Sor Seafood Restaraunt

[Orac]

I saw Howard plugging a Thai Seafood restaurant last night on the TV and he made it sound pretty good. The problem is the location details given and the website map seem pretty vague and I cannot find Soi Nongkate Noi on a map.

Does anyone know where this place is or, more importantly, if it is worth a visit???

www.sorseafood.com

Edited August 4, 2011 by Orac

[aussiechick]

Sukhumvit Road o Naklua. Cholchan Hotel is on your left - Fly Now is in front of it. Turn right, that's Soi Nongkate - cross the train line go past the Esso service station on your right and then it is the street on your right.

Good luck

[Darrel]

I think it would be rather nice if all the TV members each put 1 baht in a hat and used the total to buy two modern devices for the local TV channels:

1) a pair of radio mics so that they dont have to keep shoving that ridiculous hand-held thing in peoples' faces (or forgetting to, which then means you cant hear what the interviewee is saying)

2) a SatNav which they could then use to give the longitude and latitude of destinations. Useful even for those without a car or SatNav as the coordinates can be used in Google maps to show the precise location.

[manarak]

the maps they use on websites and paper handouts are mostly very crappy here in Thailand.

I don't know why they don't use google maps on websites, as they are free to use, provide GPS coordinates as well and give the exact location.

Apparently, directions would be turn from sukhumvit road into sukh soi 15, then pass over the railway tracks, pass an Esso station on your right, and then turn right into the first soi. This should be soi chaipornvitee 15.

And "soi nongkate" is usually spelled "soi nong ket", it leads to the temple "Wat Nong Ket Yai".

Careful, there is also a temple "Wat Nong Ket Noi" nearby.

[Darrel]

I don't know why they don't use google maps on websites, as they are free to use, provide GPS coordinates as well and give the exact location.

Because for it to be effective you first have to stick the pin in the correct position.

Look at a few estate agents' website and you will soon see that many people have trouble with this simple action.

A SatNav tells you where you are; no arguments. Publish the coordinates and everyone knows where you are. No brain required.

[hm1973]

The rough coordinates are

12.980984,100.932547

Good food and reasonable prices. I enjoyed it.

I hope you enjoy it too.......they are not a paying customer, by the way!

Howard

[manarak]

From the drinks menu:-

"Cold towel 15 baht"

Am I the only one who finds that a touch annoying?

Depends if the rest of prices are ok?

Are you able to resist the urge to order a cold towel to complain later that it cost 15 baht?

[tailspin]

sorry I follow the thai way....I refuse to go to a seafood joint not near the sea.......even though 1-2 driive ain't gonna make a difference....when in atlantis, do as the atlantasians......

[Orac]

sorry I follow the thai way....I refuse to go to a seafood joint not near the sea.......even though 1-2 driive ain't gonna make a difference....when in atlantis, do as the atlantasians......

Looks to be about 1-2 km from the sea and fairly close to the Fish Market at Naklua as well where I assume a lot of the seafood restaraunts get their fish from. Your loss i suppose if you don't travel that far.......

Thanks for the coords Howard - exactly what i needed!

[manarak]

Ok, went with the gik to Sor Seafood tonight.

The place is easy to miss, I was lucky to find it straight away.

The Esso station is closed at night, so you might not see it.

You should turn right into the first soi after the railway tracks, and keep going for quite some distance. The road gets dark.

My gik already said that I made a mistake and asked me if I knew where I was driving to.

The potholes became more numerous and my driving switched from choosing level parts of the roads to choosing the smaller potholes. At the same time, my confidence in my orientation skills sank a little.

I told her to look out for a sign saying "sor seafood". I saw a lit sign with blue writing on it and pointed to it. But she missed the lit sign on the road until I stopped right in front of it and asked her what the sign said.

She Said: "nothing", just "seafood".

I saw there were several words, and asked her to read everything aloud.

"Sor seafood" was the answer.

duh.

the restaurant is at the end of a short dirt road.

here is the exact location:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=12.976172,100.930176&ll=12.976172,100.930125&spn=0.002266,0.002025&sll=12.890042,100.914015&sspn=0.11815,0.097406&num=1&t=k&z=19

the setting is ok... between trees, fields and other houses/businesses around.

there are salas, round tables, square tables with benches, etc.

the setting is nice for a family dinner, as the restaurant also offers stuff for children to play with, such as swings and more garden games.

we weren't greeted and at first wandered around until we found a table.

we ordered:

- big leo bottle

- coke

- fried seabass (200 baht)

- kao pad gung

- steamed rice

- gung with garlic (250 baht)

- chicken with cashew nuts (180 baht)

the chicken was the only non-seafood item on the menu, I don't know what happened to Howard's beef with pepper or whatever the other dish in the advert was.

The menu is quite a bit monotonous, it is always squid, bass, tuptim, gung, crab, etc. in different sauces/preparations, the cashew chicken being the only non-seafood dish.

It's called Sor Seafood and that's what they do.

A good thing is that they have WIFI (open).

My gik and I thought both the seabass and the gung were average. the chicken was tasty but dry and the kao pad was just ok.

Portions are generous, except the chicken which was a bit small and the kao pad which was a bit big.

I thought the service was friendly enough but not very attentive, while my gik thought it was ok.

they poured my beer leo into a glass with ice, but then put the bottle and the ice very far away from us and didn't show up quickly when it was time to refill. they didn't refill at all in fact, and I went to the table to fetch our bottles.

Then we were brought a dish we didn't order.

All in all, the experience was average, my gik agreed that we probably wouldn't go back unless in a big family group.

Price-wise the total was 830 baht, which I think is average value for what we got.

I checked the bill and I was charged 15 baht for the ice, which I thought to be a bit petty.

My advice for the restaurant:

- if they want farang customers, get signs up written in latin (the menu is already bilingual)

- put a google map on their website with GPS coordinates

- up the drink prices by 5 baht and forget about charging for ice

- put together a list of a dozen classic non-seafood dishes for family members who don't like seafood

- get a bit more pep into the cooking, make a effort to make things more tasty instead of just tossing the fish into the frying oil.

Same with my garlic gung. The garlic was added way too early and had lost all its aroma when it was served, retaining only the bitterness.

As the above sounds a bit harsh, I would like to add that the food was enjoyable and not bad at all.

The place gets my vote as a place to visit in a (thai) family group.

Edited August 12, 2011 by manarak

[Orac]

Thanks for a great review Manarak - maybe i will wait till the family visit again!