Mukdahan Farang Eatery

[Mozzbie47]

Looks like it's well worth a visit, we will be going there when in Thailand next month.

[Marmite the Dog]

I will drop you a line when I get back and maybe we can catch up for a cuddle.

Sabang's nice like that.

[Sezzo]

I will drop you a line when I get back and maybe we can catch up for a cuddle.

Sabang's nice like that.

Im sure I said "coldie"

[sabang]

Not too hard to get me out for a cuddle, whoops I meant coldie.

[FarangTom]

I was happy to have found an alterntive to the Ploy Palace and the Mukdahan Grand at the Mukdahan Manor and I've booked a stay his August.


Now I've read on the homepage that the Mukdahan Manor is up for sale, so I'm worried it will all be gone by the time I want to visit.


Do you know if Don just got enough of Muk, or the neighbours got too jealous maybe?

[Sezzo]

After not being at Muk Manor for about 18 months I ventured there on the weekend with some friends expecting a nice meal in pleasant surroundings. I was very dissapointed in the service that we received there.
The table service staff have no idea what to do when serving. They seem to just stand around smiling and giggling until told what to do by Don or his wife. Whether it is drinks, food, bill or change they just hand it to the first person on the table closest to the kitchen. Many times during the meal there was shuffling of meals, bottles etc around.
The entrees were fine but when the mains come to the table and were finally put in the correct place I found out that the cut of meat that I ordered had been mistakenly replaced by a more expensive cut and was undercooked to the point it was inedible. The steak was sent back to be recooked. The white wine that was offered was actually brown in colour and tasted a bit off.
During the entire meal we had the pleasure of the owner sitting with us for a yarn which is ok but he proceeded to smoke throughout the entire time he was at the table. Not on in my books. We also had to put up with the family dogs milling around the table obviously looking for some scraps that might fall of the plate.
I understand that the majority of the customers are thai which may put up with this sort of service but I like to eat in a better atmosphere especially if I am paying the higher price which I did.
Overall a huge dissapointment for the afternoon, especially when I was eagerly looking forward to the same standard as before and Im sorry that I dont think I will return.

[palexxxx]

As I was dining with the above poster (sezzo - my brother), I can only echo his comments.
I was looking forward to dining at the Mukdahan Manor after what I'd been told of the place. After eating thai food for the past six weeks here on my first visit to Thailand, I was eagerly looking forward to a good steak. I realize that if you come to a new country that you 'do as the romans do', however I was told that this restaurant was up to catering for the home-sick aussie hanging out for a good steak.
I was very, very disappointed. Three of the four meals were not as the diners requested. One of the diners was satisfied when he swapped his steak with mine.
To add insult to injury, the wife of the owner (the aforementioned smoker) decided that to make matters right she wouldn't charge each of us the price of one drink, this despite one diner being satisfied with his meal (he ate fish) and another diner (me) not eating any of his steak at all.
I assure you that I will not return to this place again and I urge everyone else to avoid this place as well.

[DJH77]

I was happy to have found an alterntive to the Ploy Palace and the Mukdahan Grand at the Mukdahan Manor and I've booked a stay his August.


Now I've read on the homepage that the Mukdahan Manor is up for sale, so I'm worried it will all be gone by the time I want to visit.


Do you know if Don just got enough of Muk, or the neighbours got too jealous maybe?

No i'm still here Tom and if somebody does buy the place i will still be in Muk just reestablished in a new place which i havn't planned as yet. I put the place up for sale to test the water as we have quite a few major developments being constructed on the river near me including 2 houses with construction prices of 20 to 25 million baht starting soon, so it makes mine cheap at todays construction prices. see you when you come, Don

[DJH77]

As I was dining with the above poster (sezzo - my brother), I can only echo his comments.
I was looking forward to dining at the Mukdahan Manor after what I'd been told of the place. After eating thai food for the past six weeks here on my first visit to Thailand, I was eagerly looking forward to a good steak. I realize that if you come to a new country that you 'do as the romans do', however I was told that this restaurant was up to catering for the home-sick aussie hanging out for a good steak.
I was very, very disappointed. Three of the four meals were not as the diners requested. One of the diners was satisfied when he swapped his steak with mine.
To add insult to injury, the wife of the owner (the aforementioned smoker) decided that to make matters right she wouldn't charge each of us the price of one drink, this despite one diner being satisfied with his meal (he ate fish) and another diner (me) not eating any of his steak at all.
I assure you that I will not return to this place again and I urge everyone else to avoid this place as well.

