Eating Anything Other Than Thai Food In BKK A Disappointment?

[TheSpade]

Is it just me or are most non Thai restaurants in Bangkok mediocre at best and more often than not terrible?

Doesn't seem to matter whether it's Mexican, Italian, British pub food, Korean American or even Brazilian it's disappointing, over priced and afterwards I wish I'd just went to my local Thai place and had a plate of pad ka pow with rice and a drink for 60B instead of spending 10x that much on something substandard.

I'm always craving something different and looking to try new places / place I've never been but it's rare to find somewhere that was actually worth the money spent in comparison to tasty Thai food at a fraction of the price.

I've yet to eat any decent pasta or pizza here, the Mexican food is bland, burgers tend to be so so, steak is usually vile, the British pub grub is cheap slop more often than not, the indian curries are over priced for such small portions and don't taste like they should and even the Korean and Japanese places which are better than most of the Western and other places are so so.

What's your take on it? Do you find eating anything other than Thai food in BKK disappointing? Over priced?

If you know some really good non Thai places you can share it here....

[p_brownstone]

It's just you.

I've never read such pretentious nonsense.

Of course if your budget is Baht 60 x 10 (Baht 600.- ) then you get what you pay for.

Patrick

Edited October 31, 2013 by p_brownstone

[arthurwait]

Pretty much yes, but after you've been here long enough anything is good.

Bella Napoli soi 31 for pizza.

Sunrise tacos near Asoke station or in terminal 21 are quite good.

Carl juniors for burgers , chilli cheese one.

Londoner pub Sunday buffet.

Gooses chip shop near central festival in Pattaya.

Edited October 31, 2013 by arthurwait

[ukrules]

I find the foreign food in Bangkok to be excellent.

The Londoner sells good food (especially the Sunday lunch buffet) and Monsoon (steak for me) on Sukhumvit Soi 8 is also very good for both foreign and Thai food.

For a sandwich in the afternoon it's hard to beat the really tasty Tuna on Rye sandwich they sell in the open air part at the front of the Landmark hotel.

I've found the best Indian curry to be from Bawarchi which is on Sukhumvit Soi 11. Mrs Balbir's on Soi 11/1 is another contender - many others I've tried are not so good.

It takes time to find a good collection of places to eat at - sometimes many years.

[ToddWeston]

Well for me I found it I ate supper out I was disappointed, but lunch seemed to hit the spot, I had higher expectations for an evening meal I suppose. Start doing breaky at the Queen Vic, lunch at Bradmans and a great slice of pizza at Pala and see if you feel the same. I'm actually very happy with the selection of fine dining I just need to figure out how to un-invite the entire household

As for price it's not my primary concern as where I'm from food is probably triple the price as compared to here. I can be in and out of La Monitas for two less than 750 baht at home it would be 2000 baht plus tax.

[gamini]

If your taste goes to burgers, fish and chips or English food you are not qualified to comment on good restaurants

[Marcel1]

In perspective the prices are quite good but I must say that they quality is sometimes difficult to find with so many offer. I heard many people talking great stuff about firehouse burgers for a while before I went and when I went I was so turned down that I rather went to mcdonalds.

on the other side Bei Otto at soi 20 is quite ok or JP, french restaurant in soi 31 great guy great food.

[GrantSmith]

Opposite Mess Hall - the chef there's a no nonsense Aussie. Doesn't substitute on his search for quality produce.

Quince - the place where the above mentioned chef used to be, things went down hill after he left, but now have a kiwi chef at the helm ex-Siam hotel chef... Things could be on the improve here but haven't been back since he took over. Wine list is quite decently priced and broad, has my favourite Australian Riesling available so it's already ahead. Beers are quite decent too. Service is really hit or miss.

Madison at the Four Seasons Hotel is my go to place for a decent steak. Yes it's pricey, but I make no apologies for paying good coin for a good feed. They're lunch specials are very well priced.

I'm regularly at the hotel bar - Aqua - the wife and I chill out there, the staff treat us well despite the bevy of high society types that frequent it. Treated no differently.

These places are out there, the beauty of it is finding them and experiencing it.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[rixalex]

If your taste goes to burgers, fish and chips or English food you are not qualified to comment on good restaurants

Pompous and judgmental nonsense like that should disqualify you from commenting on anything really.

