Favorite Thai restaurant Thai meal in Patts?

[deepthroat]

There are of course plenty of threads already on great restaurants in Pattaya, but I didn't see anything that was current that really addressed this topic, so hope you'll indulge me and help me out with your recommendations for great thai dishes and where to find them in Pattaya.

I'd like to stick to thai food this trip but am relatively inexperienced with thai food. I love Pad Thai of course, and am a fan of Som Yung Gung or whatever the spicy/sour soup with prawns is called, along with Panang Curry (perhaps called yellow curry in LOS?) and a few others.

I'd love your recommendations and directions. The more info you can provide the better, such as:

Directions and how to spot the restaurant or noodle cart;
What dish(es) you most highly recommend; and
What makes the dish special.

Thanks in advance. I'm leaving for Patts in 48 hours so I'll check back regularly from LOS for updates.

[rxpharm]

Here is an old thread about seafood places in Pattaya - I highly recommend Suttangrak which is mentioned in the thread as well - it's in Jomtien, but worth the trip - especially with a favorite lady to accompany you!

Best Pattaya Seafood

[manarak]

any recommendation for a great non-seafood (or one with a good non-seafood selection) thai restaurant?

[pacman]

As I don't know your preferences in Thai food, I can only offer my own opinion & a few musings on Pattaya cuisine.

Recommending a restaurant or a noodle cart is fraught with danger. For example, a year ago, my favourite restaurant was Cucumbers on Pattayatai (South Pattaya Rd). They had someone very capable in their kitchen, when I revisited in November, it wasn't the same.

Did I go when that cook had the day off? Did they cut back on quality in response to the downturn in tourists numbers? I don't know.

As for the carts, if you are happy to take the risk of exposing your western digestive tract to the perils of the diarrhoea causing microbes, be my guest. Many people eat at them & never get sick. We do develop the antibodies & eventually can eat like the locals but I haven't always been so lucky.

If you don't know how to knock out the micro organisms that are the cause of the trots, you will lose precious days from your holiday. There is a fast, safe, effective & virtually free way to fix the trots that I must post sometime.

As to which carts are the "plat de jour" I suggest you ask the local BMs who eat at them all the time. PigDogg, Lefty, Burenboy to name a few.

Another thought about Thai food - eat too much of the wrong stuff & it will make you pompui (fat). The problem is the coconut milk & all the simple carbohydrates that are omni-present in so many dishes.

The Australian Consumer Association published the results of their investigation in coconut milk some years back & they were alarmed by the high level of saturated fat they found. Some were around 38% saturated fat & were definitely considered unsuitable for human consumption. They stopped short of calling for coconut milk to be banned but they did counsel against eating it anymore than once a week at the most.

And we all know the problem of eating too much carbohydrate (the simple variety that is), hence Pad Thai was recently declared to be a riskier option for someone dieting than a double BigMac with cheese.

3 weeks of eating Thai food in November saw me lose 4 kgs by cutting back on coconut milk dishes & no noodle dishes at all. I ate less rice than usual as I am well aware that is simple carbohydrate also. It would be impossible to cut out coconut milk altogether as I love the various curries, green, red & yellow.

My favourite dishes are still the simple ones I have eaten & enjoyed over many visits - larb moo, kow phad goong, gaeng khiao wan gai, tom yum goong & a few others.

They translate as: larb moo - minced pork in Thai spices

kow pad goong - fried rice with prawns

gaeng khiao wan gai - green chicken curry

tom yum goong - spicy prawn soup

No meat carries the flavours better than moo (pork) & they eat more pork than any other meat. It frustrates the hell out of me when it isn't offered as an option in Thai places here at home.

Interestingly to me, David Thompson, the internatonally famous Thai restauranteur & Thai cook book author when recently asked to nominate his favourite Thai dish said the one he couldn't live without was larb moo.

I recommend larb to all my guests at a Thai meal & most are genuinely surprised that having eaten Thai food for so many years, they had never tried it. I can't remember anyone ever saying they didn't like it.