I would like to reply to both Sezzo and Palexxxx comments as i think we need to get the facts straight. When you arrived you were seated on the terrace outside overlooking the river. My wife Dang came and greeted you and proceeded to take your order and you were served the beer of your choice. I explained to the table that our waitresses had no knowledge of the english language so it was difficult to communicate and to call Dang or me if there was anything you needed. Then you were served complimentary Garlic Bread with Cheese as an appitiser. When your entree's came, 2 smoked salmon and asparagus with wasarbi and 2 Tasmanian schollops in the half shell with different dressings, you all made comments about the quality and presentation of them. Unfortunately when Peter asked me to open the Oz Chardonnay i had it was off, so i immediately removed it from the table and of course the bill. As we only sell about 6 bottles of white wine per year i couldn't replace it with another, Peter had no problem with this as these things happen unfortunately and he had another beer and later Red Wine and Black Sambuca with coffee. No problem. Then your Mains were served and Sezzo complained to me that he had ordered Oz Sirloin the same as Peter so i immediately went to the kitchen to check on this and Dang returned to the table with me with the order sheet and said sorry but you ordered Oz Fillet steak, here it is at the top of the order. While i was away from the table getting Dang to explain this Palexxxx found that his steak was underdone for his liking but instead of calling us to rectify the problem he swapped his Oz Ribeye steak with Peter's Oz Sirloin and then complained that he didn't get what he had ordered either. You did, but changed with Peter and as it was underdone for you, all you had to do was call us and the problem would have been rectified immediately but instead you refused the offer of having the Sirloin that you now had cooked more and only ate a small portion of it. Well it never went to waste as Peter took it home for his dog.Now as for my smoking, I was asked to join your table for a drink and a yarn as i have done on other occasions that you have visited us. If my smoking was offencive all you had to do was speak up and i would have put it out or moved away, No problem but nothing was said and afterall you were sitting outside under a large fan not inside in the airconditioning. Seeing that your 2 main meals had resulted in a problem which was unfortunate but could have been easily corrected i told you at the table that i would deduct 1 bottle of beer from all 4 individual bills even though it seemed 2 of you were perfectly happy with your meals and if you failed to hear this you can check with Peter as he aknowledged what i had said, what more can a host do.So your insult to injury comment about Dang is way off. And as for Sezzo comment about the dogs, one of you called Snowie to the table by name to pat her which many customers do here, they have no need to hang around looking for scraps as you commented and if told to go by me they do. So thats about it, I'm sorry but you can't please everybody and possibly Peter or your mate may like to comment on what has been said as i thought both of you were quite happy with what you had and maybe you now have to come with the wife when your up this way Peter. Regards, Don & Dang.

[Mr Earl]

I found out that the cut of meat that I ordered had been mistakenly replaced by a more expensive cut and was undercooked to the point it was inedible

And you're complaining! Assuming you ordered the steak rare.

A good steak should be rare, to the point you've gotta hit it to stop it mooing.

Gotta agree with Don some people you just cant please.

And as far as the comments about the staff, that's SOP! Did you guys just arrive in Thailand? You ain't gonna get NYC or Paris!
And the comments about the dog and the smoking, I mean really; what couple of fussy little girls!

When I'm in town I'll stop by for a bite, I like a rare steak and Tasmanian scallops

[Christopher John]

I have to agree with PaleXXX and Sezzo. I was there a couple of months ago and was very disappointed. The owner smoking around the table was very low class and off putting. And then we heard his life's story and how rich he is and that he knows everyone of importance in Mukdahan and Suvannakhet. The food wasn't anything special. A cafe yes, but not an award winning restaurant. I wonder why the same array of vegetables was served with all meals whether it was lamb chops, steak or fish? Must be cost cutting!

[Mr Earl]

^ welcome to the forum, interesting first post, did you join just to post that?

[sabang]

I don't think I'm the easiest punter in the world to please, but I was quite happy with the place. Basically, I reckon it punched above it's weight for a reasonable price, and in very nice surroundings.
Service? go a bit easy here- the girls come from across the Mekhong. If you expect five star service and good English, that would come with five star prices.
Smoking? Well Don might take into account the feedback- I'm afraid expats (I include myself) are perhaps a little more lax on this aspect than the places we came from. As a smoker myself, we had a table inside for food- but I nipped out to the garden when I wanted a puff. Don didn't join us for a smoke at the inside dining table, correctly- but we happily puffed away at the bar together and had a yarn afterwards. If you are sensitive about the smoke aspect (and many are), I'd recommend eating inside.
Food- no complaints at all, and I did put in my brief review earlier in this thread a 'suspected' mix-up with the steak, overlooked because it was still pretty darn good. The starters I was well pleased with.

