The Greatest Thai Mystery

[tartempion]

Unfortunately we did an MK today for lunch and not cheap at 1110 baht for 2.

Hope we will avoid any MK for the next 5 years.

OK, the duck was not too bad, prefer the place at corner soi 15 Suk for duck though.

[IsaanUSA]

Dragged to the one in central opposite fortune town this week, I don't eat meat but even if I did I would actually expect the food to be cooked for me in a restaurant. Overpriced but full of people, how do they get away with it? The staff sing an awful song at one point, went to s&p while they got through it.

Seriously, you left the restaurant for a short period because of a song they sang? Was it the happy birthday song?

[DP25]

Dragged to the one in central opposite fortune town this week, I don't eat meat but even if I did I would actually expect the food to be cooked for me in a restaurant. Overpriced but full of people, how do they get away with it? The staff sing an awful song at one point, went to s&p while they got through it.

Seriously, you left the restaurant for a short period because of a song they sang? Was it the happy birthday song?

Not the happy birthday song. At MK, they make the entire staff do dance routines to their corporate theme song

[ultimate weapon]

I actually regret to say i mixed up MK with MBK and caused some confusion because i forgot it was called MK but kept on saying MBK and ppl were thinking of the shopping centre and not the restaurant chain.

Personally for me i love the green colored noodles. They taste like typical noodles in fact they seem to follow the chinese HK cantonese style in terms in taste but i just like them.

It's steamboat bascially. You cook your own food and yes you can order cooked food but that's the draw. I don't see what's wrong compared to other types of steamboast like chinese style or korean style.

It's just an asian style of food. Actually i can bet why OP doesn't like it is cause he doesn't know how to cook. I bet he probably took out some half cooked food and ate it or probably ordered some cooked food off the menu because he doesn't even know how to follow the steamboat style of restaurants in asia.

Sorry mate but you are so wrong. It is the fact that I can cook (and IMHO very well) and have done since I was 16, that I really don't like this steamboat nonsense. Boiling a load of stuff in in thin tasteless broth then having to slap loads of sauce on it to get a sembalance of taste is not my thing. Paying 500 baht for it doesn't work either. There are buffet style restaurants all over Thailand which offer a similar experience with a flat or rounded hotplate in addition to the soup. THese are all you can eat places and charge between 100 and 200 baht a head. More variety and more flavour.

The few times I have been there I eat the duck (which is good). But this is not about me. I just wondered why it was so popular when there is so much better around.

you need to add the correct ingredients. There's egg, veggies, meat and i believe there's also a spicy version on top of a just plain hot water version. How come your food is tasteless?

Tell me what sort of food do you cook?

Now one way to have good tasting soup is to let something simmer in boiling water so say some chicken with vegetables am i right?

[farang000999]

500 baht?

Five Hundred Baht

5

0

0

b

a

h

t

OMG

500 baht!!!

5 0 0 b a h t

PANG MAK MAK

[kannot]

Its great marketing I mean who in their right mind pays good money to cook their own food?

[kannot]

I thought you were going to ask why Thais get onto an escalator before stopping, turning around and getting off again??

Or even getting to the escalator standing at the bottom blocking it, looking with their dead fish like eyes into their mobiles, blocking it and not getting on and even using the escalator getting off at the top then standing there looking with dead fish like eyes into their mobiles and blocking everyone trying to get off.

Dead fish eyes?

I was pretty shocked by that too.

Me too , slandering fish is not a good thing!!

[kannot]

I hate going to a restaurant and having to cook my own food.

Its like going to a fast food burger restaurant and taking your tray and rubbish to the bin when your finished.

Bugger that, pay someone to take it away you cheap ####

heaven forbid u could carry it to the bin located on the way to your exit!!

im not a waiter im a customer, get the same crap in the UK buying petrol/gas, except at a few stations i know.

[SoiBiker]

Its great marketing I mean who in their right mind pays good money to cook their own food?

It's fun. A concept that's pretty unfamiliar to many here, I grant you.

[farang000999]

you can have the waitress empty the bowls into the pot if it is that a big of a deal.

[tingtongtourist]

I must ask the same question for Subway food chains in the west.