[MAJIC]

Maybe the OPs taste buds have been damaged with all that Hot Spicy Thai food!

[TheSpade]

I obviously never learn because just after posting this I went out to eat after not eating a thing all day (in bed all day with hangover). Walked past a local steak place and the idea of a big, tasty, sirlon tempted me in even though I knew it would quite likely be terrible at just 199B.

It didn't disappoint. Awful. You know things are going to be good when they don't even ask you how you want your steak cooked and when you tell them you'd like it medium rare you get a blank stare.

Not convinced that was beef I was eating. Looked and tasted funny but not sure what it could have been. The toughness and texture of it reminded me of Alpaca / Llama that I ate in Peru but unlikely to be that.

In perspective the prices are quite good but I must say that they quality is sometimes difficult to find with so many offer. I heard many people talking great stuff about firehouse burgers for a while before I went and when I went I was so turned down that I rather went to mcdonalds.

on the other side Bei Otto at soi 20 is quite ok or JP, french restaurant in soi 31 great guy great food.

I was at Firehouse yesterday. Disappointed overall.

Best burgers in BKK I was told. If they hadn't ruined mines by slapping so much mustard on it (or horseraddish / wasabi as I suspect it was) to the point of it being inedible then maybe I would have liked it.

The person I was eating with took one small bite of my burger and nearly choked, there was sweat lashing off their face and steam coming out their ears with a very uncomfortable look on their face because it was so strong.

Chicken wings tasted strongly of alcohol (might have been a JD sauce they were done in?) and ribs were poor. Potato wedges were good and deep fried pickles not bad either.

The person I was with didn't like any of her stuff and she isn't fussy.

If your taste goes to burgers, fish and chips or English food you are not qualified to comment on good restaurants

And what do you recommend being the worlds leading expert on good food?

It's just you.

I've never read such pretentious nonsense.

Of course if your budget is Baht 60 x 10 (Baht 600.- ) then you get what you pay for.

Patrick

What's pretentious about it?

Sure 600B isn't much in the grand scale of things but this is Thailand where tasty food is available everywhere for under 100B with a drink so paying 600B and then it being terrible is quite annoying.

Why don't you recommend some places to us then...

Maybe the OPs taste buds have been damaged with all that Hot Spicy Thai food!

Or maybe just realised how bland 'farang' food is.

I don't actually think it's either of those things I just think in general most non Thai places in Bangkok are not great. Many do really well on presentation, decor and ambience but the food is lacking and for the price disappointing.

I guess it can be difficult to get good quality ingredients at a good price, many things are not available, the chefs may not be native cookers but trained solely to cook the food for the restaurant, and it's difficult to deliver value whilst not jacking prices up too much.

[nzvic]

"... rare to find somewhere that was actually worth the money spent in comparison to tasty Thai food at a fraction of the price"

I agree with the above poster on this. I've been to some wonderful out of the way places which has fabulous Thai dishes. Some of the Michelin-star dishes tasted in BKK. have been so mundane - all form and no substance. Frankly they are not a patch on some of the superb flavours of Thai restaurants specialties.

But then I live in NZ where we have pretty good "foreign" ingredients, so western food in Bangkok tastes very ordinary by comparison. But good street food vendors and Thai restaurants NAIL it everytime - my son loves to expose me to the best of Thai food which he loves, but most aint costly by NZ's very costly standards: e.g. $30NZ for five spud croquettes at a harbourside place.

[frankwhite]

Ingredients are the main factor why farang food is more expensive. Import tax is to thank for that.

You gotta ask your self what kind of steak you would get for 199????

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Jingthing]

...

Gooses chip shop near central festival in Pattaya.

CLOSED.

[beano2274]

you complain about farang food in Thailand, you wanna hear my wife complain about Thai food in Europe, nothing like the stuff back home is what she always says, tastes too European than Thai.

[nzvic]

Ingredients are the main factor why farang food is more expensive. Import tax is to thank for that.

You gotta ask your self what kind of steak you would get for 199????

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

NZ is supposed to be one of the best meat/dairy producers in the world, yet supermarket fresh rump steak is about 250Baht "on special" per kg here and it's usually pretty tasteless, even at double the price these days.

