Montien Theme Buffets and a bonus

by Miss Terry Diner

Seems like the Montien Hotel on Second Road has been there for ever. I first stayed at the Montien in 1975, when it was called the Regent of Pattaya, and I have watched it grow into the excellent hotel that it is today.
The Montien has also become very well known for its restaurants, with the Marco Polo Chinese restaurant having a steady customer base of devotees to its Dim Sum and Peking Duck, and the La Mer and the Verandah Coffee shop hosting four theme buffets every week. These are the “Reef and Beef” (Verandah) on Tuesdays, Mediterranean Buffet (La Mer) on Wednesdays, BBQ and Seafood (Verandah) on Fridays and the International Buffet dinner (Verandah) on Saturdays. The theme buffets range in price between 500-600 baht (++ because it is a hotel, remember) and at the invitation of the Montien’s energetic PR lady, Pornpimon Geybui, we joined with her and Chamnan Kucharoen, their Food and Beverage manager for the Friday BBQ and Seafood Buffet dinner at the Verandah Coffee Shop.
I have mentioned this before, but I believe the Montien does itself a disservice by continuing to use the term “coffee shop”. The venue which stretches out into the garden surrounding one of the swimming pools has both an open (covered) area and an air-conditioned section. It is a tropical garden restaurant, not a “coffee shop” in my books.
The buffet is laid out around the area, and incorporates many live cooking stations and a BBQ, with a central island as well, with even more items.
My usual suggestion of walking around the buffet stations before selecting will stand you in good stead here, as there are many, many items; for example, there are seven appetizers including a beautiful smoked fish, 12 items on the hot food stations with a very tempting Vietnamese spicy duck in orange sauce or a creamed bell pepper soup with shrimps, and the seafood BBQ itself offers rock lobster, river prawn, crab, squid, mackerel or snapper fillet and mussels complete with accompaniments such as lemon butter, Thai garlic sauce, chili sauce and herb sauce. The meat BBQ includes a peppered fillet steak, cheesy pork, chicken bell pepper roll and beef tenderloin steak, all served with Lao pepper sauce, Bourbon BBQ sauce and green peppercorn sauce and more.
After our exploratory foray, Madame went for the “Fritto Misto” live cooking station picking up some salmon, and shrimps, done in the Italian style. Again there were more than adequate choices in sauces, with Aioli, Wasabi, Tartare, Thai plum sauce and blue cheese dip.
After whetting the appetite (and sampling the house white wine) we systematically went around selecting items which tasted as attractive as they looked, Madame into the crab and rock lobster BBQ, while the pork and chicken breast with an assortment of sauces took my fancy, along with the potato salad in mustard dressing.
We did leave a little room for desserts, with the Khanom Thai for Madame, while I sampled the cheese cake and a little fresh fruit tart. Lovely!
We have never been disappointed with the Montien’s buffet evenings, and the Friday BBQ and Seafood buffet was no exception. There are enough choices to cater for the tastes of everyone, children are welcome (and are charged out at just a little over half price), the food is good (and fresh) and the staff are friendly. Any of these theme buffets make for a good family outing, and from now until August 31 this year, the Montien is offering a bonus for regular customers. In the Marco Polo restaurant, every 1,000 baht spent entitles you to a special discount stamp, and after you have 10 stamps, there will be a 1,000 baht discount on the bill. For the theme buffets it is even simpler. You receive a stamp with each visit and after five stamps, on the sixth visit, one person eats free. This certainly makes what was already good value for money into a real bargain. Definitely recommended.
The Montien Hotel, Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, telephone 053 428 155, fax, 053 423 155, email pattaya@ montien.com. Theme Buffet evenings Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Secure parking within the hotel car parks.