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Under 300 Baht ... And Mediocre


Evil Penevil

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Not all the food in I try in Pattaya qualifies as good.  Mediocre dishes also abound under 300 baht, so I decided to start a thread about those meals.

But before we get going, I have to stress "mediocre" is not the same thing as "bad." Mediocre means "average or ordinary in quality; neither very good nor very bad." Generally speaking, a mediocre meal will be adequate, but not more.  One more time, so everyone understands: mediocre does not mean bad.  On the U.S. academic grading scale, a mediocre meal would get a "C" (average), with "A" superior; "B" good; "D" below average; and "F" failure.

 Another point to stress is that a good restaurant can serve an undistinguished dish while the rest of its menu is much better. One mediocre dish does not a mediocre restaurant make, much less a bad restaurant.

So with the notes of explanation out of the way, feel free to share the details of meals in Pattaya that were notable only for their mediocrity, no matter in which restaurant you had them. It doesn't necessarily have to be farang food.  It can be Thai, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, whatever.   Thanks!

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I used the Eatigo discount (50% at 1.30 p.m.) to have lunch the other day at the Garden Cafe at the Avani Hotel on 2nd Road. I had been tempted by the "Recommended Menu" selections on Eatigo, but none of the dishes I wanted to try were available on the limited lunch menu.  I chose Lamb Rogan Josh at 350 baht as the best option.  it came with basmati rice; tiny pieces of naan bread; a tiny dish of chutney, unknown flavor; and an equally small dish of a super-salty pickled vegetable.

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I'm not a portion fanatic, but the serving of lamb rogan josh was small even by my standards,  You can use the fork in the pic for a sense of scale. It was a large plat, but it didn't have much food on it. It wasn't value-for-money even with a 50% discount.

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The aromatic sauce was great, but a couple of the chunks of lamb hadn't had the fat trimmed properly and were gristly. To me, unrendered lamb fat is gamy and inedible. On the whole, it was a mediocre dish, despite the sauce. The menu price doesn't include VAT and service, so the real cost was 205 baht.  The cheapest bottle of mineral water was 80 baht, bringing the total cost of the meal to 299 baht. To be fair, Eatigo makes clear the menu prices are ++.

The interior of the Garden Cafe is very nice, but I was the only person eating there.

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There's also an extensive outdoor eating area and its own herb garden.  I saw one of the cooks snipping fresh herbs.  Service was friendly and attentive.

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Bottom line:  You have the potential for an excellent dining experience at the Garden Cafe, but the Lamb Rogan Josh was only mediocre.  I expected better at the Garden Cafe.

Evil

 

 

Edited by Evil Penevil
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I had the American Breakfast at Retox Game On at the beginning of the week.  The normal price was 179 baht, but I got it on the Eatigo 50% discount for 90 baht at 7.30 a.m. Sadly, it wasn't a very cheerful start to the day.

Things turned negative as soon as I showed the waitress my cell phone screen with the Eatigo confirmation code. She claimed it wasn't valid because it didn't include the date.  I tried to explain that the confirmation code indicated "Today," as it always does when you make a reservation the same day you eat.  She insisted the Eatigo confirmation message had to show the date in numerical form.   

I kept my voice calm and my tone polite, yet nothing I said had any effect on her. I showed her the app and how it worked, even offered to make a new reservation in front of her eyes, but she just shook her head "no."  I was about to ask for the manager when she grabbed my phone and scurried off with it.  I was NOT pleased she'd done that, but I figured she was taking it to show someone for a final decision. She came back in a few minutes, returned my phone and asked what I wanted to eat like nothing had happened. Weird and unprofessional behavior, but I let it ride.  It's one more example of failure to communicate and nothing to harp on with her after the fact, although I did have a few frustrating moments.

Retox' American breakfast consisted of two fried eggs; two small pancakes;  two slices of streaky bacon; a mystery meat sausage; and what the menu called maple syrup and hash browns.  It also came with two slices of toast; two pats of butter;  a small glass of orange drink; and a choice of coffee or tea.  

