Food Courts Dont Taste Good To Me Anymore

[lifeisrandom]

i stopped eating in food courts for awhile and was only eating my lady's cooking and a couple of select only open at night type local, but expensive type of place (perhaps you know the type, not sure how else to describe it. they serve dishs not common to street vendors liek various fish and usually serve tom yam in a large bowl with a fire at the base) and then recently went back to eat in a food court and realized that the food served in food courts is GARBAGE.

i also think Fuji, MK, and most of those other 'chain' resteraunts serve bad food. I used to think it was great but i guess my tastes changed or got more expensive. I just cant eat in these places anymore the quality is not high enough for me.

has anyone else experienced this in their time in thailand?

[Bangyai]

i stopped eating in food courts for awhile and was only eating my lady's cooking and a couple of select only open at night type local, but expensive type of place (perhaps you know the type, not sure how else to describe it. they serve dishs not common to street vendors liek various fish and usually serve tom yam in a large bowl with a fire at the base) and then recently went back to eat in a food court and realized that the food served in food courts is GARBAGE.

i also think Fuji, MK, and most of those other 'chain' resteraunts serve bad food. I used to think it was great but i guess my tastes changed or got more expensive. I just cant eat in these places anymore the quality is not high enough for me.

has anyone else experienced this in their time in thailand?

Yes...moi. I agree, most foodcourts are the pits and in a govournment test were found to be healthier breeding places for bacteria. However, I'll make an exception with The Mall, any branch you like. They have a better choice and generally are a bit cleaner. As

for Fuji, pretty good I think, especially at lunchtime. M.K. ???? Isn't that where English students drag there teachers at the end of term for a good night out

[Travel2003]

i stopped eating in food courts for awhile and was only eating my lady's cooking and a couple of select only open at night type local, but expensive type of place (perhaps you know the type, not sure how else to describe it. they serve dishs not common to street vendors liek various fish and usually serve tom yam in a large bowl with a fire at the base) and then recently went back to eat in a food court and realized that the food served in food courts is GARBAGE.

i also think Fuji, MK, and most of those other 'chain' resteraunts serve bad food. I used to think it was great but i guess my tastes changed or got more expensive. I just cant eat in these places anymore the quality is not high enough for me.

has anyone else experienced this in their time in thailand?

True, or at least to me it is true.

But I think at goes for all countries.

In the beginning it is normally all good, since it is new and exciting.

I think as we are widening our gastranomic horizon, we will be more aware of what is quality or not maybe.

[Maigo6]

MK serving bad food ?

Personally I have never experienced that, always good.

[Super Hans]

You tend to get what you pay for - 30 baht from a decent plate of rice and curry is ok by me. Not world class food, but quick and cheap. Menus are usually in english too, which is good for those that are new.

Why are there so few food courts in england. An astute investor could make a fortune.

Edited August 13, 2008 by Super Hans

[RakJungTorlae]

Fuji Is 2 star Japanese food. MK ummm I like the Duck. But there small dish are Crap. Use to when I was young. Well Oushi Express Buffet is good.. Not the Sushi train one But the real Buffet with a big selection. tast good.

[Lost in LOS]

MK serving bad food ?

Personally I have never experienced that, always good.

MK is one of my favorite restaurants and i eat lunch there several times a week. i always get red pork. lately it has been really fatty half of the time ,which until a month ago, was rarely the case. i also get the Chinese broccoli and they always serve the pork right away but usually barely warm and i have to wait a long time for the broccoli.

still like it, still get the same thing but it definitely has gone downhill

[Lost in LOS]

Fuji Is 2 star Japanese food. MK ummm I like the Duck. But there small dish are Crap. Use to when I was young. Well Oushi Express Buffet is good.. Not the Sushi train one But the real Buffet with a big selection. tast good.

fuji consistently good but don't order the California rolls. full of mayonnaise and topped with mayonnaise. there should be none in that dish

[petitechevre]

i stopped eating in food courts for awhile and was only eating my lady's cooking and a couple of select only open at night type local, but expensive type of place (perhaps you know the type, not sure how else to describe it. they serve dishs not common to street vendors liek various fish and usually serve tom yam in a large bowl with a fire at the base) and then recently went back to eat in a food court and realized that the food served in food courts is GARBAGE.

i also think Fuji, MK, and most of those other 'chain' resteraunts serve bad food. I used to think it was great but i guess my tastes changed or got more expensive. I just cant eat in these places anymore the quality is not high enough for me.

has anyone else experienced this in their time in thailand?

