Thread: Dining out.

When you go out to eat with friends family wife etc.

Do you go for the experience or do you go out to eat.?

For example would you pay for this.

When I go out to eat, I go out to eat. Occasionally I might want to be entertained with music or something. I don't want to cook the food myself (like in a "Korean" barbecue) and I don't want the chef to draw pretty pictures on the table, no matter how good he is.

Hell no!! Ever since this haute cuisine "food" started I have thought it is idiotic. I eat for my stomach not my eyes.

A 80.00 Euro steak and potato pancake with vegetables dish from Luxembourg.

Food preparation, service, ambience, price...in exactly that order. Understood in "ambience" is that no children unready to eat out will be allowed in the restaurant.

Here's a tasting menu from Noma voted worlds best restaurant.

You impressed.?

Originally Posted by Chico

When you go out to eat with friends family wife etc.

Do you go for the experience or do you go out to eat.?

Depends on the occasion. If it's a birthday or similar celebration we'll generally go somewhere nice where a 3 course meal will cost +/- 1500 Baht + drinks per head. And it's not uncommon to grab a sandwich an hour after getting home .

If we're going out to "eat" because we're hungry, there'll be no foams or smears or tweezers used in plating up, the serving staff won't be wearing bow ties, but the food will be tasty with such generous serves that desert is often skipped (unfortunately). These are the eat out meals we enjoy the most, a relaxed atmosphere with damn good food.

Haven't gone out to eat in a long time. There are no restaurants to speak of where we live, just the entire range of fast food crap which none of us eat.

My wife is a university trained chef, so there is never a shortage of good food at home.

When I was still working, in a variety of countries, I generally went for good quality/quantity basic food. I like almost everything, although I skip French restaurants as they are generally as pretentious as the French - with as little reason.

Originally Posted by Chico

When you go out to eat with friends family wife etc.

Do you go for the experience or do you go out to eat.?

For example would you pay for this.

This is what is wrong with the world.

What absolute total nonsense.

An embarrassing, shameful and perverse state for humanity to have declined into.

Another reason for not dining out here is, outside of Manila, restaurants all tend to be in shopping malls and have the ambiance of a Greyhound bus station. Filipinos also travel in packs, and there are always at least twice as many kids as adults.

There is a BBQ joint in one of the malls here which actually has good food, but it is always packed...family groups of ten or more. I can do it occasionally, but it's simply too noisy and hectic to really enjoy a meal or conversation.

Originally Posted by Chico

Do you go for the experience or do you go out to eat.?

For both, with eatigo voucher in hand

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

restaurants all tend to be in shopping malls

A number of excellent restaurants (imo) are also found in BKK malls: Ippudo (ramen) in Central Embassy immediately comes to mind as does Eathai, an upmarket food court on CE's ground floor. The more upscale the mall, I've found, the less likely diners are to be harassed in eateries by the wailing sprogs of hell.

^ The best restaurants are found in the hotels, not the malls mate

I'm of to Bangkok tomorrow night and the plan is to have a decent steak, had enough seafood in Vietnam recently so a steak or maybe ribs would do the trick, I'm a growing boy after all. Haven't booked a hotel yet and I'm travelling with the handbrake so letting the ferret out for a run is out of the equation, might bump into shrewd punter? Or if any of you other funsters are in bangers give me a pm , first round of strawberry breezers are on me

Originally Posted by Dillinger

The best restaurants are found in the hotels

Maybe not the best, but certainly good restaurants, particularly at the Oriental. The Hilton, Sheraton, Peninsula, Muse, and Novotel, however, struggle to achieve mediocrity (imo). I've yet to try some of the smaller hotel beaneries, though I may visit W in the near future.

Never used to mind where I ate with my family, just as long as we were all together and enjoyed the meal along with a bit of conversation and a few laughs.

Now that the kids are grown up, it's not so much fun, as the rare occasions that we are actually all together for a meal, turns out to be more like an iphone photo shoot session.

I bet it's in a place that serves chips.

Actually I'm doing up some chips tomorrow or Saturday Gaz. Actually doing a Chinese style curry, Manchester district style, for some beer drinking. Chips as a side/main. Come on over bud.

When I go out to Eat- hang the expense, there is nothing I like more than a good steak restaurant. Pretentious places just turn me off. I like a good seafood restaurant too (but don't know any in Thailand), love a good Chinese (rarer than you might think), and have a fondness for middle eastern & Balkan food.

I wouldn't cross the street to go to Noma, El Bulli, or the Fat Duck. Unless someone else was paying.

Originally Posted by sabang

love a good Chinese (rarer than you might think)

Try: Din Tai Fung at Central Embassy for excellent dim sum and other Chinese dishes: excellent.

Never particularly liked fine dining or paying for shows during dinner.

Unless you're on a cruise or vacationing somewhere where it's a once in a lifetime thing and you wanna' keep the Mrs. happy, I suppose...

Sure don't mind barbecuing at my table or shabu shabu;s good, a hibachi set up is tasty. I really do like that...cooking meat to your taste and eating at a nice, slow pace.


Korean: Samgyupsahl, bulgogi or duk kalbi (especially) mmmmm!






If I was near Sukhumvit right now, I'd be 1/2 way to soi 12 by the time this posted.


These places (Cook Your Own Food Restaurants) have been gaining some steam:

Unique Dining Experiences: s



Generally I'll go for cleanliness, quality, quantity, price.

Don't really care much about ambiance or service as long as its average.



I paid for this once:

Originally Posted by Luigi

Actually I'm doing up some chips tomorrow or Saturday Gaz. Actually doing a Chinese style curry, Manchester district style, for some beer drinking. Chips as a side/main. Come on over bud.

Luring me with chips to your gaff, plying me with beer.......hhmmmm, sounds a bit suss to me.

Not falling for that old trick...........again.
(although I do recall the chips weren't too bad)

Do you get to lick the plate clean?

I paid for this once:

Double lol.

Originally Posted by beerlaodrinker

I'm of to Bangkok tomorrow night and the plan is to have a decent steak,

Hard to beat Gaucho's IMO.

"Paid for this once:"

I'm still paying, but I do get dinner out of it.