have a fairly healthy tolerance.

Thanks for the suggestion for the roast beef sandwiches at Carrefour, but there's no way I'll order a "kids" meal at McDonald's

Edited May 28, 2007 by Hobgoblin

[Weho]

Hi Weho, just been reading your last post, are you male or female by the way?

Maybe I'm "gender-neutral", maybe I'm both, maybe I'm neither. Maybe I drive a pickup trick and wear flannel shirts, and have lots of cats running around.

Please explain why you need to do, or what it has to do with the price of a cheap sandwich, and I'll be happy to respond, if convinced.

And regarding the good value meals, I was referring to farang-type food... I'm sure you can get local Thai food for 5 baht... but you might also get Tomaine (sp.?).... or trichinosis.

Driving a pickup trick? Sounds kinky.

I disagree with the "local food"comment you referred to. I've eaten many delicious meals at small noodle stands or other varieties of what we can refer to as "street food", and I have never gotten sick from eating any of it. The places I *have* gotten food poisoning from include Subway (Carrefour), Bob's Texas BBQ (Beef Brisket) and the slop atop the Russian Erection (Pattaya Park Tower Revolving Buffet).

I do however, understand why people avoid street food. Some people have a higher tolerance for bacteria and other things that swim in undercooked or poorly kept food. A friend of mine got a violent case of ptomaine from some duck... which I also ate, and did not affect me at all. I suppose I've eaten enough street food to have a fairly healthy tolerance.

Thanks for the suggestion for the roast beef sandwiches at Carrefour, but there's no way I'll order a "kids" meal at McDonald's

Where do I start... first of all, thanks for the extra attention you've given me, that I crave so much...

I can't believe you're still alive after eating at "many" noodle stands/street "food". I see those vendors pull out these plastic bowls where washing passes for a quick DUNK in filthy/bacteria ridden slop. If you've really survived that, the military needs to get a hold of you, to do some research and testing on. And the rancid oil, that probably hasn't been changed in weeks? And just imagine how many insects fly into that, especially when it cools down, and turns into some hardened lard material, which gets heated up, and turned into oil again, the next day, and over and over, maybe even for weeks. I must admit, the deep fried crickets they sell do seem quite tasty... IF you've been held as a prisioner and haven't had anything to eat in weeks... and some people eat them voluntarily here. Go figure.

I would like to compliment you on knowing the correct spelling of PTOMAINE... something, no doubt, you are quite familiar with. And I have a sense that you may become even more familiar with it very shortly, if you keep eating that "street food". YECH!

[wilko]

There's no such thing as immunity from food poisoning and if you eat at a western buffet you may well experience the delights of food poisoning sooner rather than later.

[gharknes]

there are many eateries around Pattaya that don't charge rip off falang prices, I can easily eat for 25baht in many many places and it's good grub, profit hungary falangs are ruining this city

[Weho]

There's no such thing as immunity from food poisoning and if you eat at a western buffet you may well experience the delights of food poisoning sooner rather than later.

I must say that in general, from what i've witnessed, the Thai farang restaurants seem a lot cleaner than restaurants back in our home countries. I see them constantly wiping down surfaces. In fast food places, there is always lots of staff to not just sweep, but mop floors. I hope the cleaning continues back in the kitchen.

I do agree that you can just as easly get food poisioning from a farang restaurant as from a non-farang restaurant, especially things like Hepititis C, which the restaurant usually has no control over. If a farmer goes #2 on a growing salad in the field, it may not be noticible when it gets to a restaurant, or supermarket too.

Best to get those immunization shots, I think a series of two or three, which supposedly works. I got them, and have not had a problem. Of course i'm a bit more paranoid than most here, but i'm doing something right.

[Humphrey Bear]

PS Weho, I wouldn't recommend KL for your visa runs. Over the weekend I paid the equivalent of 130 Baht for a plate of som tam. It was good though.

Sungai Wang Plaza - basement - on Bukit Bintang

There is (was) a hot-pot place down there that was very like MK restaurants. Good for Thai g/f who is not keen on trying new foods.

The 'Thai' restaurants in the area are mainly catering to European and Chinese taste (bland dishes) but when coming out of Sungai Wang Plaza, face Bukit Bintang street and across the road is a side street down which you can reach all the Chinese street restaurants. On the second corner is a very scruffy-looking place (but clean) that serves really good Thai food, cheap.

[PhilHarries]

PS Weho, I wouldn't recommend KL for your visa runs. Over the weekend I paid the equivalent of 130 Baht for a plate of som tam. It was good though.

Sungai Wang Plaza - basement - on Bukit Bintang

There is (was) a hot-pot place down there that was very like MK restaurants. Good for Thai g/f who is not keen on trying new foods.

The 'Thai' restaurants in the area are mainly catering to European and Chinese taste (bland dishes) but when coming out of Sungai Wang Plaza, face Bukit Bintang street and across the road is a side street down which you can reach all the Chinese street restaurants. On the second corner is a very scruffy-looking place (but clean) that serves really good Thai food, cheap.

Yes I know those places HB but my current companion, Philippina, isn't quite ready for that level of Thai eating. I know the "scruffy" one and I'll give it a shot when I'm on my own one evening. The one I can recommend is called Bangkok Jam. It's in BB Park further down Jln Bukit Bintang, past the massage pests (touts), opposite the Outback Grill. Expensive, meal for two 140 MYR (1400 THB ) but it's the best Thai food I've found in KL.