Yes food court is terrible, i got sick from it many times. its decent for standard pork soup before going to tesco or whatever.. but outside of that.. ew.

(although at mbk, the food court with plates from all country does have good stuff.. siam too.. )

but the food you are talking about is far from expensive..

i mean even the president solitaire's meals are mostly 600baht.. thats far from expensive.

In phuket theres high class restaurants with everything home made (italian and other places) that would cost at least 55$ a plate back home. and they only cost 200 baht here.

a meal under 500 baht is anything but expensive. so the 90plate you order instead of nitpicking 30baht 3 times a day, is not expensive and far from being more clean. those houses at night which i used to eat at a lot before i bought frozen chicken wings are quite dirty.. but hmmm oso good squid

[lifeisrandom]

MK serving bad food ?

Personally I have never experienced that, always good.

MK is one of my favorite restaurants and i eat lunch there several times a week. i always get red pork. lately it has been really fatty half of the time ,which until a month ago, was rarely the case. i also get the Chinese broccoli and they always serve the pork right away but usually barely warm and i have to wait a long time for the broccoli.

still like it, still get the same thing but it definitely has gone downhill

go to chinatown or if you are in the silom road area there is a ba-mee gio moo dang-grob shop by the bts on the silom complex side (much better than mk imo)

[lifeisrandom]

i stopped eating in food courts for awhile and was only eating my lady's cooking and a couple of select only open at night type local, but expensive type of place (perhaps you know the type, not sure how else to describe it. they serve dishs not common to street vendors liek various fish and usually serve tom yam in a large bowl with a fire at the base) and then recently went back to eat in a food court and realized that the food served in food courts is GARBAGE.

i also think Fuji, MK, and most of those other 'chain' resteraunts serve bad food. I used to think it was great but i guess my tastes changed or got more expensive. I just cant eat in these places anymore the quality is not high enough for me.

has anyone else experienced this in their time in thailand?

Yes food court is terrible, i got sick from it many times. its decent for standard pork soup before going to tesco or whatever.. but outside of that.. ew.

(although at mbk, the food court with plates from all country does have good stuff.. siam too.. )

but the food you are talking about is far from expensive..

i mean even the president solitaire's meals are mostly 600baht.. thats far from expensive.

In phuket theres high class restaurants with everything home made (italian and other places) that would cost at least 55$ a plate back home. and they only cost 200 baht here.

a meal under 500 baht is anything but expensive. so the 90plate you order instead of nitpicking 30baht 3 times a day, is not expensive and far from being more clean. those houses at night which i used to eat at a lot before i bought frozen chicken wings are quite dirty.. but hmmm oso good squid

have you been drinking? your post is incoherent!

you get what you pay for calling a 200 baht italian meal 'high class' doesnt sit well with me as all ingredients to make good italian food are expensive here

Edited August 13, 2008 by lifeisrandom

[lazeeboy]

i will eat in food courts ie big c or tesco to please the mrs ,for me its just soso food ,you get what you pay for

[canuckamuck]

Food courts are serving low quality food! How can this be?

Actually, I think most of the world has figured that one out already.

MK is good food? ok that is a real surprise to me. But maybe because I am so unimpressed with the whole, cook it yourself concept, that I just let, whoever's idea it was to go there, order the food. maybe there is something more on the menu. As far as I can tell it is just boiled meat veggies and sukiyaki sauce hardly worth leaving the house for.

If I served my friends boiled meat back home they'd think I was playing a joke on them.

[Boater]

MK serving bad food ?

Personally I have never experienced that, always good.

