Chinese Restaurant In Soi Welcome

[cowslip]

I'm on the case! I am surprised to hear about goat on the menu though. Yes, I know the Chinese eat everything but first time I've heard of a Chinese goat dish. I've also never seen goat on ANY menu in Thailand. I like goat when cooked properly but it is a VERY strong meat that you can often taste the next day. Are you sure it was really goat or maybe a translation issue, like maybe it was mutton?

I'm not fully clear on where Soi Welcome is. I have found most of the restaurants around that general location to be dreary tourist traps. So is it at Soi 14 or is it at the same soi as the Welcome Beach Hotel?

muslims all over Thailand keep goats - it is much easier to get hold of than sheep (fresh)

[Jingthing]

Maybe the goat dish is on the Thai menu because I can't find it on the English menu. So either its not on the English menu at all or some misprint so that you point to pork you get goat. Anyways ...

Edited February 16, 2012 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

Some additional comments on the food:

The breads outside (meat pies when I was there), yes, if not cooked fresh, are unpleasant, as cold greasy things always are. The taste was pretty OK but it sit badly in my stomach. I like food to taste delicious AND make me feel good, or at least not bad. I would not order again. Maybe you can fix them by reheating at home (I don't know). I asked them to cook me one from scratch (a leek pie) and they refused, pointing me to the already cooked and cold ones, meat. In truth, they were warmish, but the taste of the grease told the story they were not recently cooked.

Too bad. So I cannot recommend those breads outside, sorry.

Yes, the Boiled Jao Zi dumplings (many varieties on the menu) continue to be the highlight of the food there for me and of course they come hot to the table!

I attempted to order about four different things on the menu which were vegetable oriented and was told unavailable. I really wanted the bitter melon salad but they didn't have it. That says to me that though their menu may be very large they don't actually have a whole lot of it. Again, that's OK (I am very tolerant when a restaurant has at least SOME good stuff), but it can be annoying.

I ordered another Sechuan dish extra spicy and with Sechuan peppercorns. I liked the dish. It was indeed hot and spicy but there were no Sichuan peppercorns visible. It is possible that there was Sichuan peppercorn OIL in the dish but I can't confirm that. It wasn't there in strength and quantity enough, if it was there, to trigger the foolproof test, mouth sizzle. To clarify when cooking with Sechuan peppercorns you can use the actual peppercorns in the dish or you can use an oil made with the peppercorns; I strongly prefer the real deal.

There seem to be a lot of flies flying about the place, just to underline this is a homely, humble, not fancy restaurant. Come for the food. And ONLY the food.

I continue to be happy about this rather quirky addition to the Chinese food scene in town. If all they had were good Boiled Jao Zi dumplings that would be enough, but they do have more, even if the initial promise of authentic Sechuan food was rather optimistic.

Edited February 16, 2012 by Jingthing

[Pdaz]

I am a Chinese... But also don't know what a "Salapow" is..... Guess it is translated from Cantonese, not Mandarin.

'Salapow' or 'Serapao' is the Thai name for Chinese style stuffed steamed buns. They are mostly known as 'Bao or Pao' elsewhere in Asia. In Singapore, China, Taiwan and HK there are many varieties. Char siu bao, Tar sar bao etc.. Not to be confused with the fried style which are heavier and more doughy.

[Jingthing]

I am a Chinese... But also don't know what a "Salapow" is..... Guess it is translated from Cantonese, not Mandarin.

'Salapow' or 'Serapao' is the Thai name for Chinese style stuffed steamed buns. They are mostly known as 'Bao or Pao' elsewhere in Asia. In Singapore, China, Taiwan and HK there are many varieties. Char siu bao, Tar sar bao etc.. Not to be confused with the fried style which are heavier and more doughy.

Sounds about right, and based on my understanding, this place we are talking about doesn't offer that style of bun/dim sum. Not an issue as such are easily available at many other local places (such as MK).

[susanschwaiger]

My friend advised to the boss that he could at least freshly make the breads for the customers who eat inside the restaurant. But he bla bla bla that it is inconvenient.... We still have no clue why should it be "inconvenient" ?!?!?

We decide to go there in future mainly for "wheat food", but should not hold high expectation for other stir-fried dishes. And the toilet is not so clean either.

