Fresh seafood Naklua market, it’s been 4 years since I published my blog on this lively venue, so I thought it was time to re-visit & see what changes have taken place.
The variety is amazing.
So is the crowd, better to visit mid week if you can.
Price is per kilo
I’m guessing you would get around 3 for a kilo.
Many varieties of fish
Including live fish that they will clean for you on the spot.
Fresh seafood Naklua market
Lots of fresh vegetables also on sale.
Scallops look very good.
There are so many choices, how do you make a decision on what to have for lunch? 🙂
First I’m going to try an oyster.
These are B50 each or $1.60 USD, there are also some for B40, or $1.30 USD. I can buy imported oysters from Franceat El Mercado in Bangkok for the same price.
Quite large as you can see
I was pleasantly surprised, very tasty even without lemon, lime or sauce.
OK, now for some fresh prawns
B270 or $9 USD a kilo, what a bargain.
Now here is the clincher…
This guy will cook your prawns or other seafood for B30 a kilo, how easy is that?
He will even supply a chair. 🙂
So you can eat the freshly cooked seafood right here. We had our prawns boiled rather than barbecued, so we decided to eat them at home after they cooled down.
Food Park Central Marina is a great example of eating cheap in Thailand. Only 5 minutes walk from my condo & offers a huge variety of very good fresh food.
There are so many choices here
Like most food courts you put money on a card & get your refund when you finish.
Duck is always popular
The hanging ducks are a common sight in Thailand.
Fresh seafood is available
So many choices & such little time. 🙂
Food Park Central Marina
Cooked food examples on display to tempt you.
Wonton soup
A favourite of mine & only B70 or $3.40 AUD.
Lots of skewers
The staff here are deaf, but you would never really know.
Bbq skewers
They also specialize in sausages however the skewers are world class.
Teriyaki chicken
Absolutely delicious, as good as I have ever eaten, and only B15 each or $0.70 AUD. These great skewers just melt in your mouth.
Food Park Central Marina & finish off with a Thai classic
Magnificent Mango & Sticky Rice. Certainly one of Thailand’s iconic dishes.
Sadly now in October 2020 we are in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis & 80% of the outlets here at the Food Park have closed. I really can’t see them re-opening until mid 2021.
If you have the time please check out some of my favourite restaurants, just follow THIS LINK.
Thanks for visiting my photo blog. For a selection of cheap places to eat just follow THIS LINK.
Tough times Thailand 2019 on two fronts, first we have Thai immigration making it more difficult for expats to live in this wonderful country, secondly the exchange rate for Thai Baht to the Aussie dollar (and other currencies) is hitting rock bottom.
The following 2 charts will highlight the situation.
This is not a travel blog, it is part of my personal photo history.
This photo blog covers from July 1st to December 31, for the first 6 months of 2019 please go to THIS LINK.
Australian $ to Thai Baht
In 2012 there was 33 Baht to the dollar, today it’s 21.
Australian term deposit rates
In 2012 they were over 5%, today it’s a miserable 1.5%.
Rising costs for food etc
Five years ago in 2014 this selection cost $72 AUD, today it would be $98 Aud, one of the reasons Thailand has become less attractive for expats.
Life is still very good in Thailand
Just ask my good friend Hamish, he hasn’t a care in the world. 🙂
Most afternoons I tear myself away from the computer & enjoy an afternoon coffee.
A small tip for a little lady
I often give this nice lady a B20 tip when I see her of a morning sweeping the road at Terminal 21, it’s just under $1 AUD. She gets so excited you would think it’s 200. 🙂 I’m guessing they don’t get paid too much.
Love watching the storms roll in
So exciting when the storms roll in over Pattaya Bay.
There’s nothing like a September sunset.
I was sipping a red wine at the Holiday Inn watching this magnificent sunset.
Doug Burrows, Bill Perry, David Herd, Brian Rawnsley & Shane Andrews. Shane is here for some major dental work which is around 1/3 of the cost in Australia.