I have had good and bad food there, but i do not blame MK, more i blame the person on the table cooking it

[Jingthing]

OK. for my first few years going to Thailand, I thought food courts were pretty good, but the longer I am here, and especially when compared to the hawker courts in Singapore, the more I think they are indeed cheap and crappy.

MK is middlebrow food. Nothing wrong with it. Nothing exciting about it either.

Edited August 13, 2008 by Jingthing

[nidge]

i mean even the president solitaire's meals are mostly 600baht.. thats far from expensive.

I guess this depends on what you call expensive. I took my wife out to a hotel restaurant tonight. We ordered a large fish, seafood salad, sweet and sour chicken, chicken and veg in a pepper gravy, 3 portions of rice, 2 glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice, a bottle of water and a large bottle of Heineken. The bill was 685 baht. 600 for a solitaire meal sounds like extortion to me!!!

Nidge.

[petitechevre]

well you definately didnt go to a hiso hotel

my girlfriend when we lived in bangkok used to go out for dinner with her mom or friends every night.. never had a bill under 900baht for herself.. its pretty easy to find good expensive food

[nidge]

well you definately didnt go to a hiso hotel

I didn't go to a Bangkok/Pattaya/Phuket hotel.

For sure it wasn't a 5 star hotel but it's probably one of the most expensive places in a 100km radius. Normally we would spend way less than 500 baht to eat out. Food does not have to be expensive to taste good.

[Brigante7]

Food is food to me but then I have such a limited range that it doesn't bother me.

[roamer]

I think I will have to go a mission to find good reasonably priced Japanese food, its certainly not in Fuji. and there are more than a few quite expensive hotel restaurants that fail to pass muster. Guess what I'm looking for is that small, non-chain restaurant that does great sashimi....is there one down your Soi ?

[HASSELHOFF]

Food courts I agree, i still go every now and then but most of them are crap.

MK and fuji are favourites of mine, for the buck its a great place, never had a problem with the food or service.

[chiliwasabi]

i also think Fuji, MK, and most of those other 'chain' resteraunts serve bad food. I used to think it was great but i guess my tastes changed or got more expensive.

If you are eating at Fuji & MK your tastes are already expensive. I'm not a big fan of MK at all. the food is overpriced and boring (IMO) but my wife enjoys their suki on occasion.

As for food courts, they are generally a poor choice for good food. Ok in an emergency but to be avoided if you have the time.

Edited August 13, 2008 by chiliwasabi

[JAS21]

well you definately didnt go to a hiso hotel

So I looked it up........now maybe I understand the term

The term “hi-so” is used frequently in discussions about Bangkok life, but it’s a term that has taken on new meaning and moved beyond the boundaries of what it was originally supposed to refer to. What is hi-so? The Thai media would have us believe that hi-so is a person who attends lavish parties, who appears in glossy magazines, and who is seen to have a lot of money. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

There is a thin line between high-society and high-profile, but it is a line that exists. The problem (perhaps problem is too strong a word) is that those who might be classed as high-profile would like to cross the line into high-society, while those who are high-society take offense to this.

“Hi-so” is a word often misused. High-society is a birthright and is not directly related to money. It’s about a surname, it’s about tradition, and it’s about how someone is raised. It’s not something you can buy into. The general public seems to get confused about what hi-so is. If somebody becomes popular or if someone is on TV or in a magazine often enough then those people are immediately labeled as hi-so.

How many times have you heard people referring to a “hi-so restaurant” or something similar? Perhaps such statements are the manifestation of a general fascination with wealth (something not limited to Thailand). These great family names, which have long represented power and money in Thailand, are now joined by other families, “new money”, so to speak. These people have been elevated in the public eye to a point of envy, but it seems that from this lack of differentiation between new and old money comes the perception that money, fame and popularity = hi-so..

