How does a restaurant in Pattaya manage to stay beneath
the radar for five years? After reviewing the Parrot’s Inn Bistro restaurant
last week, I think the feathered creature must have been quietly hiding in
the upper branches of a tree all that time! But then, as a mitigating
factor, Christophe the owner and his Thai wife speak French preferentially
but against that idea is the fact that both speak very passable English.
Whatever, Pattaya will now know more about this restaurant.
Parrot’s
Inn Bistro’s owner Christophe peruses the Pattaya Mail.
The restaurant is not difficult to find. It is on Third
Road outbound, about 50 meters past the Soi 17 traffic lights on the right
hand side of the road, and well before the overpass.
There are two sections, an exterior al fresco, but covered area, with dining
tables and a pool table. This area we noticed was very popular with the
passing tourists. Move through and you enter the air-conditioned dining
area, with a centrally placed prominent horseshoe bar, with upholstered bar
stools, plus the tables which also have soft cushioned seating.
Before we looked at the menu, an aperitif was in order, and being in a venue
with French ambience, I asked for a Ricard. Yes they had it and it was
served correctly with the chilled water separate from the Ricard.
Christophe’s wife knows the correct French way to drink Ricard, as well as
being able to speak French!
The menu is quite straightforward, and several pages are fully photographic,
a simple fact that many restaurateurs seem to ignore - not every diner
speaks English, and with the influx of Russian tourists, there is a market
you may just lose without pictures in your menu.
Madame had ordered the
Parrot’s salad, and was quite taken aback at the size of the serving - huge!
A perusal will show that this is not an expensive bistro
at all, and although the ambience is French, the menu items are really more
international/European, and there is a separate section dedicated to Thai
food.
There is a good choice of wines (kept in a temperature controlled wine
fridge), with the majority under B. 1,000. I decided that the house red
should be the wine to accompany our food, and this was a Domaine Montplo at
B. 750.
Most aperitifs are around B. 100 (though my Ricard was only B. 90), and
cocktails B. 130-190. Entrees are B. 90-140.
Into the menu proper and breakfasts are an all-day affair. An onion soup is
on the list at B. 100. The French influence can be seen in the choice of
pates B. 150-200. Fish come in at B. 220-350 with Provencal sea scallops
with garlic and parsley sauce at the top end.
Meat mains are B. 190-390, including beef brochettes at
B. 260, while the chicken brochettes are even less expensive at B. 200. A
duck breast at B. 290 and a 400 gm T-bone steak at B. 390. These certainly
do not break the bank at Monte Carlo!
Madame had ordered the Parrot’s salad, and was quite taken aback at the size
of the serving - huge! So much so that I questioned Christophe to make sure
that it was the standard size portion, to be reassured that indeed it was
standard size.
I had gone for the Noix de St. Jacques a la Provencal (B. 350) and this was
a very flavorsome dish, and a welcome change from the usual way sea scallops
are presented in cream sauce.
Our
summation of the evening at the Parrot’s Inn was that this bistro restaurant
was very inexpensive and represented good value for money. There are enough
choices on the menu for both Western and Thai diners. The wines are also
inexpensive, and the preferred house wine, the French Montplo table wine was
very easy to quaff and at B. 750 per bottle great value imbibing. Definitely
worth the time to find it!
By the way, Christophe and his wife have 16 guest rooms above the restaurant
as well, something for your overseas friends might like to consider. They
have a website www.parrots-inn.com
which shows the accommodation as well.
247/28 M10, Pattaya Third Road (about 50 meters past Soi 17 outbound on the
right hand side) open 9 a.m. to 10.30 p.m., 7 days, telephone 038 050 151,
plenty of on-street parking.
