Buying Steak In Pattaya

[tuffy]

I am looking for a new place to buy my meat from.

For the last year I having been buying my steak at B Lucky on 2nd road. I usually buy a loin of Rib eye from New Zealand and have them cut it for me into 1-1 1/2" thick steaks. This last batch I bought I definitely got the switch a roo. When i got home I ate the end piece myself one night and it was definitely good. About a week later i thawed out 6-8 pieces invited a few friends over to christen my new BBQ i brought over from the states. After all the bragging I had been doing about how good this steak was going to be, everyone was pretty quiet and when i sawed into my steak and tried to chew it down I realized why. I have had better Thai beef steak! I am pretty sure that is what this is.

Anyway I just thawed out another steak and decided to give it one more try...thinking maybe it was just over cooked the first time. No such luck, this is tougher than shoe leather and about as tasty. I have had good luck with B Lucky in the past and I know other guys who swear by them but either their supplier or the some one there sold me a useless chuck of meat.

Where does everyone else buy their steaks from? Have any of you run into this problem before?

In the past the NZ rib eye had been excellent, but now I am a little leery of going back there again.

[onzestan]

Only one place for good meat : Foodland

cheers

onzestan

[Hssl]

If you don't mined frozen try SS sauage on nukula road - also B-lucky, but have some fair priced Oz & NZ imports and will cut to what ever size you need

[tropo]

Only one place for good meat : Foodland

cheers

onzestan

I second that. Foodland is the only place I'll buy meat.

They have choices of many imported cuts (NZ, Australia, US, Japan) and their food handling and storage practices are world class. I go there early morning and they are always emptying and cleaning the display cabinets. You'll never get any foul odours there as you do in other supermarkets where meat (pork) is openly displayed. All display meat is double wrapped.

[naka]

Foodland of course ! The rest just plain don't have the same hygiene standards.

Friendship 50/50 but surly staff.

Tops !

Hope the new Villa will be good.

Naka.

[monty]

Although Foodland most definitely is the most hygienic of the lot, their handling still leaves to be desired!

Their (and all other places) biggest offense is the breaking of the cold chain.

Pretty much all their meats comes in frozen, which means that all the meat you see in their fridge is not suited anymore for re-freezing! Everything you buy in Foodland is for immediate consumption (well, next couple of days of course) and is not to be frozen again when you get home.

Thawed frozen meat should not be re-frozen!

Freezing does not kill bacteria and other contaminants, it just stops their growth. When you thaw your meat, these bacteria start to reproduce again, even at temperatures just above the freezing point! When re-freezing in a home freezer, which does not deep freeze very fast (as opposed to industrial freezers which can deepfreeze several tens of kilos of meat in just an hour) giving the bacteria plenty of time to reproduce!

It is true that if the thawing happens in a fridge (0 to 4 C) the risk is not high when you re-freeze, but unfortunately, these display fridges seldom can sustain temperatures that cold. They mostly are between 7 and 12 C!

I am convinced that a lot of the belly aches over here result from perfectly good tasting beef, of which the cold chain has not been maintained properly and which has not been fully cooked (like most Europeans love their steaks)!

I have seen imported beef marked "chilled" in frozen state in Foodland, terrible offence

[tropo]

Although Foodland most definitely is the most hygienic of the lot, their handling still leaves to be desired!

Their (and all other places) biggest offense is the breaking of the cold chain.

Pretty much all their meats comes in frozen, which means that all the meat you see in their fridge is not suited anymore for re-freezing! Everything you buy in Foodland is for immediate consumption (well, next couple of days of course) and is not to be frozen again when you get home.

Thawed frozen meat should not be re-frozen!

Freezing does not kill bacteria and other contaminants, it just stops their growth. When you thaw your meat, these bacteria start to reproduce again, even at temperatures just above the freezing point! When re-freezing in a home freezer, which does not deep freeze very fast (as opposed to industrial freezers which can deepfreeze several tens of kilos of meat in just an hour) giving the bacteria plenty of time to reproduce!