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The pancakes and streaky bacon were the two best items on the plate. The bacon had a strong smoky and salty flavor that's typical for the U.S., while the pancakes were light and fluffy if a bit thick. The coffee was good, too. 

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On the other hand, the eggs were overcooked for my taste and the formed-meat sausage and fried potatoes were inedible. The sausage had a horrid hot-dog-like smooth texture and the potatoes were greasy and mushy. The pancake syrup was about as far from the sap of the sugar maple tree as the forests of Vermont are from the cane fields of Chonburi province.

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Bottom line:  It was a mediocre breakfast and that's being generous considering the hassle with the waitress. It reminded me why I seldom bother with a Western breakfast in Pattaya. I'm not expecting heaven on a plate for 90 baht, but I do expect better than I got.

One point for which I give Retox kudos is that the menu prices are not ++.  Service and VAT were included the 179-baht price and the Eatigo discount reflected this.

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Evil

 

 

 

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11 hours ago, Thai Spice said:

Evil, for the Retox case I admire your patience, personally I would have just told the waitress to F.O. and then have the place massacred on social media.

Unprofessional behaviour is unacceptable in F & B .

I've found patience to be a virtue when dealing with Thai waitresses as most often any problems are caused by her failure to understand me or my failure to understand her. Very, very seldom has a hassle been the result of ill will on the Thai's part.

Evil

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Some earlier reports of mediocre restaurant meals:

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The fixed plate roast chicken dinner at the Robin Hood Tavern for 199 baht rates a "C," with one component on the plate scoring an "A," two failing miserably and the rest average. 

 

 

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I give the roast chicken an "A" because it was a generous portion of juicy and tasty chicken.  

 

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The Yorkshire pudding and bacon-wrapped sausage were inedible, so they get "Fs."  The Robin Hood also has a carvery buffet for 299 baht and I believe the Yorkshire and the sausage had stood on heating trays for a long time and the plate had been rewarmed in a microwave or oven before serving.  The Yorkshire was burnt on the outside, tough as leather inside.  The bacon around the sausage was so hard it couldn't be chewed.  The vegetables and potatoes were OK, but nothing special, the definition of mediocre.  A possible upside for some diners is that there was a lot of food on the plate.  The downside was that except for the chicken, it was mediocre or bad food. 

The Robin Hood Tavern is located on the  first upper level of The Avenue on 2nd Road.  

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Take Away is a restaurant on Soi Bukhao, close to the subsoi that connects New Plaza with Bukhao.  It's menu aims it clearly at visitors from the U.K. as it's heavy on what can be considered British comfort food.

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Prices aren't exactly cheap, but they are reasonable and every item on the menu is under 300 baht, with most under 200 baht.

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You order and pay at the counter, but the food is carried to the tables by the waitress.

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I tried the spaghetti Bolognese for 180 baht. Maybe that was a bad choice on my part.  If I eat there again, I'll pick something more British.

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Basically, it was a bland ground beef sauce dumped on top of overcooked pasta.  There was no Italian seasoning and very little tomato in what was supposed to be a Bolognese sauce. Mediocre is the best I can rate it.  The garlic bread was actually the tastiest part of the meal.

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Lee's Diner has been operating eight years in the Pattaya restaurant shark pool, which is a longer run than many get. 

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It's located on Soi Diana near the intersection with LK Metro and dishes up Thai and farang food 24/7.

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It's clean and well-lit, which are definitely positive factors in my eyes.  A serious downside factor is that there's no wall between Lee's and the neighboring bar that features a live band blaring the usual numbers at ear-splitting levels. 

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What the band lacks in quality it makes up in volume. There is no way I could ever eat a meal with that deafening racket in the background, but the band knocks off at 2 a.m. and that's when I tried Lee's recently.  I had eaten at Lee's in years past, but hadn't gone back much because I found the food, well, ... mediocre.

