Thappraya Road from the Captain’s Corner through to
Jomtien is rapidly becoming the road to the gourmets’ paradise. There are
the established names, with more shifting out from Pattaya, and there are
other restaurants arising de novo.
Over the past four weeks we had noticed a new restaurant
on the corner of Soi 6 and Thappraya Road called In-Fusion and stopped in.
The food was of a high standard, so a few days later we made an
‘official’ dining out visit.
The restaurant is in two sections. There are some
outdoors settings, suitable for breakfasts for the guesthouse rooms
upstairs, and then the restaurant proper, a fully air-conditioned area, with
terracotta coloured tiles, salmon colour walls, some Asian bric-a-brac decor
and a limited number of tables with candles, cruets and quality napery.
The menu is currently in a state of flux, advised the
owners, and as well as the rotating specials each week, they are trying out
new dishes to gage the tastes of their diners. On our visit(s), the
Thai-style specials ranged between B. 120-280, with a tom kha gai with roti
at the low end up to an oven-baked tiger prawns in an oyster sauce at the
top.
Appetizers, of which there were six (B. 100-180) included
a deep-fried mozzarella cheese and a fried calamari with tartar sauce. Soups
followed at B. 100 with both Asian and European items and then Salads (B.
120-160) with several interesting choices such as Spicy apple Fusion style
or a marinated prawn.
There was a full page of pasta and rice dishes (B.
150-250) with the spaghetti in squid’s ink sauce at the low end. There
were two pages of Main courses (B. 280-540) with again some imaginative
items such as a salmon red curry Fusion style or a New Zealand mussels and
clams in spicy tomato sauce.
In
addition there is a page of steak dishes served with a choice of sauces such
as mushroom, shallot and rosemary red wine sauce or rosemary and caper white
wine sauce. Again a little different from the usual green peppercorn or Cafe
de Paris choices around town.
The wine list is small, but covers the range adequately,
with most bottles between B. 600-900 (French and Italian), plus some Thai
wines on special that make for pleasant accompaniment for the Fusion-style
dishes.
Our dinner began with a complimentary ‘amuse bouche’
that came as toast roundels and a very tasty Malaysian style curry. With our
appetites whetted, we had our starters which were the House mixed salad for
Madame and the Deep-fried mozzarella for me. The salad came with two gravy
boats, one with salsa and the other with Balsamic vinegar. A nice touch, and
the garden greens were superbly fresh. The mozzarella dish was cooked
correctly and with some ground black pepper to bring out the flavour, I
enjoyed it immensely.
For our mains, Madame had chosen a rib-eye steak, which
came to the table medium, as per the order, while I had the pan-fried black
grouper with grilled vegetable and mustard yellow cream sauce. This I can
really recommend. A subtle blending of flavours, and not one bone in the
fish. Most enjoyable.
The food we received was certainly again of a very high
standard. The young Thai chef has a good culinary history (ex Bangkok) and
he appears to handle both Thai and European items with ease. The salads are
superb, and we appreciated being able to add our own salsa and Balsamic
vinegar.
For a new venture, this restaurant shows great potential.
I spoke with another table who were on their third visit in one week, repeat
business that many restaurant owners would sacrifice their wives for! The
food is good, the menu is in the process of being stabilized, the staff are
all trying very hard and the venue is very pleasant.
For a quiet evening, or romantic t๊te-เ-t๊te,
this restaurant is worth remembering. A most welcome newcomer to Thappraya
Road.
In-Fusion restaurant, 144/28 M 10 Thappraya Road (corner Soi 6),
telephone 038 364 198, fax 038 251 230, email [email protected].
Street parking on Soi 6, closed Mondays, hours from 8 a.m. till 11 p.m.