I cant fathom why anyone goes there either its just a danm sandwhich and full of fat and overpriced

you could make better at home with better ingredients without the weird taste.

i guess the answer is the same as always.people to lazy or have no time or to useless to so themself.

a girl i dated thai,said she has never once cooked un condo in 4 years. Only time to have real food is when visit mother

[laolover88]

It is just mass produced fast food. What do you expect? And in spite of that not all MKs are the same. Their 'standardisation' is a bit haphazard! Mind you, if I had to rank the fast food outlets they would not be bottom! Have you trid Chester's Grill or !Chessa Glil@l as it is known. Now there is serious dross. Many years ago wife used to go to Pizza Hut and Pizza Company and order pizzas covered in pineapple, then added ketchup. Went to "ask" in the UK. Never ate a pizza in Thailand again. Same with the discovery of Italian ice cream versus Swensens. Think the best of these are the Oishi/Shabushi chain. Kids have more fun; though all Oishi drinks are laden with sugar.

[Sigurris]

A few posters seem to equate MK to fast food outlets but I have always ranked it equivalent to Sizzlers or Fuji, certainly in price but not in quality or value for money. But thats just me.

(and to an earlier poster 500 baht is pang for a bowl of watery soup, some processed fish, a couple of prawns and bits of squid, the eventual bill was much higher)

[AYJAYDEE]

I must ask the same question for Subway food chains in the west.

I cant fathom why anyone goes there either its just a danm sandwhich and full of fat and overpriced

you could make better at home with better ingredients without the weird taste.

i guess the answer is the same as always.people to lazy or have no time or to useless to so themself.

a girl i dated thai,said she has never once cooked un condo in 4 years. Only time to have real food is when visit mother

what is wrong with the vegetable sub with some sauce?

[tim armstrong]

I like MK especially the duck. But some of their recipes have changed. Shabu shabu is OK but a bit expensive. My wife and step son like it. Personally good street food has it all for me, and rarely get sick too.

[mrjohndub]

Don't care for MK? = Must rationalize McDonald's

Hold on...what?

[petercool]

An off topic post removed

[Gandtee]

Dragged to the one in central opposite fortune town this week, I don't eat meat but even if I did I would actually expect the food to be cooked for me in a restaurant. Overpriced but full of people, how do they get away with it? The staff sing an awful song at one point, went to s&p while they got through it.

Seriously, you left the restaurant for a short period because of a song they sang? Was it the happy birthday song?

Not the happy birthday song. At MK, they make the entire staff do dance routines to their corporate theme song

The food is about as good as the singing

[nisakiman]

When we're staying with mum and dad in Ubon, we take them out to eat quite often, and they invariably want to go to MK (and then Swensen's for dessert). I quite like the food there, and the duck is always good. I don't think it is particularly cheap by Thai standards, but it is a very slick operation, and service is usually fast and good. I'd probably only go there once a flood if the choice was mine. If I'm going to a place like that in a mall, I prefer to go to Fuji.

[AZBill]

Yeah I don't get it either. Really bland food but my wife loves it when she's here. I think it's the whole cook it yourself thing that they enjoy. Who knows? I'm like you. I don't bother trying to figure it all out.

[thailiketoo]

I like MK especially the duck. But some of their recipes have changed. Shabu shabu is OK but a bit expensive. My wife and step son like it. Personally good street food has it all for me, and rarely get sick too.

You got it man, its the duck. Seriously good duck. Order some veggies and dim sum or rice.....

Tell me of a restaurant in any country that has better duck? You guys are all goofy. It is the duck and that's no secret.

Edited October 14, 2014 by thailiketoo

[SoiBiker]

Never been to MK. Tempted now just to try this legendary duck.

[thailiketoo]

Never been to MK. Tempted now just to try this legendary duck.

It's cheap too. Just order the duck with noodles. If you want soup. Just say soup.

Edited October 14, 2014 by thailiketoo

[SoiBiker]

If you want soup. Just say soup.

I'd never have thought of that. Top tip.

[thailiketoo]

If you want soup. Just say soup.

I'd never have thought of that. Top tip.

The reason I mention it is the soup thing is kind of complicated at MK. All the noodle (white and green) dishes and all the shrimp won ton dishes come dry or wet. The duck also comes with a sauce as do most of the dim sum like things. The duck sauce is really good and you can get a small (50 baht) or large (? baht) ala carte duck plate with just the duck sauce. The duck sauce is made from skimmed drippings of the cooked duck and other stuff but doesn't taste fishy like most Thai sauces. So you can get soup ala carte or most of the dishes in soup.

The condiments with the duck are sliced ginger and cucumbers.

Edited October 14, 2014 by thailiketoo