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There was nothing about the beef with oyster sauce I had at 160 baht that caused me to change that opinion. 

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It was bland and heavy on the vegetables but light on the beef, also a bit oily.  On the positive side, the ingredients seemed fresh and the beef wasn't tough.  Everything considered, it fit comfortably in the realm of mediocrity.

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Evil

 

 

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Good report @Evil Penevil

Yes your spot on with the yorkshire's its always the case even here in the uk it happens often with such places as that are never made to order and just kept warm.

I'm not going to go into it too much but i think the flour is not the same as back here in the uk.

The yorkshire's in Thailand always seam heavy on the bottom making an omelet type of yorkshire pudding.

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On 9/30/2018 at 1:39 PM, Lanzalad said:
Good report [mention=159]Evil Penevil[/mention]
Yes your spot on with the yorkshire's its always the case even here in the uk it happens often with such places as that are never made to order and just kept warm.
I'm not going to go into it too much but i think the flour is not the same as back here in the uk.
The yorkshire's in Thailand always seam heavy on the bottom making an omelet type of yorkshire pudding.

My mom always said a hot oven was the key to good Yorkshires. The batter has to be poured into smoking hot fat in the tray, then immediately into an equally hot oven. She'd set a timer for 20 minutes, then determine by sight through the oven window the moment they were to come out. I doubt many restaurants in Pattaya would go to such lengths repeatedly over the course of a Sunday.

And as you say, the flour used makes a difference. Thailand doesn't produce wheat, but some flour is milled here from imported wheat. I wonder if it comes out the same as Western flour?

Sent from my Sunny2 Plus using Tapatalk
 

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  • 1 month later...

I wish I could have included the Chunky Monkey's 99-baht spaghetti bolognese special of the day in the "Under 300 Baht ... And Good!" thread, but it just didn't make the grade. 

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What I got was tasteless sauteed ground beef dumped on top of a plate of spaghetti.  There was no real sauce and no seasoning at all, Italian or otherwise.

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 Some pieces of onion and garlic and maybe a spoonful of tomato puree had been added to the beef, but in such a small quantity and cooked for such a short time they didn't add any flavor.  The watery liquid wasn't a sauce.  Even the little dish of grated Parmesan cheese from a package was flavorless.

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If there were an Olympics of Blandness for restaurant food, this would be a gold medal winner. But as standard restaurant fare, it ranks no higher than mediocre.   For 99 baht, I'm not expecting the best spaghetti in town, but it should at least have a proper sauce with an Italian flavor.  

The Chunky Monkey (on Soi Buakhao across from Tree Town) ...

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has been open about three weeks and has already established itself as one of the more popular eateries in the area.  I certainly wish it well, but I hope the spaghetti bolognese will improve.  I've only eaten there twice and so far the Chunky Monkey is batting 50-50 with me: one good meal, one mediocre.  You can read about the good meal here (post #25).

Bottom line:  The mediocre spaghetti special won't deter me from returning to the Chunky Monkey.

Evil

Edited by Evil Penevil
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I haven't had much luck at the Chunky Monkey.  I tried the 99-baht daily special yesterday- chicken rissoles with onion gravy and mashed potatoes- and it was as bland as, well, unseasoned chicken.

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 The only flavor came from the thick, glutenous package gravy to which a few bits of onion had been added.  The chicken patty itself was totally lacking in any sort of seasoning and consequently, no taste either.

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On the plus side, the mash was good and the patty had been cooked properly.  It wasn't dry inside, but it had an extremely smooth texture, though, which gave it a weird mouth feel.  The rissoles would have been much helped by the addition of diced onion, garlic, carrot, green pepper, whatever, but most of all it needed herbs or spices.  There are dozens of variations to Australian-style rissoles.  There's no one right recipe, but there is a wrong way.  I scraped off the icky gravy and gave the rissoles a few splashes of HP Sauce from the condiment basket.  That improved them, but it didn't make them good.

