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.
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.
Head Chef Paveena.
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!)
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.
Kwak beer.
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.