The restaurant could have done much much better. But the owner seems quite contented with the current status

.....Since Thailand is so close to China, maybe Farangs who like Chinese food can take trips there. Can go to cities like Suzhou, Hangzhou, Xia Men, Kun Ming, etc.. They are all with long history and the cost is cheaper than that in Beijing, Hongkong and Shanghai. Spring is the best time to visit Jiang Nan (South of Yangtse River area ). Besides the inexpensive and good food, you can also enjoy the scenery, art, tea, Chinese massage, and herb medicine etc ...

This is the expat website for my hometown Suzhou : http://www.whatsoninsuzhou.com.cn/

Normally, every big city in China has its own expat club and website which offers lots of info about everything.

Well, sounds like I am the travel agent ... I am not!!!! .. Ok, I shut up now

[jehricaholic]

My friend advised to the boss that he could at least freshly make the breads for the customers who eat inside the restaurant. But he bla bla bla that it is inconvenient.... We still have no clue why should it be "inconvenient" ?!?!?

We decide to go there in future mainly for "wheat food", but should not hold high expectation for other stir-fried dishes. And the toilet is not so clean either.

The restaurant could have done much much better. But the owner seems quite contented with the current status

.....Since Thailand is so close to China, maybe Farangs who like Chinese food can take trips there. Can go to cities like Suzhou, Hangzhou, Xia Men, Kun Ming, etc.. They are all with long history and the cost is cheaper than that in Beijing, Hongkong and Shanghai. Spring is the best time to visit Jiang Nan (South of Yangtse River area ). Besides the inexpensive and good food, you can also enjoy the scenery, art, tea, Chinese massage, and herb medicine etc ...

This is the expat website for my hometown Suzhou : http://www.whatsoninsuzhou.com.cn/

Normally, every big city in China has its own expat club and website which offers lots of info about everything.

Well, sounds like I am the travel agent ... I am not!!!! .. Ok, I shut up now

I can imagine the culture shock: 'the west' vs Pattaya vs 'unknown' cities in China

[Jingthing]

Don't get overly excited. Here's an update on my more recent experiences at the now world famous Jomtien hole in the wall Northern Chinese - Sechuan - etc. place on Soi Welcome.

First of all, I'd like to say that I think the vast majority of f-rang customers would consider my recent visit a good reason to never return. But not me, I am undaunted. There is good food to be had there. You just have to work at it, and be prepared for surprises, good and bad.

A comment about the bean sauce noodles mentioned by another poster.

I did get a chance to try those. The noodles are not egg noodles but don't taste homemade to me, so basically neutral wheat noodles. Topped with the bean and meat sauce (option only bean) and sliced cukes. The flavor was kind of a mix of bland Tex-Mex beef chili and the famous dark bean sauce served on Korean noodles. To me, as a standalone dish it was WAY too bland, but if you happen to mix the flavor in your mouth with another SPICY dish, somehow you can make it work. Not stellar, definitely not a must order. But cheap, only 60 beat for the meat version.

I had the Yu Shiang Eggplant, a classic originally Sechuan dish that many westerners will know as it is found on many western menus. (Sometimes it is translated as Fish Fragrance Flavored whatever.) This dish was the BEST so far I've had at this restaurant. I would call the style authentic in a peasant-like rustic home style presentation. Many authentic Chinese dishes are massively oily and many westerners don't like that. This was rough chunks of eggplant, pleasantly crisply carmelized with some sugar, garlic, chili, etc. served in bowl with a very large bath of hot chili oil. The dish needs to be both somewhat sweet and chili hot to have a balance. My version was quite chili hot as I like it. There was no taste of Sechuan peppercorns but this time I didn't bother asking for it as it doesn't seem to ever work asking for it anyway. Just looked up the dish on the net and the traditional Sechuan version as one might expect does have some Sechuan peppercorns. Anyway, it still tasted great.

On the menu it said the Yu Shaing had eggplant AND pork at 100 baht.

The ACTUAL dish had eggplant only.

Eggplant is a very meaty vegetable and the flavor was very excellent, so I am not complaining, but you might if you keep ordering things and don't get them.

Which brings up the

Green onion Chinese pancake.

This order was reluctantly taken because I knew they were going to have to cook it, but they did take the order!

BUT, what came out was only pancake, no green onion in it at all.