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Bottom line: The Chunky Monkey now has two strikes against it in my book.  In the near future, I'll try either the Sunday roast or the meatloaf dinner.  A third strike will put it out for me as a dining option for quite awhile.

That's unfortunate,  as it has a convenient location and an enclosed air-conditioned dining area. It's well-lit, clean and spacious, with the background music played at a blessedly low volume and friendly service. Not many budget restaurants in Pattaya tick all those boxes. 

The prices for bottled beer are very low (55 baht for Leo and Chang, 65 baht for SML) and big bottles cost 79 baht.  Perhaps that will be enough to attract customers who aren't concerned about bland food. However, the cocktail van across the street could give it a run for the money.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I went to Steak 9 Rai on Third Road last night at about 9.30 p.m. to have a steak.  Unfortunately, the beef steak for 139 baht and the T-bone steak (300 g) for 229 baht were both finished.  Considering the restaurant is open between 4 p.m. and 1.00 a.m., it seemed a bit early to run out of beef, but maybe they were busy earlier in the evening. There were six other diners when I arrived.

  Anyway, the waitress recommended I take the chicken steak for 85 baht.

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I wasn't thrilled but I went ahead with the chicken.  This is what I got: a good-sized piece of chicken breast fillet; a handful of industrial crinkle-cut fries; a mound of salad, mostly lettuce; and a tiny bowl of stone-cold generic gravy from a packet.

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The fries were hard, dry and room temperature.  They had obviously been sitting for awhile.  The gravy was straight from the refrigerator.  The salad was fresh, but had been covered with bottled Thousand Island dressing, much I dislike.

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The chicken was tender, but overcooked and totally lacked any sort of seasoning. even salt or pepper.  The liquid on the plate in the photo below is  from the Maggi sauce bottle in the condiment basket.  I had doused the fillet to give it some taste.

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A bland grilled chicken fillet is good as a low-calorie source of lean protein,  but not much of an eating experience.  I finished the fillet and left the fries and most of the salad.

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The worst part of the meal was crossing Third Road.  Even at that hour it was busy and I had to wait a long time for a break in the traffic both coming and going to Steak 9 Rai.  Crossing Second Road is bad enough, but Third Road is a nightmare due to cars, motorcycles, trucks and buses zooming along at a higher rate of speed.

Bottom line:  Steak 9 Rai is regarded fondly by resident ex-pats for its inexpensive but good quality beef.  I've also had good pork chops and fish fillets there and have written positive reviews of them.  That said, last night's chicken steak was a disappointment.

Once I summon sufficient courage to attempt to cross Third Road again, I will go back to Steak 9 Rai for the beef.  But it's a bit of a Catch-22 situation for me.  The best chance of getting a steak is between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., but that's also when Third Road is busiest.

Evil

 

Trivia:  In one of those unintentionally humorous transcription errors,  Steak 9 Rai has become Steak 9 Rat in the blurb for free WiFi on the cover of the menu.

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And in case anyone is unfamiliar with the location, here's a map:

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I had the breakfast burrito at Retrox Game On this morning and it was mediocre.

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With the 50% Eatigo discount at 7.30 a.m., it cost 88 baht, plus 40 baht for a bottle of water.

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The menu description of the breakfast burrito was a bit optimistic.  The pork sausage was tasteless; the small strip of bacon had been fried brittle, not just crispy;  there was maybe a tablespoon of scrambled eggs; no hash browns but  two chunks of what might have been baked potato;  and there might have been a speck of mozzarella, not more. Except for the saltiness of the bacon, there was no taste at all.

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I had asked the waitress to hold the baked beans, but in afterthought, that was probably a mistake.  The beans would have added some desperately needed flavor.

