The Hit And Run Restaurant "review" Thread

[Jingthing]

Wok N Rok

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wok-N-Rok/1397892993787026

UK style Chinese (and sometimes UK style Indian food)

Soi Buakhao

I had visited this place shortly after they first opened and had a truly horrible experience. But restaurants change, sometimes up and sometimes down. I am very happy to report that Wok N Rok has transformed itself into a very worthy restaurant IF you are seeking this specialized kind of food. UK style Chinese. They are also sometimes doing UK style Indian on specials.

Be sure to check their facebook page and signboard out front for their daily, better value, specials.

Originally this place felt like mostly a bar. It's still a bar, but now it's mostly a restaurant, and I do admire that they are taking what goes on in the kitchen seriously.

It is not a fast food place, the food takes some time, longer than usual for an Asian restaurant.

No, I haven't gone soft, this is NOT authentic Chinese food, but even though I don't know much about UK style Chinese food I am convinced they are making an honest and sincere effort to produce authentic UK STYLE Chinese food and my opinion I have found is shared with many UK people that would actually know.

Americans -- UK style Chinese food is very different than American style Chinese food.

So there it is!

Edited September 1, 2015 by Jingthing

[balo]

Actually you can call it European style Chinese food. The first immigrants that came form Asia were the Chinese and the first they did was to start Chinese restaurants all over Europe.

I have tried Chinese resturants in Norway, Sweden, France and the UK. Same taste , some are better than others.

Looking forward to try it.

Edited September 1, 2015 by balo

[Jingthing]

The very experienced chef there is a Thai lady who learned the style at a "Chinese" restaurant in Scotland. Pretty darned exotic!

The food has a different flavor profile than I've ever tasted and of course the fact the some people have chips instead of rice is really weird for Americans. I've had Chinese in London but at places doing actual Chinese food so I have no frame of reference for what they're doing except for Chinese American food.

Anyway, I kind of like it ... but I'd be sad if that style was the only "Chinese" choice in town ... though Pattaya still remains weak in this category outside the expensive hotels (which I won't spend for anyway).

If Pattaya had the richness of choice in Chinese food that it now has in Indian, I'd be a happy camper. But alas not.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Jingthing

[tolsti]

I see that The Dosa King is now open for business... Anyone been in?

[Jingthing]

I hear they have Dosas.

[stewmac68]

Won't be the first time many farang has had a dose after visiting Pattaya 5555

[Jingthing]

Won't be the first time many farang has had a dose after visiting Pattaya 5555

Once tried. Never forgotten.

[Awohalitsiktoli]

The very experienced chef there is a Thai lady who learned the style at a "Chinese" restaurant in Scotland. Pretty darned exotic!

The food has a different flavor profile than I've ever tasted and of course the fact the some people have chips instead of rice is really weird for Americans. I've had Chinese in London but at places doing actual Chinese food so I have no frame of reference for what they're doing except for Chinese American food.

Anyway, I kind of like it ... but I'd be sad if that style was the only "Chinese" choice in town ... though Pattaya still remains weak in this category outside the expensive hotels (which I won't spend for anyway).

If Pattaya had the richness of choice in Chinese food that it now has in Indian, I'd be a happy camper. But alas not.

I just tried Wok N Rock again after vowing to never go back (my first experience there about a year ago was horrible). I had the same dish that made me want to never return, chicken w/ black bean sauce:

Basically, it was identical to the first time I was there. No, after my second attempt to like the place, I will not return.

I am not familiar with British/European-style Chinese food. I am only familiar with real Chinese food and American Chinese food.

My guess is that if you like Chinese food that is extremely bland (virtually devoid of any Chinese spices) with thick as glue, bland sauces, then you might like British/European style Chinese food.

[Jingthing]

I understand completely. I have tried that dish too. It is an odd flavor. Not pushing the place just think they are honestly and well serving a niche market that does exist.

[Jingthing]

I see that The Dosa King is now open for business... Anyone been in?

OK, I tried it.

I will do my best to pass on the information that I learned from the experience.

1 - It is not in any way related to the well known and long standing Dosa King restaurant in Bangkok.

2 - It is 100 percent vegetarian.

3 - It features South Indian food, specifically dosas and uttapams but the menu also includes other regions vegetarian styles. (Similar to SARAS.)

4. - It is moderately priced. Dosas under 200 baht.

5. 7 percent tax is charged on checks. Service isn't.

6 - As it is a new restaurant, they don't currently offer the entire menu. Now it's the dosa menu mostly.