The bread itself was excellent and not too greasy. But at 60 baht and no green onion, not a great value either.

How about rice, plain old white steamed rice?

Well, this is a place for iffy rice as they specialize in the wheat based food. I had it before and it was OK. This time I couldn't communicate RICE even with pantomime of eating out of rice bowl with chopsticks. Plain white rice is NOT on the English menu. So I walked into the kitchen and pointed to the rice cooker. He got it, but opened the rice cooker and no rice. I still NEEDED some rice and he showed me some dodgy looking cooked rice sitting on a plate in the microwave. Well, I needed rice, even poor rice. So the rice that I did get (to be fair I saw its sorry state and I ordered it) was served cold at the table. Ironic because it had been sitting in the microwave. I tried to pantomine the idea of microwaving but that wasn't happening so I gave up and ate the cold rice.

So you see -- some major issues with all the dishes, but the Yu Shaing flavor was so good as well as the plain pancake, personally, I still have to love it. But again, I reckon most people can only take so many communication non-starters, menu discrepancies, and things on the menu they don't have or won't cook kinds of issues.

So up to you whether you want to take some chances.

Edited February 20, 2012 by Jingthing

[susanschwaiger]

Last time I ordered a Tou <deleted> dish, the very simple family style one. But to my suprise, they did not use any green onion in it ( green onion is a must in this dish). It is hard to understand because one can get green onion everyhwere in Thailand at cheap price.

[Jingthing]

Last time I ordered a Tou <deleted> dish, the very simple family style one. But to my suprise, they did not use any green onion in it ( green onion is a must in this dish). It is hard to understand because one can get green onion everyhwere in Thailand at cheap price.

There seems to be a pattern of a problem in their kitchen with stocking vegetable items. Maybe not so bad if they do a "no have" but to take an order when the ingredient is written on the menu or as you experienced, reasonably assumed, is for sure a bigger fault.

Recently, I have gotten "no haves" for dishes with:

leeks (not so common in Thailand)

bitter melon (common)

cilantro (common)

When asking about a basic vegetable dish I got the impression the ONLY thing they could offer was snow peas out of a much bigger list.

Where's Gordon Ramsay when you need him?

Anyway, sure it would be great if they could fix this kind of thing, but I reckon based on their staffing, size, and location that the odds aren't great that the rather extreme quirkiness will change.

If this was a city with 10 restaurants offering Northern Chinese food or Sechuan food it probably wouldn't be on the radar. But it doesn't, so it is.

Edited February 21, 2012 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

Of course it would be a lot of work, and it won't happen at this place, but a way a place like that in theory could cope with a limited stocked kitchen is to do a DAILY menu. In other words, for example if the full menu has150 items, just write down the 20 that they can actually fully cook that day. (Dream on.)

Edited February 21, 2012 by Jingthing

[susanschwaiger]

Last time, the boss was complaining the biz is not so good and he may close the restaurant and back to China in summer.

Well, their new location can not compare to floating market, where most of the customers are bus tourists and only eat once there, so the food quality is not that "vital". But in Jontiem site, customers go there with the expecatation of proper Chinese food. But their management is too lousy indeed.

Until now, I have not seen another CN food restaurant in Pattaya (Dim Sum Hongkong style does not count). It should be a good biz here if done properly. Pity the boss does not seem to put enough effort into it. For some of their dishes, even I can cook better than them , ho ho ho

....Or, they are just taking some time to get used to the new environment here. Hope they improve soon !!!!

[Jingthing]

I'm afraid you're right. They have potential if they had better business sense. They are going to scare away many potential repeat customers with all the multitude of issues eating there. Their location is OK I guess for a base of Russian and Chinese tourists. The Russians like the meat breads sold out front, well at least one time. They don't seem dedicated fully to the concept of a stable, somewhat predictable restaurant. I mean really, you would think a Chinese restaurant owner could learn the English word for RICE. Of course, I am desperate enough for anything resembling authentic regional Chinese food that I want them to make it and clearly will put up with almost anything. But I think most people won't be so tolerant, and understandably so. Yes, their location is a tourist location so the idea probably wasn't to be a regular place for residents.

