Cafe John

[arsenal]

Cafe John (formally Cafe Ritz) is located in Jomtien Complex. I ate there last night. The set menu is extensive and looks towards the classics for most of its content. Generous is a word that perfectly describes the food there. A nice selection of bread and salted butter was served. I had the prawn cocktail to begin. 5 good sized shrimps garnished with shredded lettuce, red cabbage and cherry tomatoes. The shrimps were warm which is unusual but still had the sweet briny flavour. Marie Rose sauce and brown bread and butter.. However a piece of lemon would have been nice. Sole Bonne Femme for main course. The fish was nicely cooked and the mushroom sauce was full of mushrooms, was there a little too much sauce..perhaps. Served with proper, piped mashed potato it was well presented. Lemon was served with this fish dish. Despite a very good selection of desserts I had a busy night ahead and so I just had coffee. Service was friendly throughout my visit. Total bill for 3 courses and a water was 390 baht. An excellent restaurant offering very good value.

[FarangRuMak]

This indeed is a great restaurant for classic English food.
Going there would almost convince you that there is such a thing as English Cuisine unless of course you happen to be French. (English Cuisine -Mon Dieu!)
The roasts (lamb, chicken, beef and pork ) are delicious and are served with a huge portion of vegetables on the side. The soups (pumpkin, mushroom, chicken etc) are superb as are desserts like sherry trifle, home made apple pie with custard and bread-and-butter pudding.
Don't go there unless you're really hungry or a food glutten, especially if you plan to have the 3 course special.
The restaurant has survived because the staff (all Thai) have stuck rigidly to John's original dishes and style.
I don't know where he is now and I remember him as straight talking honest-to-goodness host.
I think he was originally a British Navy chef.

[arsenal]

The food there is as much classical French as English. Of course, Japanese food is the best in the world as Michelin have clearly demonstrated. Haven't they Francois.
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[FarangRuMak]

I space out my visits to John's restaurant and my indulgence is confined to "English Cuisine" only, so I tend to overlook other options including French dishes.
It's soup-roast-dessert routine for me there.
In my opinion the most "faked" food in Pattaya generally is French food.
A lot of it is cooked by self-styled chefs who are heavy on the sauces and light on technique.
There are a number of reasonably priced but limited choice restaurants around South Pattaya that depend a lot on Cordon Bleu A La Google and other such fare.
The only Japanese restaurant I frequent is the one on the ground floor of Tuk Com.
Very nice but not aimed at hard core Japanese food lovers I suspect so I can't comment on the relative status of Japanese Cuisine worldwide.

[Manforallseasons]

I space out my visits to John's restaurant and my indulgence is confined to "English Cuisine" only, so I tend to overlook other options including French dishes.
It's soup-roast-dessert routine for me there.
In my opinion the most "faked" food in Pattaya generally is French food.
A lot of it is cooked by self-styled chefs who are heavy on the sauces and light on technique.
There are a number of reasonably priced but limited choice restaurants around South Pattaya that depend a lot on Cordon Bleu A La Google and other such fare.

The only real French restaurant in Pattaya is Au Bon Coin owned by Jose who also does the cooking. One evening while having dinner a Brit at the next table asked for mint jelly with the beautiful pink lamb and Jose asked him to leave. Vive La France!

[scottish-guy]

If the Brit also asked for jellied eels and pie and mash, whilst rendering 2 choruses of Land of Hope and Glory, it was Arsenal

[arsenal]

Jellies eels! Yuk.

[francois]

The food there is as much classical French as English. Of course, Japanese food is the best in the world as Michelin have clearly demonstrated. Haven't they Francois.
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I do enjoy the food at Cafe John, good food and good value. For Western food a good choice. As for Japanese food, so far, Tsunami Sushi would be my first choice since you are able to sample many type of Japanese food for one set price.

[cdnmatt]

Anyone have Gordon Ramsay's phone#? We'll get to the bottom of this shit.

[gerefan2]

where is it, Im dammed if I can find it on google. Anywhere near East Suites?

[francois]

Same soi as Agate and Zing in Jomtien Complex. Every time I go there I have to search around for it. Try search for Cafe Ritz the prior name.

[Tomas1576]

Experiences can be so different. I went there for a turkey dinner in January. The turkey was so bad that I could not even get my knife in it. I had to send it back without even tasting the food. I will never go back, but good to hear that others have had good experiences.

[pennyboy]

One evening while having dinner a Brit at the next table asked for mint jelly with the beautiful pink lamb and Jose asked him to leave. Vive La France!

I hope this customer had an expensive starter and started an expensive wine before he was asked to leave. All without payment of course.

[arsenal]

MFAS wrote:
"One evening while having dinner a Brit at the next table asked for mint jelly with the beautiful pink lamb and Jose asked him to leave. Vive La France!"

Considering the average age of the ex-pat community Chef Jose (French?) should be grateful he wasn't asked to puree the food. Ha Ha. Just wait until Scottish pitches up and demands pureed deep fried pizza and Mars Bar while gluing in his dentures.

[scottish-guy]

I have no dentures - all of my 3 teeth are natural

[Up2U]

I suppose if you are a regular tourist you might look forward to this restaurant when visiting Pattaya but frankly the menu is old and tired, hasn't changed for many years. New dishes with an updated menu are in order. I dine there occasionally but Jomtien has so many good places to dine.

[arsenal]

Up2U wrote:
" I dine there occasionally but Jomtien has so many good places to dine."

This is very true. Plenty of excellent places and many different types of cuisine available. However as a tourist with time limits I like to eat reasonable quickly rather than linger. I should also point out that cafe John is well known for extremely generous portions so is obviously popular with the gentlemen of generous girth. It's usually full. In fact Cafe John and Yupins are both exemplary examples of how to please your customers.