Hands up all those who remember the rather tired El Toro
Steak House. Well you can put your hands down, El Toro has well and truly
gone, but in its place is a new venture called “My Corner” which has so much
going for it, we could not believe it at first.
Head Chef Paveena.
It is, as its name suggests, on a corner. Namely on
Second Road and the small soi running down to the Royal Palace Hotel, and
almost exactly opposite the Royal Garden Plaza. An all-glass frontage and
two storeys. The ground floor is air-conditioned, whilst the upstairs
section is set up for those who want the breezes. However, with the ambient
temperature close to 40 degrees right now, we were very happy to dine in the
cool downstairs.
Speaking with Alex, the consultant, it turns out that My
Corner Pattaya is an offshoot of My Corner in Bangkok, and some of the key
staff commute in this early stage of the Pattaya restaurant’s development,
such as head chef Paveena.
Tables are for two, four or six persons, so My Corner can
cater for a crowd. My Corner is described as a bar and grill, and with
opening time being 3 p.m. it invites you to get some friends together and
sit around the bar for a while. There is another reason that this is a good
bar venue and that is the range of some fantastic Belgian beers. However, be
warned that many of them are 8 percent alcohol, with a couple even up around
11.5 percent. Yes, the Belgians like strong beers. Along with the rarity of
these beers, many have distinctive glasses, and the strangely named “Kwak”
beer comes with its own stand for the round-bottomed glass. (And was a great
beer, and at 8.4 percent one has to be very self-disciplined!)
Kwak beer.
The range of items in the menu is very comprehensive, and
although slanted towards Euro dishes, there are still plenty of Thai items
for your dining partners. Grills and pastas are their specialty according to
Alex.
There are 12 starters (B. 100-280) with a wonderful
crabmeat suzette (B. 260), which we both enjoyed very much. We also tried
the laab salmon, which although spicy (as laabs are supposed to be) was very
flavorsome. This will be favorite with Thais dining there.
All in the interests of investigative journalism, Chef
Paveena and manageress Pitsiya insisted we sample as many dishes as we
could, and we tried, but were eventually beaten, but not before we had tried
the very different thong tang, long prawn spring rolls which look like a
grissini stick at first sight (B. 160) and a sensational goulash soup (B.
180), which is so thick it is a meal on its own.
One of their pastas is a carbonara foie gras (B. 240), a
very delicately flavored pasta dish, which was followed by duck a l’orange
on a rocket salad, again and excellent item.
As finales we were treated to their grills, of which they
are most proud, and after sampling, justifiably so. A grilled 250 gm
Australian imported sirloin steak for B. 580 is not expensive and comes with
pepper or mushroom sauce. The meat was tender and this was an exceptional
dish. Mention must be made of the accompanying vegetables which were glazed,
such a welcome change from the tired old steamed variety that is so frequent
these days.
Our final dish, in between sampling yet another Belgian
beer (life for a reviewer can be hell at times) was an Australian imported
lamb chop (B. 560) which was judged as “exceptional” by Madame.
Our opinion was that this is a restaurant that somehow
has remained “under the radar”, and it really does deserve being experienced
in the main stream in Pattaya. We enjoyed every dish, without exception, the
staff were very attentive and we can highly recommend this new venue for
Pattaya diners. Do go and try. You will not be disappointed.
My Corner, 215/31 M10, corner Second Road and Royal
Palace soi, telephone 038 252 026, fax 038 252 025, mobile 085 816 8650
(manageress Pitsiya). Major credit cards accepted. Hours 3 p.m. until
midnight. On-street parking.
