DINING OUT - ENTERTAINMENT

Cabbages and Condoms

The cabbage was well cooked, but the condoms were a bit rubbery!

by Miss Terry Diner

The Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant (and Resort) is set amongst a rain forest leading down to a secluded beach called Hu-Gwang Bay. The closest well known hotel landmark is the Asia Hotel and Cabbages and Condoms is just past the Asia on the right. Swing in through the heavily wooded driveway and suddenly you are in a different world.

That different world is shaded walkways, past Japanese water wheels, over small bridges, winding your way past the orchids and abundant trees and bushes, past the swimming pool until you arrive at the restaurant itself. This is an open sided wooden sala with wood floored terraces with the original trees kept in place, now growing through the floorboards that have been cut to accommodate the tree trunks. It is conservation at its practical best, allowing man and nature to co-exist in harmony, and a credit to Mechai Viravaidya, the driving force behind the concept.

Mechai is probably better known for his promotion of condoms as a first line in birth control and AIDS protection, through the NGO, Population and Community Development Association (PDA). In fact, profits from the restaurant (and resort) are channelled back to the PDA to contribute towards rural development, education and scholarships, HIV/AIDS prevention and environmental protection.

You are reminded immediately of the second part of the restaurant’s name when you sit down. Table tops with condoms under glass are initially somewhat breathtaking! However, there are others with rice grains under glass, for the more sensitive diner! Above you are suspended lights with shades made from bamboo fish traps, while the chairs beneath you are wooden.

The menu is extensive and in English and Thai and begins with sandwiches and salads, all around 100 baht, and is then followed by some dedicated vegetarian items, all at B. 90, including saut?s, stir-fries and some soups.

Appetizers are up next (B. 90-130) and spring rolls, satays and deep fried chicken with sesame are all on offer. Thai soups are the next section (B.100-180) with glass noodle soup and the usual tom yam and tom kha styles all present.

Two pages of spicy salads B. 80-150 reveal 18 different styles of this typically Thai dish, including their own “Condom Salad” with Shanghai noodles. A page of assorted curies are next (B. 130-250) with a sweet masuman using imported NZ lamb curry at the top end.

Chilli dips come next (generally around B. 110) and then almost three pages devoted to main courses. These cover seafood, chicken dishes, beef and pork and range between B. 110-250.

By now you are at the noodle and rice dishes and you have had over 100 items (I told you it was an extensive menu) to choose from, until finally the 8 desserts at around B. 90 to round off the choices.

Pook, the restaurant manageress, selected a few representative dishes for us to try, including that evening’s whiteboard special, a rolled roast NZ lamb. This came with roast pumpkin and potatoes and was a very traditional dish. We also had the “condom” salad, with the shrimps artfully curled to look a little like the prophylactics. This came with Shanghai noodles and was quite sharp and spicy. There was a large grilled crumbed fish which came with plenty of meat and fell apart. We finished with banana fritter in a basket.

The Dining Out Team found that the Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant was a veritable haven away from the hustle and bustle of South Pattaya. The setting is incredible and was undoubtedly the highlight of the evening. To be able to sit and look down on a private stretch of beach, with the cooling sea breezes wafting through is worth every baht of the food and wine bill. This is a restaurant that impresses with the surroundings, rather than the cuisine - as pleasant as it was, but the ambience however is sensational. Recommended as a great place to impress overseas guests.

Cabbages and Condoms, Soi Asia Hotel, Pratamnak Road, South Pattaya, tel. 038 250 556, email [email protected]