Thai Fresh, a Taste of Thai

Some may think it is a bit out of the way, but you will be missing out if you do not make the effort to go there.

Eddie had run a restaurant for 14 years in Amsterdam in Holland and had worked all the hours going until he realised that it was killing him.

So he sold up and looked for an alternative. Thai food looked like a good bet so he opened up, advertised for staff and along came Khun Kanida.

“OK”,  he said “Cook me something”.

He was so impressed that she became his partner and they have been together for 4 years.

The first restaurant was a take-away in the Hague and became a runaway success, so much so that they opened a formal second restaurant in Voorburg that also became very popular.

Eddie was still working hard and thought of moving to Thailand where he could relax more as Khun Kanida (Ying) would run the business.

Thus “Thai Fresh” came to Pattaya and we went to the formal opening where I renewed my aquaintence with Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh. After an effusive welcome to me from him, Ronakit and Ying proceeded to cut the cord across the entrance and to open the roasted suckling pig that was inside.

This over, we took our seats and partook of a selected range of dishes and drinks supplied by Ying and her staff.

We were so impressed that we went again, taking two friends with us, to check out some of the other dishes and were not disappointed in the least.

The menu has been very cleverly thought out. There is a range of starters: Chicken Satay, Grilled Pork, Golden Bag,

Spring Rolls, Curried Fish Cake, Fried Bread with Pork Spread, Fried Marinated Chicken Wrapped in Pandan Leaf and Crispy egg noodle with shrimps.

All of these except the last were 50 baht, the latter being 55 baht.

Then there is a range of soups and salads. Traditional Tom Yum Goong and Gai, plus three others. Once again all at reasonable prices from 60-75 baht. Salads are 50-80 baht, including Som Tam and Yam Kai Yang.

Over the page are the main courses and these are Chicken, Pork, Beef, mixed Chicken, Pork and Beef, Ribs, Fish, Prawn and Bean Curd, ranging in price from 80-250 baht.

But.....where this menu gets clever is that you can choose how it is done and how spicy it is. There are four levels, ranging from Not spicy to Hot and Spicy. This means that there is something for everyone’s taste and you can try something a bit hotter as time goes by.

For Not Spicy you have a choice of Sour and Sweet, Oyster Sauce or Sweet Plum Sauce.

For the beginning of Spicy it can be fried with ginger, done with garlic and pepper, as a Masaman Curry with coconut milk or fried with yellow curry powder.

For the second level of spicy your choice is Macadamia, Red Curry with coconut milk, Savory curry or Thai chili paste.

For the Hot and Spicy level you can choose it done as Green curry, Spicy fresh pepper, Stir fried with holy basil, Spicy fried with red curry or Stir fried spicy with Thai herbal. You are spoilt for choice.

To go with these you can have steamed rice at 10 baht, fried rice with egg at 20 baht or fried rice noodles at 20 baht.

If this is not enough for you, you can partake of a range of rice dishes with various mixes or toppings, including chicken, beef, pork and shrimps priced from 55-65 baht.

Should you want noodles, there is a range of dishes as per the rice ones, again from 55-65 baht.

They also have three desserts, fried ice cream with crunchy cake 60 baht, mixed fruits at 50 baht and sticky rice in coconut cream with ripe mangoes at 60 baht.

For the Thais who know their food there is also a range of dishes from the South, including Southern style curry with fish and vegetables and Hot and Sour soup with fish or shrimps and mixed vegetables all from75-100 baht.

Being adventurous, from this last menu, I have since tried the chicken fried rolls with egg fried rice and mixed vegetables. Wonderfully tasty and spicy.

To top it off, there is also the international menu with things like Spaghetti Bolognaise at 80 baht; Macaroni (with sauce of peanut, vegetables and omelette) at 80baht; Rib eye steak with french fries and vegetables at 240baht; Chicken Espanjola (stir fry with tomato and herbs, peanut sauce and fries) 70baht and Dutch Bean Stew (mixed dish with chicken, pork, beans, vegetables and potato, 80baht.

Coffee and teas are all at reasonable prices and they have quite an extensive range of alcoholic ones as well.

So, having told you what a great menu it was, what did we choose?

To start we had the Curried Fish Cakes, Spring Rolls, Chicken Satay and Chicken in Pandam leaf. All came with sauces and embellishments of tomato and cucumber and were very tasty indeed.

For main course I had the ribs with garlic and pepper, steamed rice and shared a plate of stir fried vegetables with my wife who went for the extreme and had chicken stir- fried with holy basil and steamed rice. The plate of ribs was more than enough for me, succulent and garlicky with a bite of pepper.

The krapauw my wife ate had a real kick to it as well.

One of my friends went for the Sweet and Sour chicken, again very tasty, a good mixture on the palate and the other  went for a Chicken Panang Curry that must have been good because of the speed at which it disappeared. They shared a fried rice with egg and shrimp. Both of them said that their meals were very enjoyable and in answer to the $64000 question “Would you come here again?”, the answer was a very emphatic “YES”. Our bill for four people was under 900baht.

So, if you like Thai food and want to try it at different levels of spiciness then this is one restaurant that should go on your favourites list.

A friend and I went back again and we thoroughly enjoyed another meal, indulging in Chicken Panang Curry with fried rice and egg and a Yellow chicken curry with steamed rice. A couple of Tiger Beers each washed it down well.

I have now been back here seven times taking various friends and our family on the last time and everyone has agreed that this is a definite winner.

Talking with Khun Kanida (Ying) on my last visit she tells me that she is going to alter the menu. By this she means that the dishes that have not been asked for very much will be replaced with others. I look forward to trying out the new items as well as more of those Southern Thai dishes.