If I were them, I would go radical. Cut the menu down to a maximum of 30 - 50 items and always stock the makings for them. Make breads on order and market that. Push the Sechuan thing, actually DO use the peppercorns, nobody else in town has a deep Sechuan menu that I am aware of and have yet to have anything as basic as a ma po tofu be even acceptable. Hire an English speaking waiter who can talk about the food. Do a picture menu with all items, labeled in Chinese, Thai, English, and Russian WITH the price. Spruce up the place, it is a dump. Doing that, they might build a stable, loyal base of people willing to come from all over the area. Of course doing all that, then their location would be TOO SMALL. Also, doing all that would mean working about ten times harder ... Oh well.

Another, even more radical idea. Just do boiled dumplings! But add more varieties like shrimp. That idea would be forget the whole pretense of a restaurant. Just Chinese Dumplings. (A good name?)

Edited February 21, 2012 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

BTW, if it is really true if these owners are thinking about packing it in and moving back to China, may I humbly suggest that people with an interest in a chance to eat their kind of authentic regional Chinese food (Northern Chinese and Sechuan) visit them sooner than later? In truth, I would love for the owners there to realize there is real potential to build their business here with residents as a good customer base, especially in low season. For that to work also, of course, they would need to step up their game (rather a lot actually). No, its not as it if I am really optimistic (hope springs eternal?), but you should consider going for selfish reasons anyway. If they move away, who knows when anything even resembling their style of food will come here again?

Edited February 21, 2012 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

For Duck Lovers:

(not the wild quacky kind, the flavorful roast kind)

As this is the Chinese food lover's thread du jour, I'll post my discovery here instead of starting a new thread.

I've found a very nice, thai run, hole-in-the-wall type, recently opened, Chinese style duck restaurant. It's located on 3'rd road (east side) about 100m north of Central (Klang) Pattaya road. The menu is small but it's feature is roast duck (you can see the roast ducks hanging inside the glass at the front of the restaurant.

The duck was very tasty and not very fatty, and the presentation was quite nice for a 40 baht dish. The congee was very authentic for a Chinese style rice soup and their (shrimp) wontons were tasty and fresh not frozen. I will definately make this place a regular part of my week.

As you can see below it is value priced for Thais, no inflated Falang pricing. If your in the area give it a try, it's open 10-10 daily.

Here are most of their menu items (from recollection):

(*items I tried on this first visit)

Roast duck @ 150 baht (family portion)

*Roast duck with rice @ 40 baht (single portion)

Roast duck stirfry with Basil @ 70 baht

*Shrimp wonton soup with/without roast duck @ 40 baht

*Roast duck congee @ 40 baht

Roast goose @ 250 baht

Crispy pork

Roast pork

Hi there!

Thanks for your report on the duck place.

I had been meaning to try that place but until yesterday, when I was in the area I ate at the Vietnamese place or the Isaan food place across the road. Also one time when I was ready to try the duck place they were closed (they are closed one day a week).

Anyway, finally got around to trying the place and can generally second your approval of it.

I had the duck with rice (extra) and the duck congee.

The duck in the duck rice dish was excellent and I liked how they put the black sauce on the side, when most places drench the rice with it before serving (yuck). The congee I was less than thrilled about. It tasted OK. I've definitely had better. The duck portion on the duck extra plate wasn't what westerners would call a big portion, and frankly I left a little hungry even after eating two dishes!

The goose intrigues for a later visit. I wish they sold a half order of it though. The only option is a large portion for 250.

[Jingthing]

Update on the Soi Welcome place.

Some good news and some bad news.

Sort of good news:

They now have a more extensive and organized picture menu. It includes a limited number of dishes. However, it's still hard to really identify what the dish actually is even from the picture and certainly not from the English name!

In fact, the English names which I assume are largely literal translations of traditional dishes are fantastically entertaining. Almost worth a trip just to read them.

For example (not literal) but the types of name:

The Night Watchman Exploded the Potato

Anyway, I still wanted to look at the "regular" huge menu to choose from a bigger variety of potential dishes. Also even though the descriptions are short, they are at least mostly quite clear, even though there is little guarantee you will get everything written about. One can also hope they have stuff that they usually don't have.

I ordered Sechuan Pork from the text menu. It was listed at 150 baht. It turns out there was the "same dish" on the picture menu with a different name that was more, I think 180 baht now.

Bad news: they have raised their prices!