It is true that if the thawing happens in a fridge (0 to 4 C) the risk is not high when you re-freeze, but unfortunately, these display fridges seldom can sustain temperatures that cold. They mostly are between 7 and 12 C!

I am convinced that a lot of the belly aches over here result from perfectly good tasting beef, of which the cold chain has not been maintained properly and which has not been fully cooked (like most Europeans love their steaks)!

I have seen imported beef marked "chilled" in frozen state in Foodland, terrible offence

I've never really considered the fact that a lot of what I buy at Foodland maybe brought in frozen so you've made some valid points however I think you're oversimplifying the process. You're better off refreezing newly defrosted meat than freezing never-frozen meat that's been sitting in a butcher's display for quite a while. It's more a matter of how long the meat has been kept at what temperature...which of course we can never really know for sure.

I've been refreezing most of the meat I buy at Foodland, unfrozen it and eaten it rare without incident. I throw the chicken I buy at Foodland straight in the freezer and sometimes don't eat it for 6 months. I recently defrosted and ate 9 month old chicken from Foodland....delicious.

[thai_narak]

Right, FOODLAND....

[tuffy]

I can't believe foodland is the best choice, I wasn't that impressed with their meat either.

Does anyone know of good meat shop that sells imported meat in bulk?

[Clipped]

how about going to the local thai market and picking out a cut...flies included

freshly slaughtered the same morning...

[tropo]

I can't believe foodland is the best choice, I wasn't that impressed with their meat either.

Does anyone know of good meat shop that sells imported meat in bulk?

You should splash out and try some of their more expense cuts of tenderloin. Cooking can ruin the best meat, but if done right it's so tender you can eat it with a spoon.

You must understand they have multiple qualities in most cuts. With t-bone steaks, for example, you can buy standard local meat (approx 80 baht for a t-bone), then up the pen-fed local meat (about 150), then NZ and Australian T-bones (around 300 per bone). Same with tenderloin. Local per kg = 250 - 450, Pen-fed = 650, US imported (over 1000). Don't expect the best meat for peanuts - you get what you pay for. They even had Japanese strip loin beef for 9,999 baht per kg at one stage, I'm not sure if it's still on sale. They really do cater to every market.

If Foodland hasn't got meat good enough for you, then you're better off sticking with vegetables.

Edited August 15, 2007 by tropo

[tuffy]

I can't believe foodland is the best choice, I wasn't that impressed with their meat either.

Does anyone know of good meat shop that sells imported meat in bulk?

You should splash out and try some of their more expense cuts of tenderloin. Cooking can ruin the best meat, but if done right it's so tender you can eat it with a spoon.

You must understand they have multiple qualities in most cuts. With t-bone steaks, for example, you can buy standard local meat (approx 80 baht for a t-bone), then up the pen-fed local meat (about 150), then NZ and Australian T-bones (around 300 per bone). Same with tenderloin. Local per kg = 250 - 450, Pen-fed = 650, US imported (over 1000). Don't expect the best meat for peanuts - you get what you pay for. They even had Japanese strip loin beef for 9,999 baht per kg at one stage, I'm not sure if it's still on sale. They really do cater to every market.

If Foodland hasn't got meat good enough for you, then you're better off sticking with vegetables.

Veggies isn't an option so I guess I need to give food land another look see!

[tropo]

Veggies isn't an option so I guess I need to give food land another look see!

If you don't like anything you see in the display, ask them to bring something from the back. They'll bring it out to show you before they cut it up.

There's a frozen meat section too where they sell individually packaged meat cuts. All well labelled saying where they're from. This is where you'll find the NZ lamb. This is usually where I buy meat that I intend to stick in the freezer, and it's quite good being able to hand pick exactly the type of cut you want. i.e. a thick t-bone, a thinner one etc.

If anyone is into raw salmon sushimi, they have very nice salmon fillets in the fish section. I usually get them to bring out the whole salmon and get them to cut a strip off it. That goes for about 675 per kilo. Make sure you pick up some wasabi and kikkoman soy sauce on the way out too. They carry frozen salmon fillets too in the frozen section at a cheaper price.