7. The man running it is Punjabi, not South Indian.

I didn't feel like a dosa so maybe a dosa would have been better test of a place called DOSA KING, but I did have their South Indian Thali at 200 baht.

It was as expected a South Indian thali which includes a lot of fried greasy breads, which is not a food type that I really like, but there was a lot of that and there was a good variety so I rate those breads as good if you want to eat that.

The dishes of food did not please me very much. I informed the manager that I like food VERY SPICY, said it twice, and the reply was I understand completely.

I got food that to my taste was VERY BLAND. Now not all of the dishes were probably meant to be spicy but I know enough about South Indian food to know that the red rasam soup is supposed to be very spicy even if you don't ask. That also was BLAND.

So the question I obviously have whenever I get bland food like that is was I "farangatized" ... I can't really know but it tasted like I was.

The yogurt was just yogurt. It was not raita but raita was not promised on the menu. Just informing.

The rice was not basmati rice. It was regular Thai rice. Basmati rice was not promised on the menu though. Just informing.

Small water is 20 baht.

I would be curious to hear other reports of people who do try their dosas ...

Thus the report of my experience at DOSA KING comes to a close.

To add on the GENERAL question of being "farangatized" at all kinds of restaurants in Thailand, sometimes you can know for sure. Sometimes I ask after the meal if they made the food differently based on stereotyping and some places will honestly say: YES (as if they're doing you a big favor). Thanks a bunch!

Of course at Thai places if often very easy to know. You order phet phet and you hear the waiter put in the order FARANG. Uh oh, there you go.

Edited September 16, 2015 by Jingthing

[KittenKong]

With the Eatigo discount you can get a good thali at Saras for the same 200B. The two that I had (different days ) were both as tasty as I was expecting them to be and they seemed to follow my request for "I want it as spicy as you cook it for yourself". I did speak to the Indian manager though, not the waiters.

I also had one or two dosas at Saras but I found them rather boring compared to the thalis. OK if you just want a snack, I suppose.

[manarak]

5 Star J Vegetarian Restaurant

Pattaya Tai at 3rd

http://www.fivestarj.com/#_=_

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g293919-d3628657-Reviews-Five_Star_J_Vegetarian_Restaurant-Pattaya_Chonburi_Province.html

Tripadvisor hype is right this time!

Pattaya veterans know this place has been around for many, many years but there was a "freshening" up in recent years including a reorganization of the kitchen/menu.

And what a great menu it is.

Well, I decided to finally check this place out.

WOW!

Not going to get into specific dishes or suggest everything on the menu is great, but in my opinion this really is an EXCEPTIONALLY good restaurant.

You don't have to be vegetarian to appreciate that either!

Sorry veg-heads ... the secret is out.

I'm not vegetarian but I visited the website anyway.

Maybe you can explain something that puzzles me, why are these dishes on the menu?

Pork Neck (vegan)

Pork Esaan (vegan)

deep fried duck (vegan)

???

Edited September 16, 2015 by manarak

[manarak]

The very experienced chef there is a Thai lady who learned the style at a "Chinese" restaurant in Scotland. Pretty darned exotic!

The food has a different flavor profile than I've ever tasted and of course the fact the some people have chips instead of rice is really weird for Americans. I've had Chinese in London but at places doing actual Chinese food so I have no frame of reference for what they're doing except for Chinese American food.

Anyway, I kind of like it ... but I'd be sad if that style was the only "Chinese" choice in town ... though Pattaya still remains weak in this category outside the expensive hotels (which I won't spend for anyway).

If Pattaya had the richness of choice in Chinese food that it now has in Indian, I'd be a happy camper. But alas not.

I just tried Wok N Rock again after vowing to never go back (my first experience there about a year ago was horrible). I had the same dish that made me want to never return, chicken w/ black bean sauce:

chicken w. black bean.jpg

Basically, it was identical to the first time I was there. No, after my second attempt to like the place, I will not return.

I am not familiar with British/European-style Chinese food. I am only familiar with real Chinese food and American Chinese food.

My guess is that if you like Chinese food that is extremely bland (virtually devoid of any Chinese spices) with thick as glue, bland sauces, then you might like British/European style Chinese food.

Rest assured that what Wok & Rock serves is neither European Chinese food nor is it UK style Chinese food.

[KittenKong]

Maybe you can explain something that puzzles me, why are these dishes on the menu?