Maybe it's due to it being one of the few countries which still allows an hormone use (to fasten growth) outlawed in most other western countries? I know we didn't eat beef for years after I read that, but mince is pretty versatile so ended back on the stuff...but it's only the sauces/additions which give it flavour these days. Fish is damn expensive here $28-35 kg for fillets (mostly exported these days) . I've had lovely freshly steamed whole fish for $3-4 from Big C in Chatuchuk.

[nzvic]

you complain about farang food in Thailand, you wanna hear my wife complain about Thai food in Europe, nothing like the stuff back home is what she always says, tastes too European than Thai.

Son's friend turned old villa in trendy inner-city Auckland suburb into Thai restaurant decades ago and his faithful customers return and return cuz he gives them the real deal...think yr wife would like it there. My son misses his Thai fix on visits here and ends up there most of the time.

[ignis]

If I go to BKK then use non Thai Hotel Buffet restaurants........ there again it goes on price mostly, pay 199 baht, do not expect to get the same as a place that charges 600 baht or more..

Look around many offer 4 for the price of 2 at 4* Hotels... also look on Deals, many cheap deals on-line, pre-pay and hope for the best, I go Buffet as there most be something good in the line up

even some Thai 30 - 60 baht places are very bad, some are excellent and have been back many times..

[ukrules]

You sometimes get what you pay for, other times not so much

[kurnell]

Anybody unimpressed by Beirut, has absolutely no taste in cuisine. Not surprising that it is far and away the most popular choice on the Food By Phone menu.

[Cleveland]

Ingredients are the main factor why farang food is more expensive. Import tax is to thank for that.

You gotta ask your self what kind of steak you would get for 199????

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

8

Donkey?

A really good quality steak will be at least three times that .

[hanno]

Whilst I did have some mediocre food in BKK, and in some pretty pricey places too, I have also had some outstanding Western food. Some of the hotels do great buffets, there are a couple of excellent Italian restaurants; decent pub grub, a good German or too, plenty of good French restaurants.

I have already made a list of places to try when I am back next week

[Cleveland]

Anybody unimpressed by Beirut, has absolutely no taste in cuisine. Not surprising that it is far and away the most popular choice on the Food By Phone menu.

Sherazad,suk 3? Has some of the best byriani and bbq I have ever had anywhere . Every time I visit I go at least once.

Also been taken to some really high quality Italian restos.

[Ulysses G.]

I agree on the Beirut restaurant. Good food. Good price.

[Cleveland]

Anybody unimpressed by Beirut, has absolutely no taste in cuisine. Not surprising that it is far and away the most popular choice on the Food By Phone menu.

Sherazad,suk 3? Has some of the best byriani and bbq I have ever had anywhere . Every time I visit I go at least once.

Also been taken to some really high quality Italian restos.

[ToddWeston]

Anybody unimpressed by Beirut, has absolutely no taste in cuisine. Not surprising that it is far and away the most popular choice on the Food By Phone menu.

Thank you, you just reminded me I have been there in over a month - lunch today.

[ignis]

http://todayguidedeals.posttoday.com/



may try this later in the month http://www.streetdeal.co.th/deals/view/2605/0/BTS_.html


See no reason to pay full price when you can get 50 - 90% discount

Edited November 1, 2013 by ignis

[kurnell]

Anybody unimpressed by Beirut, has absolutely no taste in cuisine. Not surprising that it is far and away the most popular choice on the Food By Phone menu.

Thank you, you just reminded me I have been there in over a month - lunch today.

New branch Thonglor 8.

[ExpatJ]

Indian food- Indus soi 26 excellent and has 500 baht all you can eat lunches at weekends.

Steaks- Marriott's New York steak house- great steaks (a bit pricey- dinner for 2 will set you back 15,000 baht (and that does not include desserts :-P

Buffets- four seasons, sheraton grande- both great.

[hanno]

Indian food- Indus soi 26 excellent and has 500 baht all you can eat lunches at weekends.

Steaks- Marriott's New York steak house- great steaks (a bit pricey- dinner for 2 will set you back 15,000 baht (and that does not include desserts :-P

Buffets- four seasons, sheraton grande- both great.

15,000 Baht????? I like to spend money on my food but that is a little over the top.