You will be excused if you have not heard of this week’s
restaurant, or the hotel it is in. Both have been open a very short
while, and being in Soi 3, which is one way from Beach Road, and also a
reasonably quiet soi, there is not the through traffic to alert drivers
to this new venture.
Sunshine Vista comes under the umbrella of the
Sunshine Hotels and Resorts, and the new Terracotta restaurant on the
ground floor, at this stage is actually sharing its menu with another in
the group, from the Loma Hotel. We went for lunch at the invitation of
the GM of Sunshine Vista, Tawatchai Changkhaoprom.
His restaurant does indeed have terracotta tiles on
the floor, and is designed to open out onto small decks with large
umbrellas on two sides. This does impart an ‘airy’ tropical feel to
the entire restaurant. Much use has been made of wood panelling and the
tables are also wood topped. Chairs are woven wickerwork, though there
are some padded alcove booths along the sides as well. In the centre is a
breakfast buffet area and a coffee station and bar along the other wall.
To keep to the ‘natural’ tones, the service staff were all wearing
beige and the place mats were matchstick style natural wood.
As mentioned above, the menu is still in the process
of being finalised, but in the meantime, the Loma Hotel menu is being
used. K. Tawatchai assured me that the prices would remain the same,
after the Terracotta Restaurant has its own dedicated menu printed. Being
a hotel menu, it is also + service charge and + VAT, so remember to add
these on.
The menu is a 140 item number in English, Thai and
German, and commences with breakfasts (90-125-180 baht) for Continental,
American or Buffet. There are also a la carte breakfast items (B. 25-60)
and fresh juices and beverages.
Seven appetizers and salads are next, including prawn
and crab cocktails, all around B. 75. Nine soups are next at B. 50, other
than Goulash at B. 60! These are followed by snacks such as hamburgers
and hot dogs around B. 65 and then some Thai appetizers which are mainly
salads and generally around B. 70.
Main courses (European style), cover 20 items ranging
from B. 75 at the low end for spaghetti and macaroni items, through
shishkebabs at B. 150, several styles of steak at B. 170 (mustard, café
de Paris, fillet mignon, T-bone or pork chop) through to breast of
chicken in red wine sauce for 5 baht more.
Fifty Thai items follow, with all the usual
combinations and permutations with most under B. 100 and whole fish
highest at B. 200.
We tried three dishes, a crab with curry, a mixed
Tempura and a café de Paris steak. The Tempura was excellent. The batter
used was fresh and the prawns soft and not at all rubbery, and the
vegetables still crisp inside the batter coating. Really top marks for
that dish. The crab curry was very pleasant and not at all spicy. The
steak could have been more tender if we had asked for it to be medium
rare, which would have been better. The café de Paris sauce was nice,
and the chips and vegetables were cooked properly. What also has to be
remembered is that this was a B. 175 steak, a dish that not too many
restaurants offer at that low price.
Being the middle of the day, we forsook alcoholic
beverages, even though they are very cheap - a large bottle of Mateus
Rose being B. 550, or local beers B. 50-60, and a staggering range of
cocktails are only around B. 80.
The Dining Out Team agreed that the Terracotta
restaurant was presenting exceptional value in very pleasant
surroundings. The tempura dish was excellent and the steak is probably
the cheapest steaks in town, in that level of restaurant. In summary, the
venue is offering restaurant quality at cafeteria prices. Well worth a
visit for an inexpensive night out.
Terracotta Restaurant, Sunshine Vista Serviced Apartments, 201/1 M9,
Soi 3 Beach Road, Pattaya City, telephone 038 414 760, email
[email protected].