Personally we like Rama Garden Hotel buffet.......lunch time or evening........quite some change out of 1000 Baht for the two of us.......go there once or twice a month...someone else is correct...Mall for is ok

[lomatopo]

i stopped eating in food courts for awhile and was only eating my lady's cooking and a couple of select only open at night type local, but expensive type of place (perhaps you know the type, not sure how else to describe it. they serve dishs not common to street vendors liek various fish and usually serve tom yam in a large bowl with a fire at the base) and then recently went back to eat in a food court and realized that the food served in food courts is GARBAGE.

i also think Fuji, MK, and most of those other 'chain' resteraunts serve bad food. I used to think it was great but i guess my tastes changed or got more expensive. I just cant eat in these places anymore the quality is not high enough for me.

has anyone else experienced this in their time in thailand?

You've kind of bunched up so many different dining options it's really hard for me to tell what you're really telling us, and/or asking?

To me a Food Court, in Bangkok anyway, is a sheltered grouping of 15 - 30 food stalls typically offering a one-plate meal for low cost. These are frequented by Thais, especially at lunch and is their version of fast-food. They usually operate on a centralized pre-payment system. Like everything there are varying quality levels and many seek out the finest stalls. The amount of customers queued at at a stall is generally indicative of a decent offering. I agree that the Food Courts in Singapore are to be admired and emulated, and are generally better (food, preparation, cleanliness, choices) than in Bangkok.

For others Food Courts are those areas within destination malls where many large, sit-down restaurants are located.

It might help if the OP cited a few specific examples of Food Courts s/he thinks serve GARBAGE, and maybe define "bad food"? Also describe your current dining preference (which seems to be your lady's cooking and some local Thai restaurants?; "...select only open at night type local, but expensive type of place...) by giving us the name/location. Maybe your lady is a brilliant chef and is able to source only the finest ingredients? If so, why even go out? I seriously doubt that Fuji and MK serve bad food. Whenever I pass one of these outlets they always seem packed with Thai customers. I can't believe so many Thai people would eat bad food?

[chiliwasabi]

I can't believe so many Thai people would eat bad food?

It happens in most cultures so why not with Thais too?

[tracker]

food preferences are subjective so it is difficult to argue about it. As I read, many people like MK, and i dislike it so much. To me is always smells in there like dirty dinner plates are left standing in their first water for a day... Not raising my appetite.

The wife and I agree on the monotone taste on every tesco foodcourt we visit. The Mall has indeed often a huge choice which is why we often eat there.

I do not agree with the statement that you get what you pay for, as taste varies a lot on depending where you go.

For instance, there is a restaurant, not far away from where i live, called jsm. It has it's own pizza oven and creates delicious pizza's. It is the same price as any other pizza outlet in tesco or other malls, but it's without the plastic msg-laden taste from those outlets. (I know... taste can't be argued upon)

[hanno]

I don't care too much about food courts myself, but that has more to do with the whole atmosphere and noise level. I do think MK is good for a fast, fairly cheap meal though; as mentioned by somebody else the duck is pretty good.

[Ulysses G.]

I think I will have to go a mission to find good reasonably priced Japanese food, its certainly not in Fuji. and there are more than a few quite expensive hotel restaurants that fail to pass muster. Guess what I'm looking for is that small, non-chain restaurant that does great sashimi....is there one down your Soi ?

What is wrong with the sashimi or sushi at Fuji or Zen? I do know a cheaper place,but the quality of the fish changes drastically from day to day and the best is only as food as a typical day at Fuji.

[dantilley]

I seriously doubt that Fuji and MK serve bad food. Whenever I pass one of these outlets they always seem packed with Thai customers. I can't believe so many Thai people would eat bad food?

Plenty of Thais eat bad food, usually when the chain restaurant brand is marketed to them successfully. I've seen many branches of The Pizza Company, Sizzler and KFC packed with Thais, but anyone who knows good food will agree that these places all serve very sub-standard food. Yet their advertising is everywhere, so they do well.

Fuji is quite tasty and reasonable value; MK, as someone else pointed out is just boiled meat and veg and you may as well buy the ingredients at home and cook there. I mean, what other restaurant features a plastic tray of raw cabbage as a menu item?

Food courts can be excellent or truly awful. MBK, I think, has some great food on offer from all over the world. But some, usually at shopping malls like Big C or Tesco Lotus, serve terrible, unhealthy crap. Worst I've ever been to? Phaya Thai 2 Hospital. Utter garbage.