PATTAYA, Thailand – Naini Grover, Thai citizen of Indian descent, has been observing Pattaya since his father bought the Ali Baba building on Central Road and opened the restaurant in November 1981. “People have always been wrong about Pattaya” he says. “During the early AIDS and later Covid crises, the common prediction was that the city would sink into oblivion like Tombstone.”
Some foreign press have always deliberately ignored the city’s diversification and chosen to treat it as a permanent embarrassment. Yet Naini points out that in 2025 Pattaya competes with Phuket to be Thailand’s most popular beach resort and, according to Agoda’s research, is the best location in the country for microtourism.
When it comes to predicting the future, he stresses that there are many Pattayas as markets always come and go. “In the 1990s, European tourists and expats predominated but there have been successive waves of Russians and Chinese. At the moment the momentum is with Indian arrivals, but that could change too if Indians decide to stop travelling or choose other destinations.
Naini instances the customers at Ali Baba: one evening they are mostly Indian, the next night virtually all Europeans. He adds that wealthier tourists and expats are now strongly in evidence, as indicated by the new visas designed to appeal to them and the surge in investment to build extravagant condominiums all over town.
Ali Baba, which takes its name from the folk tale in Arabic and the legendary forty thieves, is surely the longest-established restaurant in Pattaya under one family management. Naini, the company head since the death of his father, says that there are now around 200 Indian restaurants in or near the city. “We’ll provide you with a detailed list in two weeks,” he promises.
But Ali Baba is top of the bunch and likely to remain so. “My mother, a professional cook, was responsible for training the staff in the early days and her successors have kept up the high standard.” He quotes the letter from an old friend, “If you haven’t visited the Ali Baba then you have never arrived in Pattaya.”
About three quarters of all Indians are vegetarians and Naini thinks that the cuisine is attracting more and more foreigners too. “But veganism is not actually an Indian tradition as most Indians love their milk, their butter and their puddings. A lot of Indians stopped eating red meat for health reasons and that’s an international trend too now.”
He points out that many Thais now visit India as vacationers, thus providing a further source of love for Indian food over time. Naini concludes, “Yes I’m a Pattaya survivor. Ali Baba too has survived all the past perils as well as the superb opportunities in Pattaya for over 40 years. I’m looking forward with confidence to the next 40.”