You are right that most Thai restaurants in KL serve up a very bland pale immitation of Thai food. another one that's worth trying is the Rama V in Jalan U Thant almost opposite the side entrance to the US embassy. There are a couple of good Vietnamese places in town, Saigon Village and Viet Passion.

[suiging]

Set lunches at " The Rainbow " attatched to the golf driving range on Siam Country Club Road, hard to beat. Fresh produce, great staff.

[wilko]

Your fear of street food is completely without basis

[wilko]

"especially things like Hepititis C," - as far as I can assertain Hep C is transmitted by blood to blood contact and not through contaminated food-stuffs; are you thinking of Hep A?

Ptomaine - as a term for food poisoning is no longer in use as it doesn't actually refer to any specific type of food poisoning. - ptomaines themselves are not actually harmful.

[raro]

Someone who speaks out against street food and promotes instead the junk that KFC and McDonalds have on offer with emphasis on the "low sugar because small" cokes coming with the kids portions....give me a break!

[helicoptor]

I eat from the food stalls, noodle sit downs all the time, never had food poisoning yet

What's stopping the KFC worker hokking into your chicken burger out of your sight before serving it to you with a smile?

weho you are a scare mongerer

[jdinasia]

I do agree that you can just as easly get food poisioning from a farang restaurant as from a non-farang restaurant, especially things like Hepititis C, which the restaurant usually has no control over. If a farmer goes #2 on a growing salad in the field, it may not be noticible when it gets to a restaurant, or supermarket too.

Best to get those immunization shots, I think a series of two or three, which supposedly works. I got them, and have not had a problem. Of course i'm a bit more paranoid than most here, but i'm doing something right.

as someone else pointed out ... HepC doesn't come from food ...... nor is there an immunization shot

[Prakanong]

There's no such thing as immunity from food poisoning and if you eat at a western buffet you may well experience the delights of food poisoning sooner rather than later.

I must say that in general, from what i've witnessed, the Thai farang restaurants seem a lot cleaner than restaurants back in our home countries. I see them constantly wiping down surfaces. In fast food places, there is always lots of staff to not just sweep, but mop floors. I hope the cleaning continues back in the kitchen.

I do agree that you can just as easly get food poisioning from a farang restaurant as from a non-farang restaurant, especially things like Hepititis C, which the restaurant usually has no control over. If a farmer goes #2 on a growing salad in the field, it may not be noticible when it gets to a restaurant, or supermarket too.

Best to get those immunization shots, I think a series of two or three, which supposedly works. I got them, and have not had a problem. Of course i'm a bit more paranoid than most here, but i'm doing something right.

I dunno where you eat pet but if peole are gettng Hep C (HCV) there they must be vampires ;-)

Hep C is a blood borne virus

You may be thinking of Hep A which can be food borne - usually of the oral-faecal route but it is also in some types of food ie shellfish

There is a very effective vaccine for Hep A and a combined one with Hep B (another blood borne virus but some other bodily fluids can pass it too) - living or even visiting Thailand you should really be covered for both Hep A and B - not to do so is rather silly.

[Prakanong]

I do agree that you can just as easly get food poisioning from a farang restaurant as from a non-farang restaurant, especially things like Hepititis C, which the restaurant usually has no control over. If a farmer goes #2 on a growing salad in the field, it may not be noticible when it gets to a restaurant, or supermarket too.

Best to get those immunization shots, I think a series of two or three, which supposedly works. I got them, and have not had a problem. Of course i'm a bit more paranoid than most here, but i'm doing something right.

as someone else pointed out ... HepC doesn't come from food ...... nor is there an immunization shot

You are correct - no immunisation shot as yet - candidate vaccines only in phase I think so it will be a wee while yet.

[suiging]

Sadly not all folk pick up immunity from the shots available. Not many granted, but yours truely has had the shots and whamo.....no anti-bodies.

[Weho]

I stand corrected, I meant Hepititis A. Also, I feel a small child's portion at KFC or McDonald's is a safer choice than a 1 gram serving of any street food sold in Thailand. Very risky, indeed. McDonald's does have a healthy salad, as long as you don't smother it with the "salad cream" they provide, which isn't too bad. At KFC, if you remove ALL of the chicken skin, as I always do, it's not too bad.

And the chances of a KFC worker hocking a "loogie", in my opinion, in Thailand, are pretty small. In other countries, it's almost guaranteed.

I do wish the fast food places had some healthier options here. Au Bon Pain has some good choices. I always order the child's meals at fast food places, cause I don't always trust my self-control when eating... kind of like the way some of you "pig out" and have 2 big burgers, 2 large fries, a JUMBO sugary diabetic-inducing Coke, and a few beers to "chase" it down. At least I know i'm not in that category.

Here's a tip: make sure you eat LOTS of fiber... fiber is life. Fiber is the key to life. Street food has virtually NO FIBER. It's mostly all fried crap, which can make British food start to look good.

[jdinasia]

Read the food poisoning threads and see how many times KFC is mentioned

[Meg_2003]

Been eating Thai Street food for the last 7 years, Never been ill once.. Cant say that about the Foreign food restaurants, though...

[Prakanong]

Sadly not all folk pick up immunity from the shots available. Not many granted, but yours truely has had the shots and whamo.....no anti-bodies.

You must be one of the unlucky ones - I did think it was 100% though for Hep A and 90%+ for Hep B

I must have had Hep A at one point and not really known about it. I had one Twinrix jab then had a health screening.

I am immune to Hep A so continued with engerix for B only - wil get my antibodies done again soon

[v8tfcorty]

20 minutes after eating the kiddie meal and you discover your hungry again do you go back for another one ????

Edited June 6, 2007 by v8tfcorty