As for where I ate on my last visit, I have to confess I was happy eating more often than not at the Penthouse where I had befriended the cooks & they prepared meals with a little bit of love thrown in. That plus they offered the option of the sweetest, nutty brown rice with which they would make kow phad goong like I have never had it before.

Damn, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

[PigDogg]

One excellent place is on the corner or Pattaya Tai and Soi Buachaou, on the side of the soi that's inland, away from the beach. Chicken and rice is the dish plus it comes with a bowl of chicken broth. It's a cart but with lots of seating on both Pattaya Tai and Buachaou.

Cheap and tasty!

In general, if the place is packed with Thais it's probably good.

[Guest]

Pacman is the expert about Pattaya cuisine
he is there now i believe

[robbo]

most of the food in PATTS is shite it is a shitehole after all,dont go there for the food only go for the good quality cheap t shirts you can get on beach rd.
nice food in HUA HIN,seafood there is great.
however if your stuck in PATTS with no hope of escape then try a wander down south pattaya road from the beach past Wat Chai Mongkol on the left,some places down there where thais eat,my GG taken me there few times food is ok,and cheap as thai chips.
incidentally when im in BKK i like to go to the basement of Robinsons department store,food good with a varied selection followed in the evening with a trip over other side of SUK ,a meal at Cabbages n condoms before i lose my dining etiquette and become a complete pervert for the night.
Pattaya is such a shitehole that ive thought about taking my own sandwiches ,scotch eggs, deckchair and hankey next time.

[koykaeng]

Was doing a little bit of research and found some positive feedback about a place called Mum Aroi which has two outlets.

The following link has more general information & directions;

http://www.paradise-pattaya.com/mum-aroi-pattaya.html

PigDogg's remarks about the Chicken & Rice Cart, or "Kao Man Gai" as it's known in Thai, highlights the fact there are plenty of small operators that prepare a single dish and do it extremely well.

Some of the restuarants you come across in Pattaya have that many dishes listed that it's logistically impossible to prepare them all well.

When I consider the quality & price of Thai food available in Chiang Mai, I have to admit things aren't great for Thailand's own cuisine in Pattaya.

Cheers
Koykaeng

[laputanegra]

i love the fried pork cart in walking street...


porky porky

[PigDogg]

There's a very cute off the radar ladyboy who operates a small som tam eatery a little farther down on Naklua Road than Family Bar.   A real cutie we met at an outdoor Issan music festival.  Alloi.    

[PigDogg]

to Pattaya section

Finding this sweetie is well worth the price of VIP membership.

From your concierge on the ground.

[koykaeng]

(PigDogg @ Jan. 28 2010,02:40) There's a very cute off the radar ladyboy who operates a small som tam eatery a little farther down on Naklua Road than Family Bar.   A real cutie we met at an outdoor Issan music festival.  Alloi.    

You just reminded me of a ladyboy with a little street food stall in Chiang Mai.

Cheers
Koykaeng

[fleeing]

A little but I had the pleasure of dinner with 3 LB 'friends' last night.

There's 4 dishes on the table; T-bone steak, pork cutlet, spaghetti with seafood and fried rice with pork and chili.

Guess who ordered what!

Bonus points if you can name the 3 LBs


Oh yes...total bill came to 445 baht.

[TTChang]

(PigDogg @ Jan. 25 2010,15:16) In general, if the place is packed with Thais it's probably good.

....    
A very risk-free approach is to eat at a food court.  They are usually very hygenic, and good quality at a great price. Two courts at Central Festival Mall, one at Royal Garden plaza, basement TukCom (more basic).

My love of thai food takes me to all sorts of places. Never have I had an upset from street food.  But I always look for freshly cooked, and a busy thai trade.

My only two mishaps were from overdoing the 'prik' on one occasion, and in a standard cafe place on Second road in Pattaya.

My recommendation, as of last week, is Fra Pattaya (now in a new shop opposite Friends Supermarket,on the stretch between Beach road & Pattaya Tai).  open late at night, and the Duck is excellent!  

[EyeMahk]

(TTChang @ Feb. 02 2010,14:37) My only two mishaps were from overdoing the 'prik' on one occasion

Overdoing prick? I'll bet!