A New Restaurant and Lots of Old Questions

[junglechef]

My lunch at the new Mojo Bisto was unfortunately poor and the unfortunate part was that I wasn't surprised by the poor quality of food that was being served. But this I'll try get to later.

I have been watching the quite attractive purpose built building (see pic.) go up for awhile and have been looking forward to checking it out. It's located about one kilometer before the Mae Jo University traffic light on the left side if your traveling north bound. A snow white, with matching air temperature, interior along with a friendly greeting was our lovely first impression. The waitress quickly brought over an English speaking server to help me with the Thai only food menu. Oddly the drink menu was bilingual and the dessert display signs were only in English. A small menu of Beef or Pork Steak and a Stew and a Spaghetti with the same choices of meat and a few other items, some he couldn't translate and others I felt he had already tried hard enough to have him continue. I ordered the Beef Stew but they were totally out of beef. They were not offering a few other things on the newly printed menu and had messily crossed them off making it look not so new though the place had only opened two weeks earlier. They seemed to be out of around a third of the menu just before dinner on a Saturday night! We also asked for the Pork Pasta dish.

(paragraph inserted here for Hellodolly )

First came the pasta which had a pale hue throughout the whole dish of spaghetti, ground pork which looked and tasted boiled, a rather lot of onions still a bit hard and topped with sweet bottled Thai style ketchup which is called tomato sauce here. The problem is that they didn't know this is not the same thing as a tomato based pasta sauce. The pasta was undercooked and still white in the middle and none of the flavors melded together as a plate of restaurant food should. For only 59 baht I didn't expect or pay for a lot but if your going to be pretentious enough to call yourself a bistro you should be able to boil some noodles till done. Luckily they didn't overdo the quantity of sweet sauce but at the same time it was a bit dry.

As I waited for my Pork Stew (129 bht) I wondered why a kitchen staffed by more than one person can't put out two dished at once. Do they only have one burner? If so can't they afford another? Or is it that hard while heating up a stew to try to boil pasta? Guess I just answered my own question. When it did come out I started to think of other ways I wished it could have been delayed longer. A bowl of bright red sauce, glistening from the melted sugars in the same sauce as the pasta, so much so that being my being afraid of seeing the reflexion of my aghast face I didn't stare into fit for too long! Investigating further I found a good portion of pork chunks that the sauce just slipped off revealing white boiled meat again. There was also some boiled potatoes and some store bought frozen and then defrosted raw green peas that were so hard I couldn't get my fork into them. They obviously didn't know they needed to be cooked nor read the package's directions on how to prepare them. The whole dish was swimming in ketchup, as the waiter called it, which is usually at least one third sugar here, resulting in a taste that was sickeningly sweet for an entree stew. But it wasn't a stew anyways as all the ingredients were cooked separately and just topped with heated ketchup which made the sugars melt and bind like a hot butterscotch sundae.

The staff were very nice and friendly, more than helpful and attentive and everything else there was great. With it's good quality paper napkins on the table, free ice water, clean bathrooms, comfortable seats and the low noise level it would have made a great place to go and hang out with the other who were quietly working on their laptops and studying in small groups. Maybe I will try a coffee there one day but the desserts were expensive, small and looked once again like local attempts at Western food and failing. Maybe it's just a cultural thing with the need to personalize it more important than being good as the menu did say "Cooked Mojo Style". But what ever the reason it was nothing short of a disaster!

Now I've heard it all before, that it's for the Thai taste ect. but I am hard pressed to believe that in general the Thai palate is that undiscriminatory. But I do know that many diners here are as I notice customers eating these kind of preparations. I also know that there are some things many Westerners don't enjoy the really spicy food here as perhaps a Thai would not find the size of a large T-Bone steak in Texas to their liking. Additonaly some things are just acquired tastes such as durian or lamb and some people just don't like them period. But if I serve a spaghetti dish prepared by my 8 & 9 yr old boys to any Thai or Westerner they will enjoy it because it's good food. A tomato sauce made by my eldest from fresh tomatoes cooked for at least three hours to bring out the natural sugars and prefect al dente pasta by the younger one, both Thai boys by the way. True I taught them but they can do this themselves and I'm not charging the guests! Even what my GF's made last night for dinner, Nam Pik Aomg, a fresh tomato sauce with ground pork added finished with fish sauce and sugar, though a bit sweet for my taste, would have been much better over pasta than what I was served today at this restaurant. I also believe that really horrible Thai food would taste really horrible to most Westerners anywhere.