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I'm glad the sausage had been cut into chunks rather than diced, as that made it easier to avoid eating.  Without flavor,  sausage is just meaningless calories.  And if Retox is not going to use proper hash browns, the potato should have been diced and fried with onions or sweet peppers for flavor.  More scrambled eggs and less potato would have been a good thing.  The tortilla was tough, a sign that it had been overcooked, maybe even reheated in a microwave. It  would have been improved by Mexican or Tex Mex seasoning. Cheese would have helped, too, but not mozzarella.  It would be unrealistic to expect Monterey or pepper jack cheese in Pattaya, but Swiss, Emmenthal or even cheddar would be better than mozzarella.

Bottom line:  Unless Retox Game On changes the recipe for its breakfast burrito,  I won't be ordering it again.  There's no way much a bizarre combination of ingredients can taste good together.

Evil

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8 minutes ago, Evil Penevil said:

I had the breakfast burrito at Retrox Game On this morning and it was mediocre.

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With the 50% Eatigo discount at 7.30 a.m., it cost 88 baht, plus 40 baht for a bottle of water.

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The menu description of the breakfast burrito was a bit optimistic.  The pork sausage was tasteless; the small strip of bacon had been fried brittle, not just crispy;  there was maybe a tablespoon of scrambled eggs; no hash browns but  two chunks of what might have been baked potato;  and there might have been a speck of mozzarella, not more. Except for the saltiness of the bacon, there was no taste at all.

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I had asked the waitress to hold the baked beans, but in afterthought, that was probably a mistake.  The beans would have added some desperately needed flavor.

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I'm glad the sausage had been cut into chunks rather than diced, as that made it easier to avoid eating.  Without flavor,  sausage is just meaningless calories.  And if Retox is not going to use proper hash browns, the potato should have been diced and fried with onions or sweet peppers for flavor.  More scrambled eggs and less potato would have been a good thing.  The tortilla was tough, a sign that it had been overcooked, maybe even reheated in a microwave. It  would have been improved by Mexican or Tex Mex seasoning. Cheese would have helped, too, but not mozzarella.  It would be unrealistic to expect Monterey or pepper jack cheese in Pattaya, but Swiss, Emmenthal or even cheddar would be better than mozzarella.

Bottom line:  Unless Retox Game On changes the recipe for its breakfast burrito,  I won't be ordering it again.  There's no way much a bizarre combination of ingredients can taste good together.

Evil

Besides the bacon and maybe the simili hashbrown I would have touched anything from this.

 

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Looks terrible but strange thing to order in there Mr Penevil

I had the small breakfast this morning 99 baht, went wild and paid 25 baht for some black pudding- got to say it was excellent. Really good quality ingredients- should have taken a photo.

Of the daily specials the Haddock & Chips, Mince beef and onion pies also highly recommended.

Only meal I've had in there that was average was the Sunday lunch at around 6 last weekend- maybe I showed up too  late?

I know there's a real mix of Brits, Americans, and Aussies in there, but really it's a British pub. Have never eaten a breakfast burrito in my life, looking the above I don't intend starting.

If I ever had the urge in Patts, must be a fair few US options , would never have gone into a British pub for it.

 

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3 hours ago, Lemondropkid said:

If I ever had the urge in Patts, must be a fair few US options , would never have gone into a British pub for it.

On the other end, a British pub shouldn't venture in "Exotic" cuisine, if they can't do it properly.

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51 minutes ago, Lambik said:

On the other end, a British pub shouldn't venture in "Exotic" cuisine, if they can't do it properly.

Think they are being nice and trying to accommodate a wide clientele. 

It's pretty much the best pub in Pattaya, seeing it getting slagged for a one off American item is ludicrous. 

BTW sat having a Duval, just had an excellent meal in a French shop so I'm no little Englander.

Edited by Lemondropkid
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  • 1 month later...

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Little Tavern began operating in 2018 the premises of the former Queens Arms on Soi Buakhao south of the intersection with Soi Lengkee.  Monday I decided to give it a try, but that was a bad choice.  The meal I had was squarely mediocre.

