It is always a delight to be invited to Hans Banziger’s
Paradise Restaurant. Now open for four and a half years, it is a well
established restaurant in a central location. As well as the consistent
standard of the food, there is another reason why Miss Terry enjoys Paradise
Restaurant, and that is because Hans is not afraid to try something
different.
He
was the first to successfully handle the exotic meats such as ostrich,
kangaroo, emu and crocodile, and is now well known as being number 1 in that
niche market. He has also introduced several food promotions over the years,
keeping the most popular items and bringing them into the regular menu,
while dropping off the less popular ones. Paradise Restaurant is therefore a
dynamic eating place, moving with the times and the trends in tastes.
After
that long introduction, have you ever gone to a restaurant and been unsure
of whether to try the pork or the chicken, for example? Have you ever looked
at what your dining partner has just received and thought, "I wish I’d
ordered that"? Well Hans just might have the answer. When we would come
to try his new items, Hans would prepare a ‘tasting’ menu for us - a
little of everything, so we could try all his new creations. What he has
done now is to extend that concept to the regular diners by producing a
"Tasting Menu".
The Tasting Menu items include the Meat Lover, which has
four courses covering Caesar salad, goulash soup, then four fillets - beef
with pepper sauce, pork with mushroom sauce, lamb with rosemary sauce and
chicken with herb butter. The last course covers desserts which is a
combination of chocolate mousse, cream caramel and a crepe with ice cream
and passion fruit sauce.
If you feel more like seafood, then there is the similar
four course Fish Lover with the Caesar salad followed by a creamy mussel
soup then fillets of sole with chardonnay sauce, Norwegian salmon with
lobster sauce, parrot fish with lemon butter and rock lobster with herb
butter, and then the desserts. Both of these menus are B. 495.
There is also The All-Inclusive four course Gourmet
Dinner (B. 595) offering beef tournedos or rock lobster as the main, and
includes a small carafe of house wine, or the Exotic Delights four courses
(B. 595) with ostrich, kangaroo, emu and crocodile tasters along with the
salad, soup, mains and desserts.
The surroundings are well-maintained, notable for the
high ceilings and the huge tropical murals, and the staff particularly
pleasant - one would forgive the young waitress who attended us, for
anything, her smile was so warm and welcoming.
The wine menu has a good range, with most bottles between
B. 790 and a little over B. 1,000. To go with our Tasting Menus I selected
the house wine, which is eminently drinkable at B. 95 per glass.
With Madame taking the Fish Lovers and myself the Meat
lovers, I was able to sample both. The Caesar salad was tangy as it should
be, and then came the soups. I particularly enjoy goulash soup and Paradise
Restaurant’s example was excellent. Hans said that he simmers his for six
hours to get the flavours to properly permeate the meat. The mussel soup was
also creamy and had a wonderful flavour.
The various meat and fish ‘tasters’ gave me the very
varied flavours and also much chit-chat over the comparisons. The concept
was good and the realization even better.
I really enjoyed Hans’ Tasting Menu. All the items were
presented in the usual high standard we have come to expect from this
restaurant, and undoubtedly they fit in with the Paradise Restaurant mission
statement - To provide good food and good service in a warm and comfortable
atmosphere, where the price is right. At B. 495 for the excellent four
course Tasting Menu, it certainly fits the mission. Very highly recommended.
(By the way, the ‘usual’ menu including the Thai items is still there as
well.)
Paradise Restaurant, 215/62-63 Pattaya Second Road (opposite Marriott
Resort and Spa), telephone 038 723 177, email <banziger@ hotmail.com>.
Open seven days, 10 a.m. until 10 p.m.
