Recent Dining Experiences - Reviews

[Jingthing]

No that important but I think it's "Condé Nast"

I stand corrected. What can you expect from a subscriber to Redneck Road Trips?

[Asianrider]

I'm normally a fan of the Pig & Whistle on Soi 7, but today had the Beef & Kidney homemade pie, it didn't look homemade and was completely devoid of any taste. A very poor effort.

Yesterday I had breakfast at Greg's restaurant, reliable but expensive. I almost drove past he restaurant he has changed the sign outside from a white one to a yellow one. Someone in the restaurant is always tinkering with things !!

[JerryO]

Benihana in the royal garden has an early bird special for 500 baht; amazing value, with fresh australian steak which was the highest quality and good sized portion. lots of food. 5 to 7 pm except fridays. yes i know, someone will say there is better value somewhere else but it's nice in there, good service, a little show too.

[Jingthing]

Any Russkie food lovers here?

I had enjoyed that hole in the wall Russkie place off Walking street but they closed. Excellent borscht and also pelmeni in cheese sauce, yum.

Anyway, looking for another place that isn't too fancy. I don't trust that place near Boyztown. Don't mention the place at Royal Garden food court, its crap or the one at new mall, bad review so far. There is the Rasputin on Walking street, looks like a tourist trap to me. Two places I am curious about, one is near that Sumarai sushi place on 2nd road north of the Klang, and the other is on North Pattaya Road near Tesco. Anyone tried any of these or have better ideas?

Edited March 28, 2009 by Jingthing

[patklang]

Jingthing,

There is on on the corner of soi5 Jomtien.Not tried it but maybe one day will give it a go.

[TheWalkingMan]

BTW,

Your gf loves european food rather than thai,i am assuming she is thai???...

I was thinking of asking the same question as she seems very open minded about her food selection. Great!

And as a side note, I think Manhattans is for sale for about USD 450k for those interested, I saw it on a business brokerage website. So if ya got the cash, here is your chance!

TheWalkingMan

[bob4you]

While the topic is "Recent Dining Experiences - Reviews, Food in Pattaya", the reviews are of what I consider up scale restaurants. My PI-GF who has no interest in up scale fine dining, is more than satisfied with McDonald's double cheese burger, or 3 pieces of KFC spicy chicken (no Jolibees available), was willing to eat 2 times in 1 day at Seaside 2 on Soi Chaiyapoon. Not gourmet but excellent value and service for the money. For lunch she had Fried Rice moo B40, a very healthy serving and ice cream and sliced banana B30 described on the menu as "banana ice cream". I opted for the apple pie and icecream B70 that was excellent, a healthy mini apple pie (home made) and 5 small scoops of good vanilla ice cream.

She like the fried rice so much that she wanted to go back for dinner, ordered the fried rice and a pork chop dinner B110. The pork chop was good size, cooked properly with flavor enhancing spices, a very generous serving of mashed potatoes and large order of steamed vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, and cabbage) and a boat of mushroom gravy on the side to pour over the whole plate if desired.

I chose the ground beef and onion pie (B90)that also came with same mashed potatoes and vegetable and gravy, the pie was on the salty side, next time I will try the chicken and mushroom pie. Soft drinks were B20 and after dinner we were served with scented wet wash clothes to clean ourselves and when I chose a tooth pick to clean the teeth I found that is was a mint flavored pick that I haven't found anywhere here in Thailand.

We ended up with enough food to give a generous snack to our 5 dogs when we got home.

[patklang]

While the topic is "Recent Dining Experiences - Reviews, Food in Pattaya", the reviews are of what I consider up scale restaurants. My PI-GF who has no interest in up scale fine dining, is more than satisfied with McDonald's double cheese burger, or 3 pieces of KFC spicy chicken (no Jolibees available), was willing to eat 2 times in 1 day at Seaside 2 on Soi Chaiyapoon. Not gourmet but excellent value and service for the money. For lunch she had Fried Rice moo B40, a very healthy serving and ice cream and sliced banana B30 described on the menu as "banana ice cream". I opted for the apple pie and icecream B70 that was excellent, a healthy mini apple pie (home made) and 5 small scoops of good vanilla ice cream.

