Bavaria comes to the Oasis

This September sees the Oasis restaurant in the Centara Grand Mirage featuring Bavarian food, and with their executive chef Peter Held being a natural born Bavarian, the concept was also a natural fit.

For those who have not been to the Centara Grand Mirage, it is in Naklua. Go down Soi 18 Pattaya-Naklua Road and turn right at the bottom and look for the entrance on your left. You won’t miss it.

For those who have been to the Centara Grand Mirage, the Oasis restaurant is easy to find inside the complex. Through the lobby and then down the stairs next to the waterfall to the lower main lobby and you practically land in the restaurant. You won’t miss it either.

The Oasis is in two main sections, an interior air-conditioned one, with a high ceiling and clever lighting with entry through the tall wooden louvered shutters, and an external section which is covered, but still open to the prevailing breezes with the tables and chairs more of a rustic style. Being the very moderate weather we are enjoying at present (when it is not raining), we chose the external dining area.

We were welcomed by Chef Peter, who explained some of the dishes we would be sampling that evening, and it was a hefty list! Imagine being confronted with freshly baked pretzels with Griebenschmalz, butter and liver sausage; Obatzda piquant cheese mousse with pretzel, red radish and salad; Weisswurst boiled Munich sausage with sweet mustard and pretzel; a sausage platter with grilled Nurnberger, pork sausage, bratwurst and franks on sauerkraut and mashed potatoes; braised pork neck in beer sauce with red cabbage and boiled potatoes; Munich ham in caraway sauce with Bavarian cabbage and bread dumplings and finally crispy pork knuckle with caraway sauce on sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. Fortunately we had a few extra bodies at our table, or we would still be sitting there eating.

As you can see from the list (which is not the entire number of Bavarian offerings by the way), shows that some mustards and sauces are needed, and these were already supplied and waiting on the table. The sweet grainy mustard I found particularly appealing with the Weisswurst sausage, which you peel to be strictly correct, though Chef Peter did say that some people eat the skin as well.

Of course, with Bavarian food you should wash it down with copious volumes of German beer, and the Oasis has Paulaner available at B. 250 for a large bottle.
Chef Peter explained that the dishes were very much as used to be available in every Bavarian household, but even there, the fast food culture is taking the womenfolk out of the kitchen.

And some of the dishes do take time in preparation. With the pork knuckle, there is a three day wait in the marinade, after which it is boiled and after that it is roasted, all in the traditional way, and my knuckle was very tender, easily falling away from the bone.

The Munich ham (B. 320) was very tender with good thick slices, but please note the photo was of a combined dish for four people. The caraway sauce is very pleasant and the dumplings large and heavy.

The sausage platter was again a well-filled plate with the four different styles of German sausage.

This Bavarian promotion only lasts for September, so if you would like to try Chef Peter’s Bavarian dishes, we suggest you phone for a reservation. We enjoyed the food very much, with Madame being particularly enamored by the pork knuckle (B. 410), while for me the dish of the evening was the braised pork neck in beer sauce with red cabbage and boiled potatoes (B. 280). Mind you, the Obatzda cheese mousse with pretzel (baked in house), red radish and salad was a very close second (B. 380). The individual portions were also very large, so go there with a good appetite, and you do not have to be Bavarian to enjoy this promotion!
Oasis restaurant, Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort, 277 M5 Naklua, telephone 038 301 234, ext 4261, hours 6 a.m. until 11 p.m., seven days. Secure parking within the resort grounds.

Any fries to go with that?

How many times have you been asked that question? If you frequent fast food outlets, the answer will be many. However, are you getting “French” fries, or “Belgian” fries?

First mention of a chip-maker was Fritz from Belgium in 1857. In 1889 a new restaurant “Brebant” opened in the top of the very French Eiffel Tower with “Les Frites Belge” (Belgian Fries) on the menu. A photograph taken at the fun-fair in Liege in 1891 shows a food stall with the sign “Fritz Le Doyen de la Friture” (Fritz, the Dean of Deep-frying) and “L’Inventeur des Frites” (The Inventor of Fries!). The Belgians rest their case! The “French fry” could very well just be a copy fry!

Ingredients Potatoes, good quality, medium size

Cooking Method

Wash, then peel then rewash the potatoes. Cut into slices 1 cm thick. Now cut the slices into sticks 1 cm thick and maximum of 5 cm long. Wash the sticks again in clear water and dry thoroughly.

Heat the oil to 160 degrees and cook chipped potatoes for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove and drain until required.

Now heat oil to 180 degrees (nearly smoking) and cook until the outside is crisp and golden. Remove and drain, season with salt and serve your Belgian Fries - the chip with history!