by Miss Terry Diner
One of the newest restaurants in Pattaya is Stars on
the 23rd floor of Pattaya Hill Resort. For those not familiar with the
address, it is on the top of Pratamnak Hill, one street after the police
box where you would turn right if going to the Royal Cliff Beach Resort.
The
venue is one of the highest in Pattaya, and from the two outside areas you
have commanding views all over Pattaya Bay and the offshore islands.
Inside there is a restaurant with unequalled d้cor, and wood
panelled walls with Thai and Burmese artefacts, and another “bar” area
with comfortable chairs. The view is breathtaking and the d้cor
similarly impressive. And the piece de resistance has to be the hand
basins in the toilets. Do look!
Both the outside areas are set up with tables and
chairs, so you can really dine under the stars if you wish, but on our
night it was just a little too breezy, so we chose the air-conditioned
inside dining section. The tables are marble topped with candles and
pepper grinders, and the seats are comfortable, something some
restaurateurs forget when outfitting their restaurant. The glasses are
high quality, as are the cutlery items.
The menu is not extensive (however, nor is it
expensive). There are some set menu items as well as a la carte, with the
first being the Daily Special which includes an appetizer, a main course
and a dessert for 195 baht. This is followed by the 4 course Romantic set
menu (B. 395) which begins with a salad with marinated salmon, followed by
the “Chef’s style” fish soup, then a pork fillet with red wine sauce
or fish of the day and dessert, or finally the Candlelight Dinner (B. 545)
which includes smoked salmon, soup of the day, Shrimps with tomatoes and
garlic, then the Stars Trio of beef, pork and lamb (or fish of the day)
and dessert.
In
the a la carte section there are 10 appetizers (B. 90-325) ranging from
soup at the low end to Norwegian smoked salmon at the high end. These are
followed by a dozen main courses (B.195-425) including Coq au Vin,
duckling breast with pepper cream sauce, several beef dishes and New
Zealand lamb. Then there are choices of desserts at B. 120.
Madame was not too hungry and chose the Hungarian
goulash. I decided to try the Romantic set menu which began with the
salmon. Accompanying this was the salad, toast and a decent slice of lime.
In my tasting notes of the evening I had written, “The salmon was to die
for,” and it certainly was. It was not dished out in miniscule amounts
and was superb. This was a good start to the evening. I should also
mention that Madame and I decided to try the house white wine, which on
that evening was an Australian wooded Chardonnay. We had more than one
glass!
Next
up for Miss Terry was the fish soup - chef’s style. The chef is Gerd and
Miss Terry likes his style. This was an amazing “bouillabaisse” soup
which was served with a dish for seafood shells and a finger bowl. This
soup was a virtual treasure trove of seafood, with a large prawn, baby
clams and mussels in a superb stock with just a slight bite to it. This
was the best soup Miss Terry has ever had.
The goulash was very pleasant, according to Madame, and
my pork in the rich red wine sauce was also of a very high standard. This
came with snow peas, baby carrots and asparagus. We were enjoying the
atmosphere so much we adjourned outside to discuss the merits of the place
over another glass of the house wine!
The restaurant had not been open long at the time of
the review. To say we were impressed would be an understatement. The venue
is unsurpassed and the food was excellent. When you then take into
consideration the moderate cost, this makes Stars exceptional value. Very
highly recommended.
Stars Restaurant and Bar, 23rd floor Pattaya Hill
Resort, Soi 2 Pratamnak Road, Pattaya, tel. 038 250 329.