I think that's really bad because it is already a very challenging restaurant with big risks ordering as far as consistency and predictability.

Anyway, the Sechuan pork I believe was actually what westerners know as Twice Cooked Pork but done (mostly) in the traditional Sechuan style, using a pork belly kind of meat. I suggest ordering it spicy, it really works that way. It was missing leeks, which is similar to the traditional leek-like veg used in Sechuan. In fact the only veg it had was fresh chili which might have been because I ordered it spicy. The meat and flavor was excellent, and the portion was decent. However, with the missing leeks they really are pushing it asking more than 150.

I also ordered the Sechuan cucumber salad, shown non-spicy on the picture menu at 120 baht; it is listed on the printed menu at 80. Big up there, huh? Anyway, it was OK, good portion, decent flavor, but a very rough dish, the chopping of the cukes was pure peasant style. Not worth 120 baht!

OK, to get rice this time but the male waiter still hasn't learned with word for rice, English or Thai. (Bizarre.) Might be good to bring a Russian phrase book.

Anyway, even more mixed feelings now. I seriously doubt you can get anything approaching their Sechuan pork in Pattaya for rustic Sechuan flavors, even though its missing leeks which is the really a shame, so close yet so far. I still really don't know if they use Sechuan peppercorns, but if they do they use the grounded up stuff because there are never any visible ones in any of their dishes so far.

Because I didn't realize the issue with the same dishes being priced differently on the two menus, as you might expect when the bill came I got the higher charge on all dishes. I protested because I had sincerely ordered from the text menu not fully realizing the overlap. They honored the lower price, but I am guessing next time, they will clamp down on that issue.

I think they're making a mistake pushing the price for what they offer. Not only talking the food, because some of it is quite good and unique for Pattaya, but the difficulty and risk factor in eating there. Referring of course to expected ingredients being missing and even listed ingredients being missing.

Oh, BTW. I ordered the boiled pork dumping again. They weren't as good as the first time, sad to say. OK, I guess.

The other diner was a Russian man who order two of the meat pies from the front, sat down and at them and ordered no drink.

Anyway, it's there if you are game.

Edited March 2, 2012 by Jingthing

[jehricaholic]

Update on the Soi Welcome place.

Some good news and some bad news.

Sort of good news:

They now have a more extensive and organized picture menu. It includes a limited number of dishes. However, it's still hard to really identify what the dish actually is even from the picture and certainly not from the English name!

In fact, the English names which I assume are largely literal translations of traditional dishes are fantastically entertaining. Almost worth a trip just to read them.

For example (not literal) but the types of name:

The Night Watchman Exploded the Potato

Anyway, I still wanted to look at the "regular" huge menu to choose from a bigger variety of potential dishes. Also even though the descriptions are short, they are at least mostly quite clear, even though there is little guarantee you will get everything written about. One can also hope they have stuff that they usually don't have.

I ordered Sechuan Pork from the text menu. It was listed at 150 baht. It turns out there was the "same dish" on the picture menu with a different name that was more, I think 180 baht now.

Bad news: they have raised their prices!

I think that's really bad because it is already a very challenging restaurant with big risks ordering as far as consistency and predictability.

Anyway, the Sechuan pork I believe was actually what westerners know as Twice Cooked Pork but done (mostly) in the traditional Sechuan style, using a pork belly kind of meat. I suggest ordering it spicy, it really works that way. It was missing leeks, which is similar to the traditional leek-like veg used in Sechuan. In fact the only veg it had was fresh chili which might have been because I ordered it spicy. The meat and flavor was excellent, and the portion was decent. However, with the missing leeks they really are pushing it asking more than 150.

I also ordered the Sechuan cucumber salad, shown non-spicy on the picture menu at 120 baht; it is listed on the printed menu at 80. Big up there, huh? Anyway, it was OK, good portion, decent flavor, but a very rough dish, the chopping of the cukes was pure peasant style. Not worth 120 baht!

OK, to get rice this time but the male waiter still hasn't learned with word for rice, English or Thai. (Bizarre.) Might be good to bring a Russian phrase book.

Anyway, even more mixed feelings now. I seriously doubt you can get anything approaching their Sechuan pork in Pattaya for rustic Sechuan flavors, even though its missing leeks which is the really a shame, so close yet so far. I still really don't know if they use Sechuan peppercorns, but if they do they use the grounded up stuff because there are never any visible ones in any of their dishes so far.

