How does a restaurant in Pattaya manage to stay beneath the radar for five years? After reviewing the Parrot’s Inn Bistro restaurant last week, I think the feathered creature must have been quietly hiding in the upper branches of a tree all that time! But then, as a mitigating factor, Christophe the owner and his Thai wife speak French preferentially but against that idea is the fact that both speak very passable English. Whatever, Pattaya will now know more about this restaurant.
The restaurant is not difficult to find. It is on Third Road outbound, about 50 meters past the Soi 17 traffic lights on the right hand side of the road, and well before the overpass.
Parrot’s Inn Bistro’s owner Christophe peruses the Pattaya Mail.
There are two sections, an exterior al fresco, but covered area, with dining tables and a pool table. This area we noticed was very popular with the passing tourists. Move through and you enter the air-conditioned dining area, with a centrally placed prominent horseshoe bar, with upholstered bar stools, plus the tables which also have soft cushioned seating.
Before we looked at the menu, an aperitif was in order, and being in a venue with French ambience, I asked for a Ricard. Yes they had it and it was served correctly with the chilled water separate from the Ricard. Christophe’s wife knows the correct French way to drink Ricard, as well as being able to speak French!
The menu is quite straightforward, and several pages are fully photographic, a simple fact that many restaurateurs seem to ignore – not every diner speaks English, and with the influx of Russian tourists, there is a market you may just lose without pictures in your menu.
A perusal will show that this is not an expensive bistro at all, and although the ambience is French, the menu items are really more international/European, and there is a separate section dedicated to Thai food.
There is a good choice of wines (kept in a temperature controlled wine fridge), with the majority under B. 1,000. I decided that the house red should be the wine to accompany our food, and this was a Domaine Montplo at B. 750.
Madame had ordered the Parrot’s salad, and was quite taken aback at the size of the serving – huge!
Most aperitifs are around B. 100 (though my Ricard was only B. 90), and cocktails B. 130-190. Entrees are B. 90-140.
Into the menu proper and breakfasts are an all-day affair. An onion soup is on the list at B. 100. The French influence can be seen in the choice of pates B. 150-200. Fish come in at B. 220-350 with Provencal sea scallops with garlic and parsley sauce at the top end.
Meat mains are B. 190-390, including beef brochettes at B. 260, while the chicken brochettes are even less expensive at B. 200. A duck breast at B. 290 and a 400 gm T-bone steak at B. 390. These certainly do not break the bank at Monte Carlo!
Madame had ordered the Parrot’s salad, and was quite taken aback at the size of the serving – huge! So much so that I questioned Christophe to make sure that it was the standard size portion, to be reassured that indeed it was standard size.
I had gone for the Noix de St. Jacques a la Provencal (B. 350) and this was a very flavorsome dish, and a welcome change from the usual way sea scallops are presented in cream sauce.
Our summation of the evening at the Parrot’s Inn was that this bistro restaurant was very inexpensive and represented good value for money. There are enough choices on the menu for both Western and Thai diners. The wines are also inexpensive, and the preferred house wine, the French Montplo table wine was very easy to quaff and at B. 750 per bottle great value imbibing. Definitely worth the time to find it!
By the way, Christophe and his wife have 16 guest rooms above the restaurant as well, something for your overseas friends might like to consider. They have a website www. parrots-inn.com which shows the accommodation as well.
247/28 M10, Pattaya Third Road (about 50 meters past Soi 17 outbound on the right hand side) open 9 a.m. to 10.30 p.m., 7 days, telephone 038 050 151, plenty of on-street parking.
