The global financial crisis has reverberated around the world, amidst cries of gloom, doom and woe is me! However, the more switched on entrepreneurs look to make opportunity out of despair. One of these is Richard Burk, the owner of the Amor restaurant in Soi Pattayaland 3. Richard has promised his customers a Financial Crunch Buster menu, covering many choices over three courses - and the price? B. 280+.
Before going further, a brief word on the restaurant and how to get there. For old time Pattaya residents, the location is very well known, at the mouth of Pattayaland Soi 3, as it branches off Pattayaland Soi 2. It is next to Café New Orleans, but since Amor has just celebrated its 15th continuous year of operation, that should read “Café New Orleans is next to Amor!” Parking in that area is very difficult, but there is more than adequate parking in Wat Chaimongkol, entry off South Pattaya Road, and 10 baht only. Go out the pedestrian exit opposite the (small, old) Mikes and Amor is less than 100 meters from there.
We were met by the omnipresent Richard Burk, the culinary force behind Amor’s gigantic (248 item) menu. Richard prides himself on the variety, and on the fact that all meals are prepared to the customer’s order. Don’t want garlic? Fine, he will make that dish without it. He also rates the spiciness of the items with chilli indicators and indicates the low cholesterol and vegetarian items as well.
The slightly incredulous Dining Out team had gone to Amor, quite frankly wondering just how he was going to do it. Richard explained that he wanted to be able to produce good choices, but maintain the quality, despite the low price. To this end, the portions were slightly smaller than the standard a la carte menu items, but still made for a full and filling meal. The rib eye steak, for example, was 150 gm, rather than 200 gm, and at that price was obviously not going to be an imported item.
The wine list still has a varied flavor, both old and new worlds, and generally between B. 1,000-2,000. I can recommend the Jacob’s Creek Australian red as being a good rounded wine and not overly expensive. In the end we decided to sample the lower end of the Amor price range, and try the Italian house wines, which are B. 140 per glass. (There is another choice of house wine which is Chilean, but more expensive at B. 200 per glass.) The Italian white is eminently quaffable, but I was not so happy with the red. Go for the Chilean would be my recommendation.
However, back to the Financial Crunch Buster. We decided to skip the soup course (tomato, pumpkin or vegetable) as it was more important that we sample all the mains, and the choices are from a spicy meatball curry and rice, chicken breast piccata with pasta, fish cakes with rice croquettes, a pork fillet (150 gm) with mushroom or pepper sauce or the rib eye steak with potato croquettes and vegetables.
Trying all these was a marathon task (but we did it for you, dear readers), and we had to congratulate Richard Burk and his team at the end in having produced such variety. And at such a low price.
We sat down and evaluated the various dishes that we had tried. Some were ‘sampling’ portions, though others were full-sized to show us what the customer can expect to receive. The chicken piccata and the rib eye steak were certainly more than adequate portions (see the photo) and the cracked pepper sauce was superb. In my tasting notes I had written, “The best pepper sauce in Pattaya”. Richard then reminded me that it was one of the 17 sauces in the menu!
In conclusion, the winners in the Financial Crunch Busters are definitely the diners. Great tastes, more than adequate servings, and certainly very light on the wallet. Highly recommended.
Amor Restaurant, 244/15 Pattayaland Soi 3, South Pattaya, telephone 038 710 680, email richard@amor restaurant.com, website www.amorrestaurant.com. Open seven days from 5 p.m. till late. Plenty of parking space in the Wat Chaimongkol.

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Coquilles St. Jacques

This week’s recipe is a universal favorite, and presentation of this dish will enhance any cook’s reputation. It is surprisingly easy to make, with all ingredients readily available in Thailand. I recommend the mashed potato with the scallop shells and you can even make a small bed of the potato and push the shells into it. The slight browning of the potato adds to the overall effect.

Cooking Method Sauté scallops and onions in two tablespoons butter. Remove from pan and sauté mushrooms. Now place the scallops and mushrooms in the scallop shells and keep warm. Make the sauce from the remaining butter plus flour, salt, pepper and cream, very gently stirring over a low heat. Add the sherry and pour the sauce carefully over the scallops. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and brown under the salamander. Hot mashed potatoes can be piped around the edge of scallop shells before putting under griller. Serve hot.

Ingredients                 serves 4
Butter                               6 tbspns
Flour                                3 tbspns
Salt                                   ½ tspn
White pepper                     1/8 tspn
Cream                      1 and ½ cups
Scallops                           24 large
Onion chopped                     ¼ cup
Mushrooms sliced                ½ cup
Sherry                              2 tbspns
Parmesan cheese for sprinkling