Fusillo Italian restaurant
A nice evening with Matt Harkness & is girlfriend Bow.
Spaghetti seafood
Fusillo is in Naklua Rd, what a great looking dish.
From floor 22 in Markland. For more magnificent sunsets follow THIS LINK.
A super cloud
This was 8 am on the morning of October 13, the previous shot was 6.15 pm the same day.
Halloween
Lola, Nina & Lucky playing trick or treat. I anticipated the visit & stocked up on lollies etc.
The boys from Oz
Shane Andrews, Bill Perry & Greg Caldwell were here for some major dental work. According to Greg he paid 55,000 Baht or $2650 AUD for 1 x Implant – 1 x Root canal – 2 x removals and a complete clean which took 2 hours’ in the chair.
Holly’s coffee at Terminal 21.
helping me maintain my 112 kilos.
Tough times Thailand with high levels of pollution in Pattaya
The unhealthy haze from farmers burning their crops in Thailand & neighboring countries.
Thailand is the least miserable country
Australia comes in at 54th. 🙂
Let’s talk about convenience, I often wonder what it would be like living in Australia again. I ask my friends on the Gold Coast to imagine if they could walk from their home to Robina Town Centre, Southport Park & Pacific Fair in less than 12 minutes? How convenient would that be?
Well folks, that’s what I can do in Pattaya, add to that the 6 five star hotels also within 12 minutes of where I live. All with terrific restaurants & coffee shops.
Plus I have a 24 hour supermarket, chemist & The Coffee Club on the ground floor of the condo where I live on the 20th floor with a view to die for. I probably should mention the 200+ restaurants & food courts also within 10 minutes walk.
Convenience folks, are you getting the picture? 🙂
The burning question is, could I be happy living in Australia again?
Cruise ship visits Pattaya
December 7 & a cruise liner anchors in Pattaya Bay.
Beachfront restaurant Pattaya is aptly named Surf & Turf & is rated number 100 out of 1187 restaurants in Pattaya. For far better food photographs than in this post just check out THIS LINK for my previous Surf & Turf photo blog.
Location
On the beach next door to the Long Beach Garden Hotel.
Beachfront restaurant Pattaya
A fairly ordinary front entrance.
Air conditioned inside section
It’s much nicer inside which you can clearly see.
Catering for the smokers
The further away from me the better. 🙂
Inside in the aircon.
Especially during the day the front area beside the beach is the most popular part of the restaurant.
Another outdoor area
There is quite a number of different sections in this popular Beachfront restaurant Pattaya.
This is the beachside section
No aircon but they have plenty of fans & there is usually a beautiful breeze coming off the ocean.
An unusual dish
My friend ordered snapper, as you can see the portion was rather small & there was a skewer of beef with it.
Here is the seared tuna
Rather delicious.
Chicken Satay
The peanut sauce was excellent.
Oysters from France
Delicious, rather expensive here, around B500 or $24 AUD for 6, double what I pay at El Mercado in Bangkok.
My 2 Australian friends
Ian Fraser-Smith & David Robertson from the Gold Coast in Australia are regular visitors to Pattaya. They were both impressed with the food at the Surf & Turf.
For far better food photographs than in this post please check out THIS LINK for my previous Surf & Turf photo blog.
Thanks for visiting my Beachfront restaurant Pattaya photo blog, Surf & Turf has good food in a great seaside location.
Click bottom right hand corner for full screen. There is also a zoom facility.
Pattaya coffee shop review from my perspective. These are the venues where I choose to spend my time and money. 🙂
The photo above is the Coffee Club at Markland on Beach Rd, this in fact was opening day on 31-8-2018. It closed permanently 2 years later.
Coffee Club Eggs Benedict.
Good quality food & coffee but far too expensive. For instance the equivalent of a Starbucks tall latte is B146 or $6.97 AUD, at Starbucks you pay B115 or $5.50 AUD. Even though they have a branch in my condo building I generally walk 200 meters to the Holiday Inn where I only pay B113.
