Bamboozler February 2006
As the ‘High’ season approaches its zenith, a gaggle of new Bars and Restaurants have blossomed. Funded by Lonely Hearts, Walter Mitis and would be White Knights, the array has this Old Dog running in circles, just trying to get a glimpse of the new offerings. While most of these enterprises are operated as “Girlfriend Bars”, there are a few that are at least having a pretense of being real businesses, even if the owners are totally lacking in experience in this part of the world, let alone elsewhere. While I may seem a bit cynical about all this activity, it comes from listening to dozens of these entrepreneurs boasting how their place will be ‘different’ than the other 200+ narrow shophouses already catering to Westerners in this city. Only to find later that they are just the same, with the only difference being the local family that reaps the benefits in the end. But fear not, there are a few Pearls amongst the pretenders, and you will be the first to know about them.
Voo Doo Bar
Located on 108 Street near 51 Street, this fits the description to a tee. Nothing very different to any of the dozens of single shop bars with a long bar and a half dozen passably pretty girls with almost non existent English trying to tease a few Lady Drinks out of want to be punters. The first night saw 10-12 girls and a few expats checking out the ‘New Place; but a week later there were only 3 girls and not a customer in sight. I expect that will be the norm here. But things are a little better next door.
Golden Vine
Having been open several months now, it has begun to find its feet. Or perhaps one should say ‘pole’ as it’s one claim to difference is the Pole Dancing on the bar. Now don’t start thinking NanaPlaza of Pattaya GoGos here, but even fully clad gals clutching the Chrome is a change here. Actually some of them actually do ‘Dance’ rather than shuffle and a bit of good natured fun can be had. The food is still an attraction here, with Lan turning out some fine grub.
One of the more upsetting trends in the city is the adaptation of some of the worst of Thai Beer Bar practices. Specifically, the latest attempt by a few of the bars to gouge the few customers they have on Lady Drinks. Now we all understand that the girls need to earn a few dollars so they can eat on a day to day basis as their meager salaries barely cover their monthly rents, and the common system here of adding $1 to the price of whatever the lady orders always seemed to me to be fair enough for all concerned. The bar got to sell another drink and profit from that, while the lady got here dollar and something to sip on. If she ordered a Coca, as most do, then it would be the price of the Coke ($1) plus $1 which she got to keep. But now some of the bars are doing the Pattaya Hustle. Lady Drink $3, but instead of giving the lady a shot of booze plus her tip (which is the norm here) they are pouring her straight soda, and not even a real glassful! She still only gets her $1, but the bar scams $2 for 1/3 of a bottle of Coke. That’s $6 for a $0.23 bottle of fizzy water ………. That’s gouging. A friend and I bought 2 drinks and 3 Lady Drinks in a recently opened bar only to be charged $14. Total cost to the bar …….. less than $.070. No doubt we paid the bar’s entire overhead for the day ……….. but it will be the last money they will see from us. Lets all hope this is not a trend of the future.
Lots of development happening in the 104 Street area and I predict that this entire block will be the new ‘Hotspot’ for late night activities. Currently they are avoiding the outright ‘Sleaze & Tease’ of the 51 Street Strip, and have managed to tuck away some fine little venues, with the promise of more on the horizon. One of the latest is Wooley Rhino that combines a nice guesthouse with a