She like the fried rice so much that she wanted to go back for dinner, ordered the fried rice and a pork chop dinner B110. The pork chop was good size, cooked properly with flavor enhancing spices, a very generous serving of mashed potatoes and large order of steamed vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, and cabbage) and a boat of mushroom gravy on the side to pour over the whole plate if desired.

I chose the ground beef and onion pie (B90)that also came with same mashed potatoes and vegetable and gravy, the pie was on the salty side, next time I will try the chicken and mushroom pie. Soft drinks were B20 and after dinner we were served with scented wet wash clothes to clean ourselves and when I chose a tooth pick to clean the teeth I found that is was a mint flavored pick that I haven't found anywhere here in Thailand.

We ended up with enough food to give a generous snack to our 5 dogs when we got home.

HEHEHEHEHEH

Extreme to the sublime

Forgot to mention the indonesian restaraunt off Theprasit rd,very nice food and not crazy money

[curlywatt]

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.

no mate breakfast no good in beefeaters, like most places in thailand, try the dinner, trust me you will like

Edited March 29, 2009 by curlywatt

[popshirt]

I have become completely disenchanted with the Continental restaurant/bakery on Thepaya Road near Thepasit Rd in Jomtien. The bread is still very good quality but the breakfast prices have risen about 20% or more since I was last there; the staff is untrained and almost surly. Three of us ate there yesterday (one Thai and two farang, one farang speaks Thai). We were the only customers and there were about five staff hanging about. We were ignored most of the time and the person who ordered the "healthy" breakfast with muesli was denied any milk for the cereal being told that it comes only with yogurt--including a pious pointing at the menu by the server to indicate that no milk was promised there for this order. The muesli and yogurt mix was suggestive of a textured patching compound, almost dry and the head server supported the original waiter in denying that any milk was included in the order. After insisting, a small half glass of milk was produced. There was more as well, lukewarm tea, "marmalade" that was just coloured sweet slop with no fruit and the necessity for each of us to plead for knives, forks, etc. The food was cooked at the "other" Continental just down the street and was served cold. Who wants to eat cold eggs? It was an unpleasant experience and I will not return. Fortunately I can now obtain very good breads at Central so no need to visit Continental for that and the parking is much simpler at Central.

Edited March 30, 2009 by popshirt

[cochran]

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.

[popshirt]

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??

I like the breads at L'Etoile next to Central even better.

However I am not a fan of bagels so cannot help you on that.

Jing would know, I recall he is a bagel boy.

[Jingthing]

There are no real bagels in Pattaya, only bagel-shaped bread products.

[cochran]

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....

Edited March 30, 2009 by cochran

[Jingthing]

I think I saw frozen Lender's bagels at Friendship market once. I don't understand liking bad bagels. Would you like a baguette than tasted like a rice cake? Might as well use the good bread that is available here instead of a bagel when a bagel would usually be called for, that's what I do.

Edited March 30, 2009 by Jingthing

[popshirt]

Update on Continental Bakery in Jomtien

I learned that one of my dining partners called the owner of Continental to report on our bad experience there.

He talked with a Thai lady, presumably one of the owners, and she was not only apologetic but offered to host him at breakfast there and said she would like to hear in more detail what he thinks would make the restaurant part of the bakery more farang-pleasing.

I thought this was a very nice response and wanted to let TV folks know about it.

[cochran]

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!!

[Jingthing]

Try Volterra. Its kind of a dive in a racy area, but I think you will find the food has good taste.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1875472/volt...aurant_pattaya/

[timekeeper]

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!!

thanks for the revue Cochran, you saved me a trip

i will stay with Arcate

[lemel]

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

Next!!

Have you tried Cafe Des Amis at the bottom of soi 11-12 Thrappaya road, good food, good choice, good service decent price, I have not had a bad meal so far. Going again tonight with the family! one of my favorites is Mata Hari but this is just as good.

Anybody tried Madrid restaurant on 3rd rd nr pattaya Klang, its the same owners as Madrid in bangkok, good food and not a bad price, although the owner is a friend of the wife's! well worth a try.