Pork Neck (vegan)

Pork Esaan (vegan)

deep fried duck (vegan)

Menu says "made of soy beans" for those items with meaty names.

http://www.fivestarj.com/menu/appetiser

So presumably it's soy bean protein made to resemble the meat.

[manarak]

Maybe you can explain something that puzzles me, why are these dishes on the menu?

Pork Neck (vegan)

Pork Esaan (vegan)

deep fried duck (vegan)

Menu says "made of soy beans" for those items with meaty names.

http://www.fivestarj.com/menu/appetiser

So presumably it's soy bean protein made to resemble the meat.

nope, doesn't say soy bean:

http://www.fivestarj.com/menu/deep-fried

[Jingthing]

I think the fake meat at such places is usually made from gluten.

[Jingthing]

With the Eatigo discount you can get a good thali at Saras for the same 200B. The two that I had (different days ) were both as tasty as I was expecting them to be and they seemed to follow my request for "I want it as spicy as you cook it for yourself". I did speak to the Indian manager though, not the waiters.

I also had one or two dosas at Saras but I found them rather boring compared to the thalis. OK if you just want a snack, I suppose.

I like their thalis better than their dosas. There are a number of places for dosas in town these days.

Edited September 16, 2015 by Jingthing

[KittenKong]

Maybe you can explain something that puzzles me, why are these dishes on the menu?

Pork Neck (vegan)

Pork Esaan (vegan)

deep fried duck (vegan)

Menu says "made of soy beans" for those items with meaty names.

http://www.fivestarj.com/menu/appetiser

So presumably it's soy bean protein made to resemble the meat.

nope, doesn't say soy bean:

http://www.fivestarj.com/menu/deep-fried

Some menu pages say it and some dont, even for the same menu items.

All the items with meat-like names on the link I posted say "made of soy beans".

I suspect that they use soy protein for all these dishes as I mentioned https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textured_vegetable_protein

[tolsti]

The very experienced chef there is a Thai lady who learned the style at a "Chinese" restaurant in Scotland. Pretty darned exotic!

The food has a different flavor profile than I've ever tasted and of course the fact the some people have chips instead of rice is really weird for Americans. I've had Chinese in London but at places doing actual Chinese food so I have no frame of reference for what they're doing except for Chinese American food.

Anyway, I kind of like it ... but I'd be sad if that style was the only "Chinese" choice in town ... though Pattaya still remains weak in this category outside the expensive hotels (which I won't spend for anyway).

If Pattaya had the richness of choice in Chinese food that it now has in Indian, I'd be a happy camper. But alas not.

I just tried Wok N Rock again after vowing to never go back (my first experience there about a year ago was horrible). I had the same dish that made me want to never return, chicken w/ black bean sauce:

chicken w. black bean.jpg

Basically, it was identical to the first time I was there. No, after my second attempt to like the place, I will not return.

I am not familiar with British/European-style Chinese food. I am only familiar with real Chinese food and American Chinese food.

My guess is that if you like Chinese food that is extremely bland (virtually devoid of any Chinese spices) with thick as glue, bland sauces, then you might like British/European style Chinese food.

Rest assured that what Wok & Rock serves is neither European Chinese food nor is it UK style Chinese food.

It is not UK Chinese Restaurant food.... you are correct. It is UK Chinese takeaway food which is very different. I have had food from there twice now and was instantly taken back to the late 1970's as a bobby on the beat in Sussex grabbing a takeaway to reheat at early grub (0100) before hitting the cold lonely streets again.

[tolsti]

I see that The Dosa King is now open for business... Anyone been in?

OK, I tried it.

I will do my best to pass on the information that I learned from the experience.

1 - It is not in any way related to the well known and long standing Dosa King restaurant in Bangkok.

2 - It is 100 percent vegetarian.

3 - It features South Indian food, specifically dosas and uttapams but the menu also includes other regions vegetarian styles. (Similar to SARAS.)

4. - It is moderately priced. Dosas under 200 baht.

5. 7 percent tax is charged on checks. Service isn't.

6 - As it is a new restaurant, they don't currently offer the entire menu. Now it's the dosa menu mostly.

7. The man running it is Punjabi, not South Indian.

I didn't feel like a dosa so maybe a dosa would have been better test of a place called DOSA KING, but I did have their South Indian Thali at 200 baht.

It was as expected a South Indian thali which includes a lot of fried greasy breads, which is not a food type that I really like, but there was a lot of that and there was a good variety so I rate those breads as good if you want to eat that.