Because I didn't realize the issue with the same dishes being priced differently on the two menus, as you might expect when the bill came I got the higher charge on all dishes. I protested because I had sincerely ordered from the text menu not fully realizing the overlap. They honored the lower price, but I am guessing next time, they will clamp down on that issue.

I think they're making a mistake pushing the price for what they offer. Not only talking the food, because some of it is quite good and unique for Pattaya, but the difficulty and risk factor in eating there. Referring of course to expected ingredients being missing and even listed ingredients being missing.

Oh, BTW. I ordered the boiled pork dumping again. They weren't as good as the first time, sad to say. OK, I guess.

The other diner was a Russian man who order two of the meat pies from the front, sat down and at them and ordered no drink.

Anyway, it's there if you are game.

Sounds like they're using good old Google Translate to get the English names of their dishes

[highchol]

OK, to get rice this time but the male waiter still hasn't learned with word for rice, English or Thai. (Bizarre.) Might be good to bring a Russian phrase book.

the russian word for rice, is as far as i know, almost the same as in english. Rice. Pronounced though like 'reece'

if they speak russian and being in a place that sells food would have thought youd be in with a good chance with saying rice

[Jingthing]

In this case, you'd be wrong. Better bring a picture.

[PattayaParent]

Don't the Chinese have a word for rice that you could learn?

[Jingthing]

Don't the Chinese have a word for rice that you could learn?

No, there is no Chinese word for rice.

[highchol]

get the phone number of the chinese place on klang and call them the next time you get stuck when ordering in jomtien.

Sorted.

[Jingthing]

Enough.

[PattayaParent]

Don't the Chinese have a word for rice that you could learn?

No, there is no Chinese word for rice.

Just say

[Jingthing]

OK. I have some rather big news UPDATE on the Soi Welcome Chinese place. Some changes for sure.

-- the Chinese lady is back in China, not sure if permanent

-- the entrance has been cleaned up a bit and the place gives a more welcoming appearance from the entrance; most of the tables are inside now

-- the old menu is history.

-- the new somewhat more expensive menu is established

-- the new menu offers a rather small number of dishes compared to the old menu but just as well as the old menu was mostly fiction anyway

-- the language issues remain, including issues getting rice

-- there are no more breads or meat pies of any kind on the menu or cooking in front! (big change)

This time I had what on the menu is called boiled meat at 180 baht with a picture of what looks like soup. It doesn't say what meat but I communicated pork. I knew this dish to actually be a very famous Sechuan dish -- Sechuan hot pot.

Sechuan hot pot is authentically VERY hot and spicy including both real hot peppers and Sechuan peppers which give a tingly flavor.

As usual I request very spicy, including lots of Sechuan peppers and this time the dish definitely had Sechuan peppers in it.

Overall, even for chili-head me the dish was a bit challenging to eat, spicy wise, and believe me that is saying a lot. Authentically the broth is VERY OILY so eating all of the broth would be silly. I really wanted some Chinese bread with the soup AND rice but they no longer do breads so have to settle for rice.

Their rice, as before is quite below average to begin with, plus you can taste it is microwaved. But I really needed rice for this.

I would not order their Sechuan hot pot any way but very hot and spicy as I got it. This made it a fun experience. Without that, it would be a very boring dish. All that is in it is the broth (very oily), a generous portion of sliced pork meat, some Chinese cabbage, and the peppers and spices. In my view, the same dish would be much better with sliced FISH meat but as they don't have any other dishes with sliced fish, I didn't even bother asking.

Again, don't bother to order this dish unless you want it authentically hot and spicy. To get it that way say MAH LAH and raise your hand up HIGH. They get that. MAH LAH as in Chinese; do not say Thai language MAI as that may be heard as NOT spicy.

English is not spoken. Russian is.

In some ways with the much more limited menu, I am starting to feel they have made an improvement. Too bad you can't get breads but they still have the boiled dumplings. This is NOT an elegant, fancy restaurant with a gourmet chef. Think rustic peasant style, but where else can you get anything resembling a Sechuan hot pot in Pattaya? If there were 10 Sechuan restaurants in town, no chance this would be the best in town, but ... this is what we have here.

While I was there a Russian couple sat down and ordered two non-spicy dishes and no rice (weird huh)? I noticed neither finished their food. Uh oh ...

Edited April 29, 2012 by Jingthing

[pauljones]

I keep wanting to like this place but my visits are fewer and fewer.

[sgunn65]

I went a couple of weeks ago and the food was amazing. The best Chinese I have had outside London. One guy serves and cooks which means you get a dish at a time but the wait was worthwhile. I recommended the place to my friend and he went the next night (around 10pm) and said it was atrocious!!! Maybe the late hour but the food was burnt and, if not burnt, tasteless. He would not go near the place again! Just shows what a difference a day makes.

[Jingthing]

I went a couple of weeks ago and the food was amazing. The best Chinese I have had outside London. One guy serves and cooks which means you get a dish at a time but the wait was worthwhile. I recommended the place to my friend and he went the next night (around 10pm) and said it was atrocious!!! Maybe the late hour but the food was burnt and, if not burnt, tasteless. He would not go near the place again! Just shows what a difference a day makes.

That is interesting but I really don't think there would be many people with a wide experience of Chinese food (including Chinese people) who would rate this place as world class. As stated before, issues like leeks missing in a dish that should have leeks, scallions missing in a dish that should have scallions, and the sub-par rice IF you can get rice at all. For the Pattaya area, they do offer a number of dishes you won't find elsewhere and I have found the flavor delicious on some of the things I have ordered. Anyway, I'm glad they're in business!

Referring back to the dish I just had, Sechuan hot pot. The last time I had this dish was at a restaurant run by a famous Sechuan chef who used to cook at the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C. Giving that dish a rating of 9 out of 10, the same dish at Soi Welcome Chinese would be, sorry, a 3, and that would be charitable. I still enjoyed it. I have had some dishes there I would rate higher, for example their sliced potato dish with eggplant (not sure if on the menu) ordered spicy.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

Well, I am having fun with this place, if nothing else it's a bit of an adventure and surprise to go there. Some might think I am a bit of a culinary masochist though.

Anyway, this time I tried the Kung Pao Chicken there for the first time. (170 baht)

As with the Sechuan hot pot, I requested both hot spicy and Sechuan peppercorn spicy.

This time there WAS a picture of rice on the menu. The picture showed a generous portion at 30 baht. (More on the later.)

Anyway, the dish arrived. Large portion. Mostly chicken and some chopped vegetables in a not spicy enough red sauce. This time no Sechuan peppercorns. A tad too sweet. Very oily. NO PEANUTS! This is the pattern at this place. An ingredient a dish really MUST have ... just not there. The chicken tasted to me that it WAS pre-fried chunks, kind of like nugget chicken with a good bit of fat and maybe a hint of breading, not clear on that. Not my style of chicken but some may like.

I happened to have with me (just in case) a packet of prepared Sechuan peppercorns that I threw on the dish. This addition made the dish palatable to me. I wouldn't have enjoyed it otherwise and I wouldn't order it again (because of the over greasiness and the fatty style of the chicken). If you want to try this dish, I hate to say it but ... bring your own peanuts! Hopefully if you give them your peanuts you can explain to them you want them cooked in this dish.

How many restaurants do you know where you are advised to bring your own ingredients?

Sadly, the pork belly twice cooked Sechuan style pork doesn't appear to be on the menu anymore. That dish would be great if they put in leeks. So yes, you could bring in your own leeks, hint hint, but I'm not sure if they have the dish. It may be what they call red cooked pork but the picture isn't close enough to the dish that I liked to give me confidence of that.

When the bill came, the rice was 50 baht. That might not be the blatant rip off it seems. The portion of rice I got was large (as I wanted) and the rice quality had improved. The last time I was there when I didn't see rice on the picture menu I was charged 40 baht for two small portions of lower quality rice. Its also possible that the writing of the number 30 is unclear and he really meant 50. Anyway, I complained and got the rice for 30.

Also note, take my word for this: do not visit their toilet at all if you can help it and if you must wait until you have finished eating.

Believe it or not, I will go back there. Masochist? Perhaps.

Edited May 10, 2012 by Jingthing

[Michaelaway]

So... what exactly is good there nowadays?