So are they just throwing out anything to make a buck? I don't' believe so either with all the planning and investment that went into this opening but how could they have so little care and respect for the food? They just don't have an idea what they are doing food wise in my opinion but it seems people still pay good money for it. For the same money I could have eaten a wonderful whole grilled fish with all the fixings. So what's the answer I'm looking for? That their tastes are so conditioned to sweet sweet sweet? No as I enjoyed all sort of wonderful local flavors here. The target audience did seem to be University students so I don't expect they have vast dining experience but they can taste! It's not even like McDonalds or other fast food outlets that in the West are relatively cheap, easy and fast. Just as I'm not talking about those who eat at 7/11. And I'm not limiting these observations to only Thai owned and operated establishments as many of Chiang Mai restaurant run by Westeners serving the food of their home countries' have the same affliction. My sons thought the food was horrible too, so do you know what I'm missing? Most probably it is a combination of things including not understanding the taste profile of Western food and supplementing sweetness for the appropriate balance of flavors but even the inexperienced cooks can't really belive that all Western food is just laden with sugar.

I'm sure to have responses that say if I don't like it don't go back, which I won't to eat but I am interested to see if they took my advice and cook the peas now (on a footnote my GF, who is very sensitive to Thai/Falang interactions, told me the way I made my suggestions would bring me good karma). As I've posted before people have no trouble spending most of the day on the computer so why don't they spend an hour looking how to make something? For sure it's not laziness as someone at Mojo Bistro constantly post beautiful pictures of their latest desserts proving they don't believe in the "build it and they will come" method. And whomever is backing the place shouldn't they also be sure their investment is being used soundly? Perhaps it is and they are making money hand over fist but I doubt it. I'll pose just one more question, does anybody actually taste the food before it's put on the menu and/or served? Finally please don't forget this is a restaurant where plated food is the product for sale not as an after thought for convenience or to generate a little extra revenue like at a tourist attraction etc.

The reason I have entertained so many questions in this post is I don't want to accept something that is so integral to all of our everyday lives, sustenance and enjoyment has been so dumbed down like so many other things in modern life. What you say?

Edited July 30, 2013 by junglechef

[theblether]

Gawd someone that blethers more than me, I can't believe it.

[KRS1]

ketchup spaghetti - get a rope

[wholetthedogout]

I wanted to try this place Majo Bistro and now i think i will not waste my time

[hellodolly]

Well I thank you for the paragraphs. Now if you could do what I do on all my e mails but not Thai Vista (I want to fit in) indent the paragraphs by 5 spaces it would be superb.

Now that I have got that out of my way I must say that all I could gather from your revue is that It was a waste of time and money. It is not surprising that the quality would not be up and the cost down if it is geared to the Collage crowd especially if they have internet. Perhaps the coffee was good.

Also being a new building and new furnishings could be part of the attraction and lead one to expect better quality. You seem determined to go back and have made some good suggestions in a positive way. Give it a little time and go back to see if they have taken them. Also it could be that just being new and opening they are having trouble sorting through their procedures. From what I have heard good cooks and staff are hard to find and seem to move around a bit. Placing a constant strain on the management. They always have to be looking for personnel and getting them trained into their way of doing things. Let us know if it improves in the future.

[junglechef]

Thanks for reading the whole thing! Not as much as a review as an example for my observations on the general trend of this kind of establishment. I totally agree that it's form over function and also with the trendiness of being Western. And I don't know, maybe they think the food is good too?? But I don't think it has anything to do with procedures, this is what they came up with and besides a few tweaks, like cooking the peas, I don't think that they realize it's unacceptable (to me at least) nor know better. As for staffing and cooks I think it may be more like the situation I come upon often here where people don't know that there is any skill or knowledge involved to do a job, just as some of the guys who work on my house have no idea what they are doing but that never stops them from just charging ahead. More than likely just some college kids or even the owners in the kitchen just winging it.

[hellodolly]

Thanks for reading the whole thing! Not as much as a review as an example for my observations on the general trend of this kind of establishment. I totally agree that it's form over function and also with the trendiness of being Western. And I don't know, maybe they think the food is good too?? But I don't think it has anything to do with procedures, this is what they came up with and besides a few tweaks, like cooking the peas, I don't think that they realize it's unacceptable (to me at least) nor know better. As for staffing and cooks I think it may be more like the situation I come upon often here where people don't know that there is any skill or knowledge involved to do a job, just as some of the guys who work on my house have no idea what they are doing but that never stops them from just charging ahead. More than likely just some college kids or even the owners in the kitchen just winging it.

Jeez I hate to think of becoming western as a trend. I understand it in the tourist areas but let us hope it does not get much farther afield.

[Mapguy]

Junglechef,

Have you seen anyone about this severe depression attack?!

[junglechef]

A little late for that, McDonald's is considered Hi-So and priced accordingly compared to Thai fast food as is KFC and Pizzahut. Skin Whitening etc., just look at the ads, the models don't accentuate their Thainess. Even the eating utensils are Western. Think it's been here a while and only growing.

[Ulysses G.]

There is plenty of fodder for doing reviews of bad Western restaurants in Thailand.