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Actually,  I shouldn't have eaten there at all.  I had been attracted by an outdoor chalkboard sign that advertised Chicken Kiev with mashed potatoes and veggies for 169 baht.  But when I tried to order it, the waitress said, "Sorry, already finish."  It was about 7.00 p.m. at the time.

Naughty, naughty. A restaurant should take in an outdoor sign touting a special if it's not available.  In the past, in similar situations, I've simply said something like, "I really wanted Chicken Kiev. I'll come back another day," and walked out.  Don't get angry, just vote with your feet.


But I ignored my own rule, in part because I wanted to try Little Tavern and in part because I was tired, hungry and needed to deal with some messages on my phone.  I looked at the menu and said I'd take the baked ham at 150 baht instead.  "No hab today," was the reply.  The waitress wanted me to take the chicken breast with mushroom  at 165 baht. I didn't really fancy that and scanned the menu again.  Nothing caught my eye.  It seemed to be the same stolid pub food that's standard in dozens of restaurants from Naklua to Na Jomtien; Lake Mabprachan to Beach Road; and all points between.

The waitress pressed me to take the chicken breast; it was good and cost the same as the special, she said.  I gave up at that point, ignored all the warning signals and rolled the dice on the waitress' suggestion.  Unfortunately, it came up snake eyes.  Loser, loser, loser!

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The chicken breast with mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes and the Pattaya Holy Trinity of side vegetables- carrots, broccoli and cauliflower- was not good.  As I've said about all the dishes in this thread, it wasn't bad, just not good.

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When the plate came down in front of me, it looked pretty good and I thought I might have lucked out, especially after I tasted the gravy. It was excellent, clearly made from scratch and full of flavor.  But alas, that was the highlight.  The rest was a letdown and pushed the meal into mediocre territory.

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In Texas hold'em poker,   Ace-King hole cards are called an Anna Kournikova after the beautiful but moderately talented tennis star because they "look better than they play." I'm trying to express the same idea about my meal at Little Tavern, but you eat food, you don't play it, and how Anna Kournikova would taste is anyone's guess.   I doubt many can speak from personal experience.

The three chicken breasts were dry as sawdust and about as tasty.  No seasoning had been used on them.  One edge of each had been pounded thin and cooked so hard it was inedible.  The potatoes were watery and seemed to have been pureed, not mashed.  All the flavor had been boiled out of the vegetables. The gravy was excellent, but gravy alone does not a good meal make.

Here's what may have happened: the chicken breasts on my plate had been intended to be used in Chicken Kiev, but the cook didn't prepare enough portions and for some reason couldn't make more.  Maybe they ran out of bread crumbs or the cook who knew how to make it had gone home.  Who knows?  The  waitress pushed the chicken breasts with mushroom gravy to help use up the ingredients on hand and frying  was the quickest way to do it.

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Aside from the food, there were some positives about my meal at Little Tavern: comfortable seats; good lighting and ventilation; background music at a blessedly low volume; and friendly service. It's a nice place to have a drink and would be a good one for a meal if the cooking improves.

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As noted earlier, the menu at Little Tavern isn't very inspiring.  It's mostly British comfort food, steaks of unspecified "imported" beef and some Thai dishes.

I'm sorry the resolution in the photo below is so low, but if you click on "Enlarge," those of you with good eyes may be able to get a better idea of what is on offer.

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Food prices seem to be on par with or higher than comparable restaurants nearby.  With its rock-bottom prices, the Chunky Monkey has proved very popular.  As several posters have noted, Soi Buakhao and LK Metro are price-sensitive areas and the food has to be top quality to justify premium prices and remain competitive.  That sure wasn't the case with my meal.  The happy hour price for bottled Thai beer is 60 baht, but at a bar across the street, the happy hour price for the same brands is 45 baht.  Little Tavern is likely to struggle on the price front.