The staff here are very friendly & the food & coffee is excellent. The large coffee is B150 which is what you would expect for a 5 star hotel. However as I’m a member of the Hi Club I get a 25% discount which brings the cost down to B113.
Bon Cafe import coffee machines from many countries around the world for including Italy, Switzerland, Spain, the United States of America, and other countries to satisfy their various types of customers.
Around 5 days a week I am at Central Marina or the Bay in Beach Road. The lovely girls put a candle in my croissant for my birthday. 🙂
My Starbucks breakfast of choice
Accompanied by a tall latte of course. Starbucks sell 4 BILLION cups annually. Which (divided by 365 days) means that roughly 10,958,904 cups sold daily between ALL Starbucks locations. So we are talking about 388 cups of espresso and/or coffee drinks daily on average per store globally.
This is Boonthavorn
Surprisingly they have the best value coffee in Pattaya. They are on Sukhumvit Rd,see the map below.
Just inside the front entrance on the left.
Top quality coffee for only B30, or $1.40 AUD.
The Bay center on Beach Road
Good value coffee in a pleasant atmosphere.
Location
Many thanks for visiting my Pattaya coffee shop review photo blog.
Starbucks Pattaya every morning is a perfect start to my day. Not just the excellent coffee, the friendly smiling staff always put me in a positive mood. Above is the branch at The Bay on Beach Road Pattaya between Soi 5 & Soi 6.
The Bay Beach Road
Let’s go to Starbucks & stare at our phones. 🙂
Opening day at the Bay
September 22 2015.
My breakfast of choice.
Ham & cheese croissant with a tall latte. B240 or $7.8 USD
There are two Starbucks at Central Festival
That makes 4 within 10 minutes walk from my condo.
Inside Central Festival branch
Quite an attractive fit out.
A birthday candle for me. 🙂
As I mentioned earlier the smiles on girls are a really nice start for the day.
Sometimes they run out of croissants.
So I settle for a sandwich. 🙂
Starbucks Pattaya every morning
Every 12 coffee is free if you have a Starbucks card so I often take one home for later. Also they often have a two for one offer.
Almond croissant
A nice alternative to the ham & cheese.
Mr Donuts
Starbucks change B115 for a latte, here at Mr Donuts I paid B93 for what you see.
Xmas day 2021
Two of the lovely girls who look after me every day. 🙂
Thanks for visiting my Starbucks Pattaya every morning photo blog.
MYTT Hotel Pattaya Thailand is part of the A-One hotel group & is located in Soi 3. I watched the whole construction process from my condo in Markland one street away in Soi 1.
Spectacular entrance
As you can clearly see it’s a stunning foyer.
The view from my condo
I’m on the 20th floor of Markland in Soi one & the MYTT is in Soi two.
Here is the building site.
It was quite a radical change to Soi 2.
The Kitch restaurant
Many people may find the name is a rather poor choice, here is the meaning courtesy of Google; “Kitsch is art that’s garish, nostalgic, and very low-brow. Some people who love the aesthetics of souvenir culture think kitsch is really cool, while others think it’s in very poor taste. Kitsch is a German word that’s been adopted into English, meaning“worthless, trashy art,” or the quality of that art.”
Swish may have been a better name.
Kitch may be short for kitchen, but it’s pronounced the same as kitsch. Swish means impressively smart and fashionable, which the restaurant certainly is. 🙂
Live lobsters
The following is from their website; Seafood Buffet Dinner Promotion • 2,500 THB per person includes unlimited Lobster(serve half of the Lobster at once). Not include a beverage. • 3,000 THB per person includes unlimited Lobster (serve half of the Lobster at once) and also beverage (Alcohol included) Special discount for you to add Line @:MYTTHOTEL or check on Facebook. Please kindly contact MYTT Hotel Pattaya Thailand directly to get the special discount.
