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”).
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.
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.
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.
Pillao rice.
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.
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.
Baadshah dishes.
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.
Air-con interior.
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 [email protected]. Open 1 p.m. until 1 a.m. seven days. Free home delivery within 3 km of the restaurant. On-street parking.
