mike2011 Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Today I had enough of those baht bus a..holes at the corner of Klang and Second Rd. Smiled at them and decided to walk to Nua. Good for the body and I found something new. Usually I have a rather low opinion of Indian food in Pattaya or Thailand as a whole. Once I read 'authentic', 'finest' or the like I know it is time to move on. I still remember Malaysian Auntie in BKK in the golden days where good food was reasonably priced in a simple setting. The place was about food and not the attitudes of some third class mongers. We got enough of the latter in Pattaya where they call themselves cooks, sorry, chefs.... These places have a hundred items on the menu and maybe 2 customers inside. A miracle? By no means... it is just an unholy alliance of deep freezers and microwaves. You can eat last year's meal with today's bacteria. Now this place is an entirely different deal. A small hole in the wall on second road between soi 6 and 5, closer to 5 on the left handside, number 117. Very small menu, just snacks like Pakora and Samosas, plus some Thai dishes, in case you dont come alone... Samosa 2 pieces are 60, for 80 you get a tea with it. A plate of pakoras is 70. The other items are also very reasonable. The Samosas wait in the fridge for you to be cooked on arrival. So nothing from the microwave and the freezer. Fresh food! The only thing I missed was a dal and a plate of rice. Ok, that's not a snack but my stomach wanted it (me too....). So if we ask nicely the friendly lady from India who runs the shop might change her mind. She is proud of her food and keen on making a point how she does it and how it has to be done. Indian home cooking in Pattaya. I regret that I had no camera with me. The fridge was clean and well stocked and the place is a good spot for a quick bite. By the way, I am not connected to the venture in any way. I just like down to earth cooking and this place meets the bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Yeah, thanks. I stopped in there looking for a meal and realized it's just street type snacks. The lady seemed nice. Wish you had posted on the new Indian places thread. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/808771-explosion-of-new-good-quality-affordable-indian-restaurants-in-pattaya/ I just don't see a thread for every single food place or restaurant in town ... there must be thousands! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike2011 Posted June 11, 2015 Author Share Posted June 11, 2015 I agree, hundreds there are. So better make it clear that this is something else than the rest of the crowd. Good places deserve an own thread and no need to compare it with the rest of the crowd. Here I drop by for a quick snack when in the area. The place is spot on and, yes, as the title states, it is indeed fast food, very good fast food. Let's hope for the dal as this would surely be another full score item. I stopped eating Indian food in SEA, with some few exceptions. Just too overpriced and, no matter what you pay, a health hazard. This place is different and I am very happy that there is finally something I do like. Let's hope someone posts some pics. But then I might return for the job myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 There are plenty of places in town to get good dal, not terribly expensive. I had an excellent dal tadka tonight, 100 baht. I'm just not buying into your over the top negative characterization of every Indian place in town, especially in the last year when there has been such a blossoming of new choices. No, I'm not suggesting Pattaya is the best place in the world to eat food for quality of value, of course it isn't, but in the last few years the situation has gotten a lot better and I think Indian food lovers, including Indians, CAN be satisfied here. I wish I could say the same thing about Mexican food here! Rating the two scenes, on a 1 to 10 I would rate the Mexican here as 1 and the Indian at maybe 6 or 7 at the better places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike2011 Posted June 11, 2015 Author Share Posted June 11, 2015 Yes, perhaps there are places I might like in Pattaya. However, I ended my carreer as a laboratory rat. Food hygiene is regularly beyond description and if I want food from a deep-freezer - there is always McDo which I avoid. I mentioned the other places to make my point clearer on this fast food joint. So let's stay on topic. This is about this nice spot only and exclusively and no Mexican, Italian or other place. (Jinthing, this is in line with the rules you usually like to set-out for readers - it works both ways.) Back on topic: It was most reassuring when the lady showed me the fridge and how she stored the food. They do the Samosas 15 at a time fresh. Once these are gone they do the next. Nothing from the freezer = fresh food. The Pakoras are made from a good variety of veggies. Other places tend to serve onions only, this is cheaper sure. Thus, the fast food joint offers more than many 'proper' restaurants. In sum, a very good deal in an otherwise bloated market full of dubious places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I like a good samosa. I will try it when I want such a snack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redandyellow Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 When my wife learned to cook Samosas, I suddenly realized I would probably live longer, judging from the amount of oil inundating the bloody brown paper bags the Samosas used to come in from the local joint.. I should have wrung the oily bags out and had them analyzed for Oil Quality - NOT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questionsreplies Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 The guy like very cheap food but perfectly clean by US standards and at the same time he knows nothing about Indian food here... You are so kind Jingthing ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Hygiene issues are all over here. Same with frozen food. Not restricted to Indian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike2011 Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 Dear questionsreplies, thanks for your unsolicited insights which are perfectly nonsensical. Obviously you have not been to the joint this discussion is about. Now to Indian/South Asian food. I do not claim to be an expert. I also do not profess to be able or even willing to pass a definite judgment on a food place and offering my thoughts to the public. However, having had Indian neighbors for a good decade, doing some cooking classes, cooking my curries for 35 , buying spices and other ingredients at select places, and having had my share of South Asian food in many locations I have developed an appreciation. To be clear, I do not follow orthodoxies like using Ghee but prefer a high quality oil at home. Others might be perfectly happy with local Indian restaurants. I have reduced my Indian take-in outside the house to those snack, a dal, and, maybe, some veggies but that happens also very rarely. For expensive ingredients like good and fresh meat, fish, or even high quality veggies I entertain little hope in most restaurants. I shared my impression on this small place because I like it and I think that others might do so as well. This the more so as it stands out from the rest of the crowd. About food safety: It is utterly wrong to link pricing to clean food. In fact, many of the so called upscale places are more likely to give you problems rather than the small street food place that does not keep left overs for the next day but sells all out. Bad staff training, reluctance to throw things away when there is still a chance to sell it at a profit, the deep-freezer culture etc. all add up. Jingthing rightly stated that this unfortunately a very common issue. The Indian snack place stands out exactly for the reasons you ridiculed: Reasonably priced and clean. Whether they follow US standards I do not know. But when I see a housewife taking pride in her produce and her clean refridgerator, yes, then I feel confident. The place has entered my food map of Pattaya as a welcome addition and perhaps one of the other BMs will agree and be happy about having had this piece of information. If so, the thread has served a purpose. peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Subham tiny menu hole in the wall Indian snack joint -- clean fridge. Noted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolsti Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 I find no comparisons between a clean kitchen and U.S. Standards... Please have a look at YouTube and Hotel Nightmares Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 If hygiene was a priority for me I would probably reject 90 percent of the places that I eat here and also back in the U.S. as there are some very dodgy "ethnic" places there as well. In all the years I've been here I got a bad case of food poisoning only once but couldn't pin it on a specific place ... heck could have been my own home kitchen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangkokgas Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 I reckon Mike knows plenty about Indian food. Malaysian Aunty had the best Indian food I have tasted antwhere in Asia..still dream and drool thinking of it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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