Sky Bar on the 19th floor
A nice atmosphere with a great view, far too expensive for my budget however. A Singha beer is B220 or $9.80 AUD. Most of the beer bars in Pattaya sell it between B65 & B85.
At last they have a “special”.
They invite you to join them every Friday for 99 Be Mine – where 99 Baht gets you a glass of wine, a pint of beer or 3 in 1 Tapas.
Small intimate bar
Two DJs were playing fairly loud music, as they do in Thailand. 🙂
Final feast Mantra Pattaya Sunday brunch with friends, I have so many memories of great moments in the last 12 years at this wonderful restaurant. This photo blog features many of the long lunches dating back to 2007.
We are going to miss the fabulous food.
Alaskan crab & oysters from France have always been my favourite at the Mantra Sunday brunch. Having said that I must admit the quality has been going down slightly in the last 2 or 3 years. I apologize for this criticism just their standards were always so high I guess they were hard to maintain.
The seafood section.
I would always ask to be seated near the seafood & sushi. 🙂
Final feast Mantra Pattaya, lets not forget the cold Sake. 🙂
Included in the price of the buffet, so I would always take full advantage of this special.
My friend from Sydney Roland Bonnici.
Roland loves dining out & the Mantra was his favourite Pattaya restaurant. This visit was a week before it closed on February 10 2019.
From the Chinese kitchen.
Pork Belly, roast pork & duck, delicious.
A favourite dish
From the Chinese wok the beef & onion creation just melts in your mouth.
Wonderful decor
The Mantra featured 7 different kitchens.
Lets look at previous years, 2007 Trevor & Nui.
Trevor hails from Western Australia & spends lots of time in Pattaya.
This was 2008.
Nick Partridge from the Gold Coast & his lovely lady Sharron have been Mantra fans since the beginning.
Big group in 2010
At the back is Trevor & his son Cameron + xxx, then myself, my brother Warren, Nok & Phil Avalon, & at the front we have Greg Johnston & Herbie Pastor.
Big birthday with lots of friends.
No better place to celebrate than the Mantra.
Beautiful Benjamas Sitthi
Ben now works at the Avani Hotel adjacent to Royal Gardens.
Before Ben there was Amy
Amy really knew how to make you feel welcome.
Another birthday in 2009.
I remember this one very well, my great Phil Thomson from Australia bought his 21 yo son Michael to Pattaya as part of his introduction to life in the fast lane. 🙂
March 2012.
Another super Sunday.
February 2010
On the left is my brother Warren & Bill Austin & Joan Baptiste from Wiltshire in England.
Xmas with Yaowaluck Bumrungthum aka Kartoon
For Xmas day lunch the Mantra was always our choice.
How could we forget Pothole aka John Martin.
We call him Pothole Bin Ladin the mouse of Markland. A flashback to Potholes birthday, aka John David Martin, at the Mantra in 2013 when love was sweet.
Allan & Vicki Chiswick from Sydney.
Laem Chabang Their cruise ship spent 24 hours at Laem Chabang so they hightailed to the Mantra. 🙂
Putting on the Ritz
Finally here are some of the glamorous Mantra girls putting on the Ritz.
Check out three previous Mantra photo blogs here. Number one,
& link number 2,
Many thanks for visiting my Final feast Mantra Pattaya photo blog.
Italian food Beach Rd Pattaya at Trattoria Pizzeria Toscana is a delightful experience. TripAdvisor obviously agree with a rating of 45 out of 1,111 Restaurants in Pattaya. Owner & chef Luca Marchetti is originally from Pracchiola, a tiny village in the mountains to the north of Tuscany.
Flashback to 2006
The original restaurant was on the block where the Holiday Inn is now situated.
Here’s to old times in 2006
The restaurant was much smaller & more intimate, in fact I preferred the atmosphere to the current location which seats over 700 people.
Pizza with parma ham.
Definitely one of my favourites.
Fettuccine is absolutely delicious.