[harrry]

It looks as if they have made a really nice place. Maybe it needs someone like junglechef to make a nice spaghetti sauce and take it out with the recipe and let them try it. Teach them how to make it if you can and they would like you to. You may find that they really do want to serve nice food as well as have a nice place and are willing to learn.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Even what my GF's made last night for dinner, Nam Pik Aomg, a fresh tomato sauce with ground pork added finished with fish sauce and sugar, though a bit sweet for my taste, would have been much better over pasta than what I was served today at this restaurant. I also believe that really horrible Thai food would taste really horrible to most Westerners anywhere.

Just to clarify

Nam Prik Ong is a traditional Lanna dish. Nam Prik = chilli sauce. Very spicy chillies with tomato and minced pork. Not at all sweet, and the closest taste to Mexican chilli I have found in Thailand. If you found it sweet your gf isn't cooking it right. (No offence to your gf) Also contains fish sauce, garlic, salt, sugar.

Edited July 30, 2013 by AnotherOneAmerican

[Sticky Rice Balls]

Ahhh the old saying--that would go over like a fart in church---im sure the thais would welcome a westerner

to come and show them how to make pasta--after all they are so open to suggestions/help/new ideas here.

*** Here comes the delte---read it quick b4 the moderators find me***** yes i was the chef at Rimping too..

It looks as if they have made a really nice place. Maybe it needs someone like junglechef to make a nice spaghetti sauce and take it out with the recipe and let them try it. Teach them how to make it if you can and they would like you to. You may find that they really do want to serve nice food as well as have a nice place and are willing to learn.

[KRS1]

Even what my GF's made last night for dinner, Nam Pik Aomg, a fresh tomato sauce with ground pork added finished with fish sauce and sugar, though a bit sweet for my taste, would have been much better over pasta than what I was served today at this restaurant. I also believe that really horrible Thai food would taste really horrible to most Westerners anywhere.

Just to clarify

Nam Prik Ong is a traditional Lanna dish. Nam Prik = chilli sauce. Very spicy chillies with tomato and minced pork. Not at all sweet, and the closest taste to Mexican chilli I have found in Thailand. If you found it sweet your gf isn't cooking it right. (No offence to your gf) Also contains fish sauce, garlic, salt, sugar.

Nam prik ong uses dried chillies (the medium size ones ) soaked in hot water then crushed in a mortar, not the little fresh ones that will fry your tongue and make it fall off and catch on fire.

It also uses gabik (shrimp paste).

The chiang mai version is more watery, whereas the Lamphum version is more like a western chili in consistency.

Its one of my specialty dishes

[hellodolly]

It looks as if they have made a really nice place. Maybe it needs someone like junglechef to make a nice spaghetti sauce and take it out with the recipe and let them try it. Teach them how to make it if you can and they would like you to. You may find that they really do want to serve nice food as well as have a nice place and are willing to learn.

That is a definite possibility. I know when Butter is better it's original breakfast was but they kept working on it and it has improved a whole bunch. I remember the chief asking me for advice. Not that it helped much at the time but it has evolved into a good place to have breakfast. Not my favorite but I would have to say more than just acceptable.

[junglechef]

Firstly wanted to thank everyone for their concern but no worries as all's well with me, happy as can be, I'm just normaly like this especially when it comes to food.

As for taking out what I consider a nice dish of spaghetti to them I would be afraid that it would be taken as insulting as I don't personally know them and wouldn't want to make them lose face over something like this especially as I honestly believe they have good intentions. I'm more than happy to help but usually limit it to when I'm asked. My opinion had also been asked from Andrew at Butter is Better but it's different when dealing with another person from the same culture that might be more open to suggestions, and a person who can understand your intentions and whom you know. If they really wanted to serve nice food I think they are in the position to at least try a bit harder. I do think dishes anywhere can occasionally be worked on but mainly that should all be done in the menu development stage before it's being offered. If they are waiting for a paying customer to be disappointed first and then tell them what to do maybe they shouldn't be in this business in the first place. I would, from a social experiment angle, like to go back and befriend them and see what comes of it but with the language barrier it might be difficult as my Thai is embarrassingly bad, but that won't stop me.

As for the Nam Prik Ong debate foremost and most importantly this was a dish prepared by my self acclaimed bad cook GF (my opinion differs from her's of her ability and the deliciousness of her meals) for our family while she also takes care of our three children, the household, working on our farm and garden among other things daily. It was just one of the few dished she whipped up for dinner that night that which she is not charging paying customers for nor claiming to be preparing classical Lanna cuisine and also should be noted that she is not a professional. As the young boys only have a small tolerance for heat she included just a bit (the dried long chilis rehydrated and blended this time with garlic, shallots, galanga, fish sauce, sugar and salt) and puts out more chili on the table for us. We cook at home from the heart and since we don't expect repeat customers at our home's dinner table expecting and paying for a consistent product that they had here before and expect again, we change the flavors and ingredients depending on how we feel, what's seasonal and fresh in the markets and because we enjoy creating and trying different approaches to dishes as part of our enjoyment of playing in the kitchen as a family activity.