A “new” restaurant where an old one used to be in the Dusit Thani Resort! The Bay Italian is now the International Skewers restaurant.
Photo by Marisa Corness
Surely everyone knows where the Dusit Thani Resort is situated, but if you are a newbie, it is reached from the Dolphin Roundabout, being careful as traffic can be unpredictable at roundabouts! Once past the Dusit Check Point Charlie, you will find plenty of secure parking areas and then come into the resort building proper.
Walk through the lobby and look for the signs to keep you going in the right direction! The Bay International Skewers Restaurant is nestling next to the free-form swimming pool, which in turn overlooks Pattaya Bay. We have always chosen tables with a view over the pool, as a relaxing ambience. The best description of the interior is one of an almost Scandinavian simplicity with sandstone, wood and marble, classy clean lines and lack of clutter. The inner area is air-conditioned, while the outer area relies on the cooling sea breezes.
We had come following an invitation from the effervescent Vanjie Lauzon, the Director of Communications, and my initial thoughts were that this was going to be yet another South American roasted meat restaurant. I could not have been more wrong!
The Dusit Chef Pathma enthusiastically explained to us that the new menu covered four groups: Indian, Thai, Western and Chinese. He also proposed that we look at the menu as dishes are presented on skewers, not necessarily cooked on skewers. He mentioned that it would be difficult to put salad on a skewer for example!
We began with tastings of the starters with the smoked salmon rosettes, with quail egg and cherry tomatoes as palate refreshers, and a pile of small skewers on one side of the plate.
From the Thai starter group, the B. 200 tod mun pla (easily skewered) had just enough spiciness and left you looking forward to the next course.
It had been arranged that we would be offered many of the mains to give us a good idea of the menu items. Outstanding in these was Chef Pathma’s ‘Messy Monster’ which was the most amazing (and amusing) “hamburger”. Presented on a skewer, this had all the makings of a burger, threaded onto the skewer in order. This was half a sesame bun, followed by double Wagyu beef patties, baby romaine lettuce, half tomato, pineapple, beetroot (mandatory for Aussies), cucumber, cheddar cheese and the other half of the sesame bun. What a monster, indeed! At B. 650 this burger will take one person all evening to get through it. Take my tip – share with your dining partner.
Desserts (B. 150-200) included the traditional sticky rice and nam dok mai and a fusion of East and West with a double dark chocolate brownie and fruit shaped mung beans skewer with fruit salad.
By the way, we tried a couple of very pleasant wines to go with our skewers, a Joseph Drouhin Saint-Veran white and a Sandrone 2008 Luciano Barolo (1950++), very pleasant and well worth the price.
This new iteration of The Bay has given this well-established restaurant a new lease of life. As Chef Pathma said, this was skewer presentation of food in a novel way. I have always said that food should be fun, and The Bay now certainly follows that dictum. Congratulations Chef Pathma and The Dusit for taking the new direction in one of your outlets. We enjoyed it, and so did the junior tasters. The Bay is a restaurant which is ‘family friendly’ as is the Dusit itself. Highly recommended.
The Bay International Skewers Restaurant, Dusit Thani Resort Pattaya, 240/2 Pattaya Beach Road, North Pattaya (opposite the Dolphin roundabout), telephone 038 425 611, fax 038 428 239, email [email protected], open six days (closed Sundays), 6.30 to 10 p.m.
