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Dining Out: Ma Maison - you guessed right - it’s French!
The London Clock’s Birthday: This coming Saturday, July 21 sees the FLB lounge lizard libation room (just past the big tree on Walking Street) celebrate the birthday of the new manager, the London Clock.The big fella (or should that be wide?) officially took over the meeting and greeting duties at the beginning of the month with a bash that this writer had the misfortune to miss. By all accounts it was, as Skyhooks, that great Aussie band of the 1970s once sang, a Party to end all Parties. FLB has undergone some major changes in recent weeks that the Clock claims are aimed at turning the bar into the Pattaya equivalent of the up-market boozers along Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Soi 33. To facilitate this it seems as if somewhere along the line they roped in a flouncy interior designer to advise on colour and decor as the place now looks more like a 19 th Century French drawing room frequented by the likes of Beau Brummell. I like it.A set of English-designed draught beer dispensers have been installed and the Clock claims that truly cold beer is now on tap. The Ugly Brothers (yes, they are) still perform every night except Tuesday and you can sit comfortably in the lounge chairs and have dusky maidens attend to your every-with clothes on-whim or gather at the bar and still have your needs addressed, albeit less cosily. The best nuts in town: Fun Town’s version of an eccentric Santa Claus, the well-known Peter of Peter’s Fishing Bar (South Pattaya Road, next door to the Bamboo boozer and late-night boogie barn), recently returned from a sojourn to the Old Dart and brought back enough gear to give an elephant a hernia. Among the goodies he managed to tuck into his sack was a bundle of Dalton’s Peanuts. Apparently a favourite snack back in Pommyland, I suggest those interested in getting a hold of some quality nuts make a beeline for Peter’s joint before they’ve all been snapped up. While you’re down there be sure to make a point of asking the garrulous one for a quick peek at his ‘special’ photograph; he assures me it’s the only one of its kind in the world. Parental Guidance needed: Ever since God invented alcohol and people created bars to drink booze in, unscrupulous and dishonest vendors and their employees have been finding ways to rip off customers. Here in Fun Town the most common complaint is padded bins. A punter staggers into a watering hole, orders one drink and then another and before you know it he’s even more under the weather and wouldn’t have a clue as to how much he’s slurped. So, a perfect opportunity presents itself for an eagle-eyed and greedy bar owner to add the price of a drink or two to the unwary punter’s bill. Over the years there have been plenty of boozers that have come under suspicion, however, there is one reasonably popular beer boozer - which also doubles as a dine and dash establishment - that seems to be taking quite a few punters to the cleaners in terms of inflating bins, if recent reports are to be believed. At least three former regular booze artists have taken to imbibing elsewhere after claiming they were being ripped off. None of the punters possesses the IQ of James Bond, but they aren’t as stupid or as naive as the bar owner thought they were. For the Hungry: Down in gender-confused Pattayaland Soi 1, GJ’s boozer, snackery and sleeping hostel (between the Spicy Girls Too ogling den and the Gentleman’s Club palace) opened its doors a few weeks ago and is starting to attract some well-deserved business. GJ’s does an all day breakfast and serves freshly ground coffee, but the real delight is the take-away menu that commences after 4:00 p.m. and runs until midnight. The prices represent great value with dishes ranging from 35 to 89 baht. The tucker is not prepared by some microwaveologist pretending to be a cook but by a fully qualified nosh artist. GJ’s has been putting the take-away menu around a few of the local ogling dens and boozers so that hungry punters can order a snack without having to leave the confines of their particular watering hole. Not closed, just resting: The Blues Factory (Walking Street, near Lucky Star) has been closing its doors recently on Monday nights, giving the staff and band a rest. However, big boss Barry, a native of Vancouver, British Columbia (that’s in Canada for the geographically challenged), said the lounge lizard libation room and late night boogie barn will again be opening for business seven nights a week starting in August. Hey, hey, we’re the Monkies: When is a karaoke bar not a karaoke bar? The answer is when it is a ‘singing studio’. Located in the Astoria Resort complex in Naklua, next to the Dusit Resort, Monkies is a new restaurant and piano bar, disco (described as a ‘trendy bar’) and karaoke...sorry...singing studio. A DJ, brought down specially from Bangkok, mixes the music in the ‘trendy bar’. The boogie barn rocks until the wee small hours, running along the lines of RCA and Lucifer’s in the Big Chilli. Management is catering to Thais but welcomes foreigners as well. Worth checking out if you happen to be up that way. My e-mail address is: [email protected]
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The
restaurant is set behind the bar area adjoining Soi 13 and can be either
around the pool al fresco style, or in a separate air-conditioned
glassed-in section. We chose the open air section, being a very mild
night. The atmosphere is cheerful, with coloured tablecloths under glass
and bright yellow napkins.
There
is also a 24 item Thai food menu, which is cooked by Ma Maison’s local
chef. All the expected items are there (B. 85-185) for those dining
partners who are not partial to Farang food.