Siam Elephant

SETTING

Siam Elephant overlooks the Bali Hai pier end of Walking Street. Dine outside amongst the stone elephants and lily ponds, or in Thai elegance in the air-conditioned indoors. The elephant theme goes all through to the cutlery.

FOOD

Choose from a unique double-folding, reversible wooden-covered menu. The appetisers of rhume, tung tong and ma hor are delicately prepared and thoroughly enjoyable. Definitely Thai fine dining, and owner Kamala Sukosol and the management are to be congratulated on elevating the cuisine to this level in Pattaya. Pla salmon tod samunprai uses a non-Thai fish prepared with local herbs. For those who enjoy curry but cannot take strong spices, try gaeng massamun neua, tender beef in a sweet-tasting curry. Leave some room for desserts, with khao neaw mamuang (mango with sticky rice) and pra pae-nee si tuay, a mix and match collection of very Thai sweets sure to meet approval. It is an excellent venue to introduce foreign visitors to our national cuisine.

WINES

Small selection from both new and old worlds, but a good choice of medium-price wines, with emphasis on Thai labels (Khao Yai especially). Most bottles fall within the 1,000-1,500 baht range. Value wines predominate.

SERVICE

The service is superb and unobtrusive. Hotel training certainly shows here.

PRICE

A good dinner for two, without wine, will be enjoyed for under 2,000 baht.

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