Of course they serve every kind of pasta & pizza imaginable.
Memories of 2012
Dinner & red wine with Irina from Ukraine.
Take your pick
It all looks so good, Toscana’s menu is huge.
There are several sections of the restaurant
This is my preferred area to dine.
What a fearsome sight this is.
The big fellow Luca with a knife in his hand should be avoided at all cost. 🙂
Lots of stock in the cold room.
Luca operates his own organic and sustainable farm not far from Pattaya where he grows his own vegetables, rears free-range chickens, rabbits, ducks, pigeons, guinea fowl, wild boar, goats, sheep, pigs and cows. No processed food, no growth hormones, no chemicals, no problem. 🙂
Another pizza
Notice the anchovies on the side, delicious.
The boys from Oz in 2014
Lenny, yours truly & my brother Warren. Sadly we lost Lenny early 2016 after losing a battle with cancer, RIP.
Seafood anyone?
Toscana has recently opened a new seafood section in the front garden.
Lots of wine, mainly ITALIAN.
Quite a few wines available y the glass.
A very friendly waitress in 2014.
As you can see I’m not a person who misses a photo opportunity. 🙂
Dinner with friends January 2019
From the left we have May, Alex, Hamish & Gary.
Hamish’s favourite
Beef carpaccio tasted as good as it looked.
May chose the Baby Clams aka Pippies.
This is the same dish she had on New Years Eve.
Quail for dinner December 2021
Quite tasty but very fiddly to eat.
Thanks for visiting my Italian food Beach Rd Pattaya photo blog.
Coffee with Luca
February 6th I met Luca for coffee during my morning walk.
Beautiful tropical garden in the heart of Pattaya.
AVANI Pattaya Resort
AVANI Pattaya Resort gardens and pool area has a wonderful relaxing atmosphere. I remember staying at this hotel way back in 1998 whit was call the Royal Garden Resort. More recently it was the Marriott.
The main entrance from 2nd Rd.
The property runs all the way to Beach Road & is adjacent to the Royal Garden Plaza shopping mall.
Entrance to Royal Garden Plaza is next door to Avani Resort.
Lots of interesting shops & a very good food court.
AVANI Pattaya Resort gardens reception
Has not changed much in 20 years. 🙂
Lounge bar off the foyer however the pool area is the main attraction.
This lovely hotel is in a perfect location, TripAdvisor rate it number 10 out of 497 hotels in Pattaya. If you would like a very good discounted room rate with free cancellation & a pay later option, just book through THIS LINK.
AVANI Pattaya Resort from Beach Road
Wander through this arch & enter the beautiful gardens.
Now we start seeing Thai architecture.
Plants & trees grow at a very rapid rate in Thailand as you can imagine.
AVANI Pattaya Resort has a beautiful inviting pool
It has a pool bar as you cane see where you can sip a cocktail or a cold beer while you cool off. 🙂
It really feels like you are on a tropical island.
You are surrounded by a fabulous tropical environment.
My question is “where are the macaws”?
I took this photo in November 2012 when the property was run by the Marriott, they had 2 of these fabulous birds living in a cage in the gardens, however most of the time they were on a perch outside the cage. I wonder where they have gone?
All I could find were swans. 🙂
Nowhere near as beautiful as the Macaws. 🙂
Lots of places to sit here.
They serve Thai food in the garden at a very reasonable price for a five star hotel.
Table tennis & sun lounges
Lots to do & a terrific shopping mall next door.
AVANI Pattaya Resort the rooms are excellent as you would expect.
Please remember what I said earlier, if you would like a very good discounted room rate with free cancellation & a pay later option, just book through THIS LINK.
At the Beach Rd entrance there is a Benihana sake bar.
A few shots of sake will get you in the mood to party. 🙂
Turn left when you exit at Beach Road & 30 meters along is one of my favourite restaurants, the Wine Connection. It just opened on November 28 2018. See their fabulous on THIS LINK.