If I remember the sign right,  Little Tavern is open between 7.00 a.m. and 11 p.m., but the kitchen closes at 9.00 p.m.

Bottom line:  I won't be rushing back.

Evil

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  • 3 weeks later...

Three strikes and the Chunky Monkey on Soi Buakhao is out for me, at least when it comes to eating a main meal there. Last night I had my third mediocre meal at CM and I'm being generous to call it mediocre.

I had the meatloaf, mashed potatoes with onion gravy and garden peas for 169 baht. This is the classic meatloaf meal and one I remember fondly from my childhood. My dad loved it hot with mashed potatoes and peas, or cold the next day in a sandwich, so my mom made it one night every week.  It was also one of the very few school lunch dishes I liked as a child.

Meatloaf is popular  in home and institutional settings because it is an easy recipe that is cheap and quick to make. If  newlywed brides as well as the cooks in schools, prisons, mental hospitals, homeless shelters and on military bases  and aboard ships can get it right, it's a shame the cook at Chunky Monkey can't.

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It is indeed a large portion, but a heaping mound of mediocre food is not a positive thing in my book.  It just means more of it will remain uneaten. However, I do appreciate that if someone on a tight budget cleaned that plate, they'd be getting around 1,500 calories, which is what an older person  needs every day.

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 The meatloaf screamed "no seasoning!" at me.  A mixture of ground beef and pork baked with egg and bread crumbs as a binder has very little taste on its own, but there are 1,000 ways to add flavor. Any kind of sauce ( Worcestershire, BBQ, chili, steak); bacon bits; garlic; any of a number of herbs and spices; ketchup; mustard; even salt and pepper would perk up the meatloaf.  The cook at the Chunky Monkey skipped all of them. Bland, bland, bland. The ground meat itself must have had a high fat content, as it was greasy with an unpleasant mouth feel.

The frozen peas hadn't been boiled long enough and were quite hard.  The gravy was very salty and also a bit greasy. The mashed potatoes were OK, but could have done with some sort of seasoning.

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To lift the meatloaf from the depths of insipidity, I made liberal use of the well-stocked condiment basket on the table.  That pushed the meatloaf into the somewhat palatable category.   If it hadn't been for the condiment basket, I would have rated the meatloaf as poor.

North American meatloaf is almost always topped with a glaze. ranging from dollops of BBQ sauce out of a bottle or spaghetti or pizza sauce out of a can to complicated variations based on homemade tomato sauce. The Chunky Monkey's meatloaf had no glaze, so it was U.K. style.  But if you read the meatloaf recipes from Gordon Ramsay or Jamie Oliver, you'll see they use a lot of seasoning and other ingredients to add flavor, which the CM's didn't have.

But theirs no doubt many Pattaya residents and visitors like the Chunky Monkey.  I ate at about 8.00 p.m. and there were 25 diners in the enclosed section and another 15 or so outside.  Just about all of them were eating, not just drinking.

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I assuming that has to do with the prices and not the quality of the food.  No doubt CM is a cheap way of filling your belly.  There are numerous specials on top of the low everyday prices. Wow!  But the prices of the Monkey Madness specials on chicken, fish & chips, sliced steak and pork chop debuted at 79 baht and are now 99 baht.

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 It seems to me that the food and service at the Chunky Monkey has gone down steadily since it opened.  In the beginning, the food was good and the staff friendly.  Not so last night.  The server literally threw down the menu on my table without a word of greeting or a smile, then came back 30 seconds later and asked, "What you want?"

If that were to happen to me in a restaurant in North America or Europe, I would answer "Nothing" and walk out.  However, in Pattaya I make allowances for language skills and work load.  They were very busy last night at the CM.  It's also possible several months of dealing with chea-  I mean, price-conscious, budget-minded customers- has left the wait staff jaded.  It does appear the service at CM is getting close to the infamous "service with a scowl" at the original cheap-Charlie bastion, the Sailor Restaurant.  