I'll be back, and still plenty happy if they have maintained the standards I received on my visit. Bummer about the corked wine- but I assume that wasn't charged for. I struck more lucky, and enjoyed a very quaffable riesling.

[DJH77]

I have to agree with PaleXXX and Sezzo. I was there a couple of months ago and was very disappointed. The owner smoking around the table was very low class and off putting. And then we heard his life's story and how rich he is and that he knows everyone of importance in Mukdahan and Suvannakhet. The food wasn't anything special. A cafe yes, but not an award winning restaurant. I wonder why the same array of vegetables was served with all meals whether it was lamb chops, steak or fish? Must be cost cutting!

I am finding some of this very amuseing. For a start if i was rich why would i be mucking around with a restaurant-B&B in Mukdahan, i'd have to be crazy. If you went back a decade or 2, sure i had a Quid but those days are long gone. But yes, i do know the Elite of Mukdahan, so what. They are frequent visitors to this establishment coming time and again. Now i agree that we don't provide the service of a 5 star hotel or classy Sydney restaurant but where in Mukdahan, Thailand. Here it is impossible to find staff that speak even a little English let alone know anything about Western Food. We do what we can with what we have. This also applies to the Vegetables served here. The Menu gives you a choice or Veges or Chips and Salad. The fresh veges purchased daily are usually comprise of Potatoes, Brocholli, Carrots & Cauliflower, but if you want Frozen you can choose Spinach, Sprouts, Peas etc. In fact some of our regular thai customers pre-order Baked Veges with their steak or lamb so i think that answers the vege bullshit and our salads are prepared from Hydrophonically grown Lettuces etc, None of it comes cheap but maybe you have never shopped for these things in Isaan so you wouldn't have a clue. We opened this place as a restaurant almost 3 years ago to give people the opportunity of being able to get western style food that isn't available anywhere else for 100's of kilometers and in that period we have expanded the menu and have won not only the Mukdahan Province Best Restaurant 2011 but on the 25th of June at the Ploy Palace Hotel in a Province wide competition for Healthy Food 2012 we again triumphed as Winners and this was a Thai Food Competition organised by the Health Dept of Mukdahan and Judged by them and the Award was presented by the Governor of Mukdahan. So i think we are a little above a Mukdahan Cafe, at least i hope so anyway. So thats it, no more no less, and if it wasn't for our 98% Thai Clientel we wouldn't have lasted 6 months, you cannot exist in business relying on a Foreign clientel in this part of the world, thats for certain, but we still provide you with the most extensive Menu of Western Dishes for at least a few Provinces in all directions.

[Marmite the Dog]

Whatever... I'm still looking forward to dining there in the not too distant future with Sabang.

[FarangTom]

It's already a little late - I know, but I had forgotten about my old post here and now I'd like to thank Don and his whole team for a very nice stay.
While I couldn't make it myself at the end, my wife and kids all enjoyed the friendly atmosphere while staying there, and they were all happy about the service as well as the food.
Thank you very much & keep up the good work!

[DJH77]

For you STEAK LOVERS out there some Great News. Apart from our normal Menu with a choice of both Thai or Australian Steaks we are now also offering Thai WAGYU Steak. This is what is served at the GINZADO Japanese BBQ Restaurant in Bangkok and supplied to us from their own Butchery. We have a choice of Rump, T-Bone or Prime Rib or as i prefer to call it, Rib Fillet on the Bone. This is the Best Steak i have eaten in Thailand, top quality. But it doesen't come cheap. 300 gram Rump is the same price as our Aussie Sirloin or Rib Eye but the price jumps up a bit for the T-Bones,500 to 600 grams in weight and the Rib Fillet on the Bone are 600 to 800 Grams each, but are fantastic. So if your wanting something Special you know where to come, The Waterfront, Song Fung Khong Restaurant in Mukdahan.

[Warrior]

You have the place up for sale too?

[DJH77]

You have the place up for sale too?

Yes but in this price range buyers are few and far between. As in Oz everything is always for sale at the right price and if it sells we will set up somewhere else in Mukdahan. Find me a buyer and make a good commission for yourself.

[swany]

My wife will be opening a coffee shop / restaurant in Mukdahan shortly , for breakfasts and lunches featuring mainly western food and some Thai also