[Jingthing]

Anybody tried Madrid restaurant on 3rd rd nr pattaya Klang, its the same owners as Madrid in bangkok, good food and not a bad price, although the owner is a friend of the wife's! well worth a try.

Madrid? I looked at their menu. No Spanish food at all. I recall it was Thai food and some generic farang food standards. It looked questionable. Certainly not an Italian restaurant.

[cochran]

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....

[Jingthing]

i'll wait for a review of Madrid - seems odd to not have Spanish food in a place named Madrid.

What was even funnier was when I was talking to the people running the restaurant that I had expected to see Spanish food at a place called Madrid, they looked at me like I was the crazy one!

I think I will open a restaurant called Mexico City and serve Finnish food. Good idea?

Or better yet Addis Ababa Restaurant for a Canadian poutine shop. No, now I think I've got it. Islamabad Restaurant for southern American pork BBQ.

Edited March 31, 2009 by Jingthing

[MZurf]

Got a tip from a friend earlier about a place called Romanasia and tried it last night.

Very positive experience.

For appetizers the wife had salmon wraps with avocado and I had Mediterranean salad with bacon, croutons and Parmesan cheese. All very well presented and tasty.

For the main course the wife had pan fried snapper with a somtam-like salad (listed in the menu as Thai food) and I had Chicken Masala.

Again, nicely presented and more than edible.

The bill came to 1375 baht including an Australian red priced at 750 baht.

There are no single items on the menu priced over 195 baht, but they have a 4 course menu priced at 325 baht.

Dinner is by reservation only and they stop taking orders at 2100 hrs. The phone number is 0871358357.

They are located/hidden away on Pratumnak soi 6. Drive past the circus tents on your left and turn right into

soi 9.

Highly recommended!

[cochran]

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.

[timekeeper]

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.

cochran, this advise is concerning an Italian restaurant that is outside the confines of Pattaya but in my opinion and some others on here, (where its merits have been discussed at length before), i suggest that the Number 43 Italian Bistro at Kantary Bay in Rayong is certainly the best Italian Restaurant i have ever encountered in Thailand.

i have not been for some months but its worth the trip if you can find the time or the inclination

you can google it or search on here for it

[curlywatt]

glad you liked it Cochran, sorry to hear the meat wasn't up to scratch, i think maybe you were just unlucky

[cochran]

I'll add it to the roster, timekeeper. If its that good, it might be worth a weekend run. Thanks for the tip!

[Maigo6]

I would like to thank Cochran for his postings on this thread, a thread that must be amongst the very best ever on this forum.

Cochran, later I'm off to Cherry's as it's just round the corner from me, I have eaten there before and found it to be very good, that was on a Sunday with the set 5 course meal, how on earth they can do it at the price beats me .

[cochran]

Maigo6, you're welcome, and thank you for the comment.

Not much of an update today, I'm afraid. Worked until about 7:15 pm, and couldn't skip the gym again, so ate a light dinner at a Japanese place here in Amata City Industrial Estate. I don't know the name of the place, but the food is good.

I had salmon in soy sauce and some stir-fried vegetables. The salmon was quite good, crispy skin, flaky texture, nice piece of fish, but rather small. The stir fried veg was a huge portion, so the gf and I shared it. She chose a mixed tempura and a small portion of chicken in soy sauce. The chicken was good, served skin on (but easily removed). As the tempura was seafood, I didn't sample.

I don't know if the salmon and chicken were really that good, or if the cooking method and the submersion in soy sauce makes it a "can't miss" sort of dish. At any rate, it was tasty. This is the second time I've had the salmon here (first time being as part of a set lunch menu - we don't do lunch at this place any more, as it is very busy at lunch and takes too long).

My only complaint is the expense. Neither of us had a cocktail (Pepsi for me and green tea for her) and the tab was over 900 baht. I'm no cheapskate, but this just didn't feel like nearly $30 worth of food.

Tonight she's planning to work late, but I'm not, so I'll dine somewhere solo (quick, cheap, and easy, I guess) then get some chores done. Maybe this is the night I indulge myself in a McDonald's fix....