Where the Belgians flex their mussels!
It has been some time since we dined at the Auguste Renoir
Restaurant in the Flamingo Hotel in South Pattaya. Much has happened since
then, including a plethora of shops and restaurants springing up around it
in areas once deserted behind the Day-Night Hotel. It is now almost a
Bohemian enclave, or feels that way! But with motorcycles as an added extra.
The
easiest way to find the Flamingo Hotel, and its Auguste Renoir Restaurant,
is to come down South Pattaya Road and head towards the Chaiyamongkhol
markets. After Friendship Supermarket, pass Tuk-Com IT Plaza on your left
and take the soi immediately after that (S&P is on the corner). The
hotel will be on your left at the far end.
The Auguste Renoir Restaurant is easily found and has
many “old masters” (painted yesterday in South Pattaya) on the walls.
The tables and chairs are substantial in dark wood, and the atmosphere is
even a little ‘olde worldy’. Waiters abound, all dressed in
appropriately dark colours, and are friendly and approachable. There is also
another covered outside section if you wish to dine somewhat more alfresco,
allowing you watch the amazing world of South Pattaya pass you by. The hotel
also has a cocktail lounge called My Thai which has happy hours from 2-7
p.m. where I am told you can buy bottled beer for B. 39.
The Belgian Mussels evening begins with the salad bar,
and our young waiter invited us to help ourselves to the salad on offer. The
choices are few, but fresh. On our evening it included garden greens,
tomato, onion and a delightful potato salad. There was also a choice of four
dressings including the ubiquitous Thousand Island, but try the vinaigrette,
which was excellent.
Back
at our table, we were also presented with some sliced French bread and one
of those dreadfully fiddly foil-wrapped butter pats. I have written about
these before, and represent my pet hate in dining. You get greasy fingers
trying to unwrap them, they are generally frozen rock hard and are therefore
impossible to spread, as well as being less healthy than polyunsaturated
spreads.
Next up was a very large bowl of french-fries, with a
side dish of ‘Sauce Moutarde’. This sauce is definitely “more-ish”
and goes wonderfully with everything! The fries were definitely of the
French variety, which although they were done perfectly, are not Belgian.
Considering that Belgium ‘invented’ the fries, and despite the fact that
Auguste Renoir was French, the accompaniment for Belgian mussels should be
Belgian fries, which are 1 cm square in cross section, for the non-chip
connoisseurs out there!
However, all these semantics were soon forgotten when the
largest steamer of mussels arrived, complete with another bowl for the
shells and a finger bowl (for my greasy fingers from the butter pat). The
mussels are done in a ‘secret’ preparation which leaves them soft and
plump in the shell, and they certainly were. Some carrots and onion are also
thrown in during the steaming with the white wine and as you get near the
bottom of the steamer dish you see the reason for the supplied soup spoon.
There is a smooth tasting mussel stock to round out the mussel evening. Of
course, if you are not satiated after all that, the offer is there from the
waiter to bring you another bowl. It is all-you-can-eat, remember. However,
both of us were full after the first plate and so declined!
We found the Friday Belgian Mussels special at the
Auguste Renoir restaurant to be a great fun evening, and very inexpensive.
For an ‘all-you-can-eat’ deal for B. 215, this represents a cheap night,
even with a few glasses of the house white, which is also inexpensive at B.
115 per glass. With some ‘Belgian’ fries next time, it will be the
perfect Friday evening, supply your own Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Auguste Renoir Restaurant, Flamingo Hotel, 20/182 Soi 2 Day-Night Plaza,
South Pattaya Road, telephone 038 427 161, fax 038 411 521. Open 5 p.m.
until late for the Friday mussels special. On-street parking difficult, but
Tuk-Com car park is only a short walk away.
