by Miss Terry Diner
Over a year ago, we dropped into the Continental Bakery
and Restaurant in Jomtien. It was in a tiny single shophouse, with six
tables inside, around as many staff and waitresses running up and down the
stairs to the upstairs kitchen. At the time, I wrote that it was so small
that coming down Thappraya Road, immediately after the Thepprasit Road
intersection, with one blink of an eye you will have missed it! However, the
food was good, and filling, and being open early in the morning made it a
Mecca for sleepy non-cooks.
Now
12 months later, and being temporarily without Madame or maid, they having
gone upcountry, I decided that breakfast there might be called for. Seeing
the Continental sign, I pulled up and walked in. Immediately I sensed
something was wrong. This was no pokey single shophouse, but had a large
outside terrace area and a large inside air-conditioned section. Clearing
the cobwebs from the brain, I remembered that this had originally been an
Indian restaurant, but now had obviously been taken over by the Continental.
As before, on your left as you walk in is a newspaper and magazine section,
with the current Pattaya Mail on display. On the right is a small bakery
section with fresh breads. The inner section has actually got two tiers, and
there is seating for around 20 diners. Outside, the raised ‘courtyard’ has
several tables and would seat another 16.
The breakfast menu has 13 dedicated breakfasts ranging in price from B.
89-160, with most around B. 105. On this occasion I decided to try the
English breakfast which promised bacon, two eggs, sausage and baked beans,
plus coffee and orange juice.
The coffee arrived very quickly, plus the orange juice which turned out to
be ‘real’ squeezed orange. An auspicious start. A few minutes later, a large
plate with the streaky bacon, eggs and a sausage appeared, plus some very
‘up-market’ bronze cutlery. There was also a basket with some slices of
crusty bread and some butter and marmalade jam. Through the morning haze in
my brain, I felt something was missing, but decided that it was my memory
that was faulty.
The breakfast went down well, but just as I was about to clean my plate with
a slice of bread, I noticed a dish of baked beans had noiselessly arrived on
the table. My memory was not so bad after all, and apparently better than
the waitress’s. Nevertheless, the beans were enjoyable on their own, and I
was able to clean the plate again.
Previously I had written that to survive in the
competitive world of the food business you need to be able to offer good
food at a reasonable price. To its credit, The Continental Bakery and
Restaurant 2 certainly has continued to follow that dictum. The food was
good (and little touches such as the warm plate were amazing in a little
suburban restaurant) and the prices were more than reasonable. It comes then
as no surprise that this tiny restaurant’s customer base has been growing
for the past few years. (It has opened more outlets in Pattaya City and also
on Koh Samui.) However, one wonders, with the growth of the business, if
they have been finding it difficult to recruit well trained staff. I have to
admit that at 8 a.m. this is not Miss Terry’s finest hour (especially after
the Casa Pascal anniversary dinner the night before), but the service was a
little haphazard, but at least the beans did arrive.
The Continental Bakery and Restaurant 2 does fill a niche in the dining out
scene in Pattaya. To even be able to get breakfast at 7 a.m. is a boon. For
those of you who feel they might miss the original single shophouse, do not
fret, it is still there, about 30 meters towards the Thepprasit intersection
from the Continental 2.
A good little (but larger than before) restaurant.
The Continental Bakery and Restaurant 2, Thappraya Road (on the left
outbound, fifty meters past Thepprasit Road), Jomtien, telephone (for
orders) 01 557 0912. Street parking only. Open 7 a.m. until 9 p.m.
