Nibbles

A page devoted to relating where The Pattaya Otter has been stuffing himself.

In this edition we cover the following venues:-

 

 Royal Cliff Wine Club Gala Dinner

In mid January they Royal Cliff Wine Club held another of its periodic gala dinners and wine tastings. As is usual with these events, this one featured a special theme, Romanian Wines, and to celebrate this, the Romanian Ambassador to Thailand was the invited guest of honour.

After assembling on the balcony and being treated to a delightful sparking reception wine, we were ushered it the hotel’s Grand Ballroom where the main event took place

As usual the hotel senior chef Walther Threnish laid on a sumptuous 6 course meal, and each course was accompanied by a wine to suit.

On a purely personal taste I found the Romanian white wines most enjoyable but was less enthusiastic about the red varieties, although it was interesting that a second glass of one of these proved much better than when it was first poured - possibly by having had time to adjust to room temperature.

Nevertheless the excellent fare, mostly enjoyable wines and good company proved once again a most enjoyable occasion.

 

Expats monthly dinner at Balcony Restaurant (sorry no pics).

After a short break for Christmas, the Pattaya City Expats Club resumed its series of monthly dinners at restaurants the club feels it can recommend - many of which also offer a discount to club members.

This event is normally held on the first Thursday of each month, but that being New Year’s day this time and the following Thursday clashing with another event, tt was actually held on January 15th.

And the chosen venue on this occasion was the Balcony Restaurant in North Pattaya. This is an establishment that has been in existence for some time and which although I personally had not visited before, had received effusive commendations from some of our members.

It is situated in a quiet Soi (side street) off the main North Pattaya Road, and presumably derives it’s name from the fact that it was originally located upstairs.

However nowadays it provides an air conditioned downstairs restaurant and also for those wishing to, open air eating in it’s small but delightful garden complete with waterfall.

This being an evening event, we chose to eat indoors. There were eight of us in the party and some chose the set menu and some from the a-la-carte choices. None of us were disappointed in our decisions, all meals proving to be excellently prepared and some accompanied by an inclusive glass of wine - all at a very reasonable price.

Afterwards we were able to chose from an extensive range of sweets and cakes for the Balcony restaurant also provides bakery services to the community.

A very welcome addition to the list of restaurants the Pattaya Otter would be happy to revisit.

Next month’s meal is scheduled to be at the new Chez George French restaurant on 3rd road, a full report next time.

 

New Year’s Eve Dinner at Amor Restaurant.

For his New Year’s Eve dinner, the Pattaya Otter had a last minute change of plans and was pleased to be able to make a booking at very short notice at the Amor Restaurant in downtown Pattaya.

This was the same venue where I had been treated to the American Thanksgiving dinner, and I was once again looking forward to meeting mine host Richard and to enjoying one of his set piece specials.

And I was not disappointed, the set fare (see menu) proving well up to his usual standard and washed down with some very pleasant and not too expensive wine.

The only disappointment was that with the non appearance of some guests and the late arrival of others, the event was somewhat lacking atmosphere in spite of Richard’s ever beaming presence.

 

New Years Eve celebrations at Kilkenny Pub.

Following our meal at the Amor restaurant, it had been our intent to proceed on down Walking Street to the new Bali High pier at the bottom end where the official Pattaya New Year’s Eve party was taking place.

However, about halfway down, in need of some relief (say no more) we were distracted into the recently opened Kilkenny Irish theme pub and restaurant.

And not wishing to simply use their facilities and leave, we decided to sample the draught Guinness which was on special offer.

We were only halfway through what was proving to be one of the best pints of Guinness outside Ireland when we were joined by some friends from the bowling club. They informed us that more of their number were sitting on the open air balcony overlooking the water at the back of the pub and invited us to join them.

And there we stayed, drinking several more pints of Guinness and getting an excellent view over the water of the midnight fireworks from Bali High - which we never actually managed to get to.

Although we had already eaten and therefore did not need food, we were most impressed by the range and also the size of the portions of food we saw being dispensed to other tables, and also enjoyed the live music being provided by an Irish band, so a couple of weeks later I and some friends made a further visit to this venue to further sample what was on offer.

And again was not disappointed, the food proving to be good traditional Western fare but of serious trencherman proportions - the chip butty has to be seen to be believed, the Guinness still excellent and very reasonably priced and the live music guaranteed to get your feet tapping.

The Kilkenny pub, a most welcome addition to the Pattaya scene as well as being a rest haven from the sales pressure in the rest of Walking Street.

 

Dinner at Art Cafe.

The Art Cafe was one of the first of what has recently become a rash of venues featuring works of art to enjoy or even to buy whilst eating your meal.

Its remote location, down a long Soi off the main Pattaya-Naklua road, had previously proved too much of a deterrent to the Pattaya Otter, but when the invitation came from good friends Graham and Foo to join them and their visiting house guests from England for a meal there, I could not refuse.

Although some way to reach, its relatively quiet location proved a serious bonus enabling us to dine on the open air terrace without any serious noise interruptions.

The interior as it’s name implies is decorated wall to wall with paintings from various artists of all shapes and styles - indeed whilst we were there, a painter arrived with some more for display. All these are available for purchase.

The menu was extensive and of a continental theme containing many very tempting suggestions.

The food, when it came, proved well up to the standard suggested by the menu, and every one of the 3 courses we all had was most enjoyed - even the massive sweets which proved almost worth the very long wait.

In summary then, a most delightful and unusual venue, and a really excellent meal only let down by the extremely slow service.

To view any of the above photos in full size, just click on it.

 

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