Bottom line:  I won't be back to the Chunky Monkey unless I have strong reason to believe the food  has improved.

Evil

I'm including a few pics of the menu to give a better idea of what's on offer and how much it costs.

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Just looking at the price of the spaghetti bolognese, 149 b which is 67,000 IDR.

We often have this at home, and no way I could make it for that price .

I am always reluctant when things are too cheap. 

The omelette, ham, tomato, onion, tea or coffee for 59 Thb on the white board is another example.

 

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5 hours ago, Thai Spice said:

Just looking at the price of the spaghetti bolognese, 149 b which is 67,000 IDR.

We often have this at home, and no way I could make it for that price .

I am always reluctant when things are too cheap. 

The omelette, ham, tomato, onion, tea or coffee for 59 Thb on the white board is another example.

 

I'm not sure how relevant comparing prices in different countries is, but here's what I just pulled from the cupboard/fridge.  Total cost under 120 baht equivalent, less than one serving in CM, and enough to make 3 good sized servings.

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11 hours ago, Evil Penevil said:

However, I do appreciate that if someone on a tight budget cleaned that plate, they'd be getting around 1,500 calories, which is what an older person  needs every day.

BOOM!!!

Shame about the service, guess there's not much of a tipping culture in there.

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5 hours ago, KWA said:

Forgot pic.

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Ok, lets see 

Bolognese sauce 60,000 / 3 servings => 20,000

Pasta 35,000 / 3 servings (at least) => 12,000

Minced beef 30,000 / 3 servings => 10,000

Total 42,000  = 94 Thb. Probably could be lowered 30% or so using the  cheapest products or in big cans / packs at Makro.

Bolognese sauce and spaghetti are imported, so rather expensive. 

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13 hours ago, KWA said:

... , but here's what I just pulled from the cupboard/fridge.  Total cost under 120 baht equivalent, less than one serving in CM, and enough to make 3 good sized servings.

Where can you get ingredients so cheaply?  At Villa Market in The Avenue,  200 grams of local ground beef costs 84 baht.  Even if I took the can of spaghetti sauce, the cost of beef, pasta and sauce would be a few baht over 200.  From Villa Market's Website:

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And there's no cheese.  At least the CM included a little dish of packaged Parmesan cheese.  I would have a hard time with any sort of spaghetti that didn't include some sort of cheese.

 

19 hours ago, Thai Spice said:

Just looking at the price of the spaghetti bolognese, 149 b which is 67,000 IDR.

We often have this at home, and no way I could make it for that price .

I am always reluctant when things are too cheap. 

The omelette, ham, tomato, onion, tea or coffee for 59 Thb on the white board is another example.

 

What the Chunkey Monkey serves really isn't spaghetti bolognese.  It was ground beef sautéed with a little bit of tomato paste and pieces of onion, then dumped on top of the spaghetti.  No real sauce, no seasoning, Italian or otherwise, just ground beef with a weak tomato taste on spaghetti.  Even the Parmesan was flavorless.

From an earlier post in this thread:

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It sort of looks like spaghetti bolognese but doesn't taste like it.

Considering a decent serving of spaghetti bolognese with freshly ground Parmesan costs 110 baht at the stall at the corner of Soi Buakhao and Soi Diana (pic below), the CM isn't value for money, even if you like bland spaghetti.

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I was so disappointed with the spaghetti at CM that night I left most of it  and took an order home from the stall.  I did pay 20 baht more (130 total) for extra Parmesan to be grated on it.

I also wonder how the CM could make any money on a similarly sized portion at 149 baht.  That 149 baht has to cover not only the cost of ingredients but rent, electricity, staff wages, equipment costs, the whole overhead of running a restaurant.  I once read that more small businesses fail because they set their prices too low to cover expenses than fail because high prices scare away customers.

Regarding breakfast prices-  those items are probably loss leaders for CM to allow it to compete with Retox and it's 99-baht breakfast special.

Evil

Edited by Evil Penevil
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