The dishes of food did not please me very much. I informed the manager that I like food VERY SPICY, said it twice, and the reply was I understand completely.

I got food that to my taste was VERY BLAND. Now not all of the dishes were probably meant to be spicy but I know enough about South Indian food to know that the red rasam soup is supposed to be very spicy even if you don't ask. That also was BLAND.

So the question I obviously have whenever I get bland food like that is was I "farangatized" ... I can't really know but it tasted like I was.

The yogurt was just yogurt. It was not raita but raita was not promised on the menu. Just informing.

The rice was not basmati rice. It was regular Thai rice. Basmati rice was not promised on the menu though. Just informing.

Small water is 20 baht.

I would be curious to hear other reports of people who do try their dosas ...

Thus the report of my experience at DOSA KING comes to a close.

To add on the GENERAL question of being "farangatized" at all kinds of restaurants in Thailand, sometimes you can know for sure. Sometimes I ask after the meal if they made the food differently based on stereotyping and some places will honestly say: YES (as if they're doing you a big favor). Thanks a bunch!

Of course at Thai places if often very easy to know. You order phet phet and you hear the waiter put in the order FARANG. Uh oh, there you go.

Ohh How disappointing!... thanks Jingthing for braving it. Honestly, with so many head bobbling visitors you would think that you could get some really good Indian food now in Pattaya.

[Jingthing]

There are a number of quite good Indian restaurants in town now.

However, there are so many of them, of course not all of them offer the same level of experience. (Diplomatic enough? )

I wonder how many now. As many as 50?

Of course most of them don't offer specifically SOUTH INDIAN dishes such as dosas, but some of them do.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Jingthing

[thailanddogerator]

Hello, nice to find this post but a bit too long to read all :-)

I do not like to pay high price for food as in my opinion all restaurants use the cheapest ingredients that will kill us anyway !

So could you tell me where are the cheapest restaurants in Pattaya ?

Indian ?

Italian ?

Vietnamese ?

Vegetarian ?

What else is cheap ?

Thank you to all.

[marinediscoking]

There are a number of quite good Indian restaurants in town now.

However, there are so many of them, of course not all of them offer the same level of experience. (Diplomatic enough? )

I wonder how many now. As many as 50?

Of course most of them don't offer specifically SOUTH INDIAN dishes such as dosas, but some of them do.

I don't know how you post the above seriously. The indian food here is crap! I have been looking for one over ten years now. JT go to india or even nepal then come back after you get some perspective. I have been to some restaurants that pass as Indian food and some are better than others but I don't understand why it is so overly priced and unauthentic since india is only a few hours away by plane. It is at least 3 times the price and equally as bad compared to there.

[Jingthing]

There are a number of quite good Indian restaurants in town now.

However, there are so many of them, of course not all of them offer the same level of experience. (Diplomatic enough? )

I wonder how many now. As many as 50?

Of course most of them don't offer specifically SOUTH INDIAN dishes such as dosas, but some of them do.

I don't know how you post the above seriously. The indian food here is crap! I have been looking for one over ten years now. JT go to india or even nepal then come back after you get some perspective. I have been to some restaurants that pass as Indian food and some are better than others but I don't understand why it is so overly priced and unauthentic since india is only a few hours away by plane. It is at least 3 times the price and equally as bad compared to there.

Not interested in whining about price. If you expect good Indian food to be as cheap as in India, you're totally tripping. Indians here don't expect that. Why should you? Sorry, but whenever I hear people say there is no decent Indian food in town, I strongly suspect that they haven't even tried to find it, especially recently.

Of course I am not suggesting Pattaya is a great city for Indian food, but there is indeed reasonable availability here now.

If only the Mexican food (which REALLY is crap here) was as good here as the Indian food here!

Edited September 20, 2015 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

Hello, nice to find this post but a bit too long to read all :-)

I do not like to pay high price for food as in my opinion all restaurants use the cheapest ingredients that will kill us anyway !

So could you tell me where are the cheapest restaurants in Pattaya ?

Indian ?

Italian ?

Vietnamese ?

Vegetarian ?

What else is cheap ?

Thank you to all.

Maybe start a Cheap Charlie thread.

Frankly, cheap is great but that is not in the spirit of this thread to focus ONLY on cheap.

[marinediscoking]

There are a number of quite good Indian restaurants in town now.

However, there are so many of them, of course not all of them offer the same level of experience. (Diplomatic enough? )

I wonder how many now. As many as 50?

Of course most of them don't offer specifically SOUTH INDIAN dishes such as dosas, but some of them do.

I don't know how you post the above seriously. The indian food here is crap! I have been looking for one over ten years now. JT go to india or even nepal then come back after you get some perspective. I have been to some restaurants that pass as Indian food and some are better than others but I don't understand why it is so overly priced and unauthentic since india is only a few hours away by plane. It is at least 3 times the price and equally as bad compared to there.

Not interested in whining about price. If you expect good Indian food to be as cheap as in India, you're totally tripping. Indians here don't expect that. Why should you? Sorry, but whenever I hear people say there is no decent Indian food in town, I strongly suspect that they haven't even tried to find it, especially recently.

Of course I am not suggesting Pattaya is a great city for Indian food, but there is indeed reasonable availability here now.

If only the Mexican food (which REALLY is crap here) was as good here as the Indian food here!

The best I have found is India pungig on beach rd. Their small curries start at around 400 baht but it still sucks compared to a 30 rupee one commonly found in throughout india.

[Jingthing]

There are a number of quite good Indian restaurants in town now.

However, there are so many of them, of course not all of them offer the same level of experience. (Diplomatic enough? )

I wonder how many now. As many as 50?

Of course most of them don't offer specifically SOUTH INDIAN dishes such as dosas, but some of them do.

I don't know how you post the above seriously. The indian food here is crap! I have been looking for one over ten years now. JT go to india or even nepal then come back after you get some perspective. I have been to some restaurants that pass as Indian food and some are better than others but I don't understand why it is so overly priced and unauthentic since india is only a few hours away by plane. It is at least 3 times the price and equally as bad compared to there.

Not interested in whining about price. If you expect good Indian food to be as cheap as in India, you're totally tripping. Indians here don't expect that. Why should you? Sorry, but whenever I hear people say there is no decent Indian food in town, I strongly suspect that they haven't even tried to find it, especially recently.

Of course I am not suggesting Pattaya is a great city for Indian food, but there is indeed reasonable availability here now.

If only the Mexican food (which REALLY is crap here) was as good here as the Indian food here!

The best I have found is India pungig on beach rd. Their small curries start at around 400 baht but it still sucks compared to a 30 rupee one commonly found in throughout india.

I don't know a place called India Pungig and it doesn't show up on google.

So how many local Indian places have you tried in the last year or as I suspect have you given up and are going on old information?

[marinediscoking]

I don't want to spell it correctly and possibly get sued, but it is next to subway/7-11. I still eat indian weekly at different places. However some of the more expensive ones aren't much better than the cheaper ones. I was in Nepal recently and was blown away by the great the indian restaurants there.

[KittenKong]

The best I have found is India pungig on beach rd. Their small curries start at around 400 baht ....

That's ridiculous.

[Jingthing]

South Pattaya 2nd Road (north of Pattaya Tai) "Arab-town" "Indian-town" UPDATE!

Nayeb Iranian restaurant now appears to be permanently closed. Adjacent to Beverly Hotel. (Yes, I know Persian, not Arab, so sue me!)

Will miss this place a little bit because they did a fresh grilled saffron chicken drumette dish that you don't generally see here.

Palace Lebanese restaurant (first location Pattaya beach mall) up and running at the corner where the baht buses make a sharp turn to go on to Jomtien.

MOST INTERESTING!

Gourmet Lebanese restaurant preparing to open.

It's across the street from the Beverly Plaza Hotel. It appears that it's going to be a charming small place. If so, a welcome addition as the current Lebanese offerings in town are mostly OK, but nothing I would call gourmet or stellar!

Davood "Buffet" restaurant

This is in the well known Arabic restaurant soi that people use to go from 2nd road to Walking Street.

The signage in English was limited so I assumed it was going to be an Arabic food buffet. The cost is 249.

I had a superficial look at the dishes though and it seemed to be mostly Iranian food, not Arabic food.

The quality looked as if it might be OK, perhaps better than the 199 baht one on 2nd road near Boat restaurant.

They also have a regular menu which I haven't seen yet even though I tried to see it!

I will add when I walked in there, while I wasn't just shooed away as I am from some nationality specific restaurants, the greeting wasn't at all warm. I was trying to ask to see a menu but was totally ignored. Could have been a fluke but just saying my experience.

The German sausage fast food place that closed after the fast food Indian fusion fast food place that closed seems to be perking up with the possibility a new venture. Likely it will be a food place. We'll see.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Jingthing