Nicky's Gay Pattaya » “Not” the Or-Ah-Harn-Thai

“Not” the Or-Ah-Harn-Thai

First let’s get the name sorted out?If you look at the 4th and 5th thumbnail above, these are the boards hanging above the restaurant. The red one with the coke bottle says something about taking care of the plates. The green illuminated one (which is more promising) actually says (roughly) Laad Na Yordat, then says it’s from Nakon Sawat. Please excuse the transliterations!

Laad Na is a noodle dish, fried with a sort of glutinous sauce on it, which indeed they do sell here, but it’s the food, not the restaurant name. So we asked the people there what the name was and they said it doesn’t have a name. So we call it “Not” the Or-Ah-Harn-Thai after it’s better known neighbour. We will review the real one soon, but for now here’s a real gem of a place.

It’s located in Pattaya Tai, Pattaya South Road, just across from Soi Hollywood. If you’re at Tukcom, stand at the front door, cross the road and turn left. There are 4 restaurants in a line and this is the first.

Right. Now we’ve got the place, let’s review it. First it’s typically Thai. If you want ironed white napkins and silver service, go to the Manhattan. This is one of the best of the local places. Scruffy, “school canteen”, and in the West it would be closed in minutes. But here it’s wonderful. The food is cooked right by the street, and the fish is kept on ice next to the pavement for the passers by to see. If you’ve that bothered you can watch them cook your meal right in front of you. It really is delicious – especially the fish. A typical dish is 80B. The portions are large. My favourites are the fish in red chili sauce, fish or chicken with Indian spices, and then it’s usually the garlic and pepper fish for a third dish. That’s if there are several of us going. 4 dishes, some rice, water or soda water and you’re looking at 400B TOTAL. That would easily feed three of you. You’ll come out stuffed full. If the meals were served on china dishes and in a better surrounding, you’d easily pay 1,000B per head in a top class restaurant. And the food is tasty enough to be served there. It’s authentic. One friend decried Thai food as all tasting the same. Come here and you’ll never say that again. There are some more exotic things on the menu – brains, frogs etc, but if you stay with the more traditional dishes you’ll be fine.

There are two menus (both priced the same). An English one with pictures, so you can point to the dish while the waiter writes it down, and a Thai written one. When it comes to getting the bill, the waiter comes over, with a pocket calculator, and counts the plates on your table. There’s no check bin, no record of what you ate, just the dirty plates. So don’t feel helpful and pile them up, or wonder why they don’t clear them away. That’s what the red sign with the coke bottle I first mentioned means.

Is it clean, probably not. Have I ever been ill from going there? No. And I go about twice a week. It’s one of my favourites and I’m happy to share it with you. Let me know what you think when you visit.

P.S. the “snotty sauce” noodles come from the stand on the right of the restaurant. A different concession, but just as good!