DINING OUT - ENTERTAINMENT

Salad Bar at the Garden Café

Pattaya Marriott Spa and Resort’s healthy, quick and inexpensive lunch

It was only after Dylan Counsel, the new assistant F&B manager at the Pattaya Marriott Resort and Spa, suggested joining him for a quick lunch at the Garden Cafe, that I realized it had been a couple of years since I had reviewed that restaurant.

The Garden Cafe is really a misnomer. It is not a cafe. It is a beautifully appointed restaurant alongside the Marriott Resort itself. High ceilings with several forests of trees used in giving the restaurant a wonderful Thai ambience, while much window area along one side gives views out towards the pool. Opposite the window side, with its semi-private alcoves, is the long open plan kitchen with live cooking stations, and for the salad bar lunch there are rows of vegetables on display.

The concept of the salad bar lunch is a B. 200 all you can eat deal, with soups, salads and breads. For those who like a somewhat heavier lunch, there is also a value-added deal, where for B. 100 extra you can order a main course from the four choices, with selections of sauces and side orders.

The salads on offer are certainly numerous, with a mixed Indian rice salad, traditional Greek salad, creamy new potato salad, fresh chunky tuna salad, Mediterranean vegetable salad, cauliflower and broccoli salad, mixed melon salad, Thai sausage and vegetable salad, fresh spicy king prawn salad, rich Roma tomato salad, asparagus salad and a live Caesar salad station with homemade dressing and 10 condiments.

After the salads comes a selection of different breads, then three large clay pot tureens of soup. One is of Asian heritage, another European and the third will be Thai. These can alter at the whim of the chef and availability of fresh produce. On my lunchtime these were a Chinese style Schezuan soup, traditional cream of pumpkin or a spicy Thai style seafood. Also included is a selection of fresh Thai fruits in season. Not bad at all for B. 200.

For the additional B. 100 there is a choice of oven roasted pork sirloin, pan fried chicken breast, sirloin of grain fed beef done to your liking or fresh fillet of sea bass. The sauces to accompany these included mushroom, peppercorn, gravy, apple sauce, cream and herb butter sauce, while the side order included french-fries, steamed jasmine rice or oven-baked jacket potato.

Having decided to go the whole hog and have the B. 300 lunch, but still looking at a time constraint as I wanted to see if we could dine in these wonderful circumstances and still get out under one hour.

After ascertaining that we were going for the additional main course, our orders were taken and we were informed that the mains would take 15 minutes. A good selection of the salads then seemed to be in order (very fresh), then I went for the Schezuan soup (sensational) and then a lightly cooked fillet of sea bass with jacket potato and herb butter sauce.

So did I enjoy the healthy lunch? And did we get out under the hour? The answer to both these questions was a positive ‘Yes!’ The freshness of the salad ingredients was more than obvious and the Schezuan soup was ‘Schenzational’! The add-on main course did come 15 minutes after ordering, as promised, and we were out just under 45 minutes, for a meal that never seemed hurried or rushed. I am still not sure how restaurant manager Naiyaporn Hongskul managed it, but like the true professional she is, she did!

I left the Garden Cafe impressed with the offerings from this restaurant, and in the knowledge that time constraints were no bar to having a healthy quick and inexpensive lunch. Highly recommended.

The Garden Cafe, Pattaya Marriott Resort and Spa, 218/2-4 M. 10, Beach Road, Pattaya (though the Garden Cafe is closer to Second Road), free secure parking under the Royal Garden Plaza (just remember to get your parking ticket stamped in the restaurant). Open seven days with lunch 12 noon till 3 p.m. The Garden Cafe is also open for breakfasts 6 a.m. till 11 a.m. and dinner 6 p.m. until 10 p.m.