Dining Out: Pat’s Pies - the Restaurant
Don’t argue about the bill: Belgian Patrick, the well-known restaurateur and pugilist will be making yet another appearance in the square ring tonight, Friday November 30 in the ballroom of the Marriott Hotel (formerly the Royal Garden). Patrick will be whacking away in the leather gloves in a bout scheduled for four three-minute rounds. As support, there will be an amateur boxing bout, a Muay Thai fight and a ladies stoush. A smorgasbord of entertainment will take place between each match. Patrick will be celebrating his 40th birthday just three days later, a milestone (or should that be ‘millstone’?) that may lead him to hang up the gloves, especially if he gets a ‘taste’ for the turps.Pie, mash and liquor: The Horn Bar (top of Soi Happy, off Walking Street), run by a couple of likely lads from the East End of London, has reintroduced their Friday night East End special dish of pie, mash and liquor, flogging it out at 85 baht. They reckon this is the sort of grub they grew up on, pre-BSE and foot-and-mouth days of course (although sometimes I wonder). Pictures of sartorial elegance: Whenever the thermometer drops into or below the low 20’s Celsius, as it has in recent weeks, the majority of Thais start to don the sort of apparel generally associated with adventurers preparing to mount an Antarctic expedition. The kaleidoscope of mismatched colours makes many of the girls working in the outside beer boozer’s look as though they took the material from a Salvation Army recycling bin. Conversely, during the heat of the day some of the more amusing sights are those foreign men wandering about in socks and sandals, knee-length multi-coloured shorts and loud Hawaiian shirts. All this just goes to show that Fun Town is hardly a couturiers paradise; but then you already knew that. Och aye, it’s the clan McDonald: The Classroom ogling den (Pattayaland Soi 2) was the first chrome pole palace to introduce a theme: the schoolgirl uniform. Since it kicked off around 1994, the play palace has expanded (size wise) on the strength of the theme, its excellent music and reasonable booze prices. Lady drinks are just 79 baht, soft drinks 50 baht and beer and spirits 89 baht. There are those in town who find the school uniform idea less than enticing, preferring their chrome pole huggers to be clad in as little as possible. However, I don’t mind going into a place like Classroom for a bit of a change, especially since they did away with those awful stockings the girls used to wear. Mary-Ann’s hugging the poles again: After enduring more knock-backs than a postman with an envelope containing anthrax, the Giligin’s ogling den (Pattayaland Soi 1) is once more operating as a chrome pole palace. The requisite paperwork has been approved, a new clutch of playhouse maidens has been recruited and Elvis is looking less likely to leave the building. Grandpa would be proud: Welsh Rob, the tall streak who can often be found downing a few liver wasters at The Asylum beer boozer and part-time noshery (Soi Chaiyapoon) has reportedly taken to the lawn bowling caper like a geriatric on Viagra. Although he has a long way to go before he qualifies for the aged pension, Rob has apparently been ‘burning the turf’ at the Bowling Green (just around the corner in Soi Drarin), armed with his grandfather’s balls. In a quiet moment, he offered to show them to me, but I declined, as I wasn’t sure where it would lead. The music mix in The Asylum, formerly featuring evenings of ska, dub, reggae and the like, has been consigned to the ‘too hard’ basket and it’s now a case of pot luck, the tunes emanating from the boozer dependant on the perceived tastes, or otherwise, of the current imbibing clientele. Nevertheless, the free Friday night curry and free snooker table are still available for customers. My e-mail address is: [email protected]
Updated every Friday. Updated by Chinnaporn Sangwanlek, assisted by
Boonsiri Suansuk. |
The
restaurant is split level, with the lower (smoking) area fitted out with
the same cane furniture as their Supper Room on 3rd Road. Up a few steps
and the main area (non-smoking) has high ceilings and pale yellow walls.
The tables are covered with green tablecloths and the wooden chairs have
nice padded cushions which invite you to stay awhile. The best description
is probably “homely” which fits in with Pat’s personality too. You
don’t go there to dine, you go to say hello to the “family” and have
a bite to eat at the same time.