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A page devoted to relating where The Pattaya Otter has been stuffing himself.
In this edition we cover the following venues:-
Koh Chang Seafood.
Not specifically a single restaurant, but a general look at the various seafood items we ate during our visit to Koh Chang.
Being an island with a fishing tradition, not unnaturally, sea food was the main (and sometimes the only) item on the menu of most of the island’s eateries.
And the normal way to present this was to have the current day’s catch on display, usually on a tray of ice, sometimes alone and sometimes on a plate complete with recommended vegetables.
The customer would then select their seafood item and specify how they wished it prepared and then proceed to their table to await its arrival.
The selection was not vast but several species of fish were usually available as well as prawns and shrimps of varying sizes, plus other underwater creatures such as squid (not my personal delicacy).
Of course this is not unique to Koh Chang, we have a number of excellent seafood restaurants here in Pattaya, but somehow the clean waters of the island seemed to make the catch look more inviting, and our diet during our stay did in fact consist mostly of fish and all of it extremely tasty.
Chez Georges
For our Expats club monthly dinner, last month we decided to try the recently opened French Restaurant in Third Road called ‘Chez Georges’.
 We had heard very good reports about this venue both as regards the quality of the food and also the very reasonably priced set menus.
So approximately 16 of us met there on, as is the custom, on the first Thursday of last month, to try it out for ourselves.
Being a French restaurant, not surprisingly the menu was French orientated (and was also available in French as well as English and Thai).
It offered several set menu options, including a daily special menu and several meals at varying prices, some including wine, others not.
I chose the ‘tasting menu’ at 560 Baht not including wine and added a carafe of house red wine to go with it.
This ‘tasting menu’ consisted of 4 separate courses, and each course contained several portions of differing fare, thus offering a taste of many different items.
The starter was a portion of smoked salmon accompanied by toast and a small glass of vodka. Next came another fish course, this time a sea bass baked in breadcrumbs.
The main course then followed, consisting of 3 separate types of meat each cooked in its own sauce, plus a selection of accompanying vegetables.
Then for dessert, an enormous plate of five different sweets was placed in front of me, much to the amusement of my fellow guests, but The Pattaya Otter showed his trencherman credentials by not leaving a scrap on any plate.
For a total price including wine of the equivalent of just over 10 pounds, this was truly remarkable value, the food was cooked to perfection and the service, considering the number of guests, coped admirably.
Chez Georges – highly recommended.
This month, the club meal will be at The Rabbit Resort, a Thai restaurant on Jomtien Beach.
L’Olivier
As its name suggests, another French restaurant, and another recently opened one, this time at the Jomtien complex just across the road from my apartment and thus within walking distance – always an advantage.
My visit there was at the behest of my friend Allan, who kindly invited me to be his guest.
On arrival, I noticed that there was a cold meat and salad buffet laid out and was given to understand that this was just one of the courses on offer.
In fact the concept was a set price menu including a soup of the day, a ‘help yourself from the cold meat buffet’ a main course to order, and a sweet either from the sweet trolley or from the menu selection.
We ordered our main course, my choice being Lamb Cutlets, and as I had been advised (and with previous experience of French cooking) I ordered them ‘well done’
A carafe of house red wine was ordered to be shared between us.
The soup of the day was then presented, tomato as I recollect.
We then adjourned to the buffet and helped ourselves to an extensive selection of meats and vegetables. The selection on offer would have made a main course in itself so it was less a question of what to have, more of what to omit in order to leave room for the remainder of the meal.
The timing was just right, just as we were finishing this course, our main dishes arrived.
The cutlets were very tasty and cooked just right for me, and although I would have preferred them slightly thicker, at the price there was no reason to complain.
For dessert we had the choice of helping ourselves from the buffet trolley or ordering from the menu. I opted for the latter, choosing the apple pie complete with cream, and was staggered by the size of the portion that arrived complete with a decorous sauce, staggered but not beaten.
Yet another enjoyable eating experience and another venue to add to the vast number of places to eat out at here in Pattaya. As I was Allan’s guest I cannot comment on the price paid except to say it seemed extremely reasonable.
The Wood
Although we did not have a full meal there, I have included this location in the list of places visited this month as we were invited to cover its official opening.
The Wood is in  fact just part of a whole new hotel complex called Sunset Park that has opened off the main highway about 20 km South of Pattaya.
Because this was the first time I had visited it, and this time after dark, it was difficult to fully appreciate the whole place, but we did make out some log cabin type bungalows actually jutting out into a their own man made creek which led into the sea, each with its own small boat moored alongside – all looking most original and attractive.
To reach the restaurant, we first had to pass through the hotel reception area, where our eyes were drawn to the most magnificent enormous wooden carving behind the reception desk.
From there we passed over a small wooden bridge and into the restaurant itself which was built on two levels surrounding a central fish filled pool. The whole building is as its name suggests, made to look like a large wooden log cabin
Arriving on the upper level, we descended a staircase into the air conditioned lower part where a band was already playing in one corner.
We were greeted by the manager and shown to a table where we were kept more than happy with supplies of wine (only limited by the fact that it was quite a drive back into Pattaya) and assorted ni bbles to eat. Meanwhile other real paying guests arrived and were seated at their tables around this central pool  area.
There was also a promotion for ‘Nite’ a brand of breezer type drinks and we were also offered samples of these, with me limiting myself once again to a single small shot.
Shortly later, another band replaced the original one, this time playing light jazz music and with a female singer.
As we had another venue to attend later, after taking a good number of pictures, we made our excuses and were escorted back to our car.
I cannot therefore comment on the food here but the venue definitely looks something rather special and deserves to succeed if only for that.
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