Baadshah.
Some observant readers who drive down Third Road alerted
the Dining Out Team to the fact that there was a new Indian restaurant in
town called Baadshah (which incidentally means “King”).
Pillao rice.
There had been an Indian restaurant there a couple of
years ago, but this new Indian restaurant we found was only two months old.
It is run by Sunny Singh, a young man, but someone with years of experience
in both his family’s restaurants and his own.
Baadshah is on Third Road, close to the Cherry’s
restaurant and opposite where Xzite once stood. Plenty of parking on Third
Road (both sides).
The restaurant is in two sections. There is an al fresco
section outside (but covered) and then there is the air-conditioned inner
area, with traditional Indian artworks and beaded curtains.
Baadshah dishes.
Tables are covered with heavy maroon throw-overs and the
chairs are padded to convince you to linger. The staff are smartly attired
in white shirts with black pants, and are attentive, without being
overbearing.
The restaurant has two Punjabi chefs with three
assistants, and the cuisine is also Punjabi (northern India). Before getting
into the large menu we settled for two beers (local beers B. 60-70, but
Kingfisher imported is B. 120) and the beers were wonderfully cold. A great
start to the evening. House wine is available at B. 90. We also found that
Baadshah even offered ‘Happy Hours’ from 1 p.m. until 5.30 p.m. with local
beers B. 50.
The initial foray through the menu showed that this was
not an expensive Indian restaurant. Appetizers were B. 60-150, soups and
salads B. 30-120, vegetarian dishes B. 90-150 and even seafood items were
only B. 230-240.
Air-con interior.
The full range of dishes you would expect in an Indian
restaurant are all there, with the sections being (in addition to those
mentioned above) Tandoori Khazana, Raj special platters, Bahar ‘E’ Murg
(chicken), Laziz ‘E’ Ghosht (lamb), Basmati Degh (rice and Biriyani - nine
styles), Roti Wali Galli (14 different breads) and three Indian desserts.
Sunny also told us that since all dishes were freshly prepared in the
kitchen it could be literally cooked to order, just let the service
personnel know your personal preferences as far as spiciness is concerned.
Our ice-cold beers were so good, we had another one
before settling in to an Indian feast, which began with some vegetable
samosas (B. 75) with grease-free crisp patties. These were followed by an
Egg Bhurji (B. 90) and a Dal Tarka (B. 90), a thick Dal with onion, ginger
and garlic. We ate those with hot garlic nan, straight from the tandoori
oven.
A short break was called for before we ventured into a
lamb Rogan Josh (B. 250) and a Chicken Tikka Masala (B. 190) with a sweet
Peshawari Nan and some Pillao long-grained Basmati rice cooked in butter,
spices and saffron.
We were around half way through our meal when we heard
one British diner say to Maitre d’ Sunny, “This is the best Indian food in
Pattaya.” After we had finished, I tended to agree with the unknown UK
citizen, and remember that the most popular cuisine in England is Indian!
We took our time with the above dishes. The flavors were
excellent and they had been cooked to our order. The final cold beer was
accompanied by an interesting dessert called Gulab Jamun (B. 55) which
consists of deep-fried dough balls, served hot in a pool of honey syrup,
something I had never tried before.
Finally we nibbled on the crunch anise served at the end
of an Indian meal. If you are a fan of Indian food, then Baadshah is
definitely worth your visiting. Good food, great taste and not overly
expensive at all. Do try the Peshawari nan, a sweet tandoori nan filled with
nuts and raisins. We ate this with the Chicken Tikka Masala and the
combination of flavors was excellent. Highly recommended.
Baadshah Indian restaurant, 394/119-120 M9, Pattaya Third
Road, telephone 038 411 690, or (Sunny) 086 451 1161, email
baadshah_restaurant@ yahoo.com. Open 1 p.m. until 1 a.m. seven days. Free
home delivery within 3 km of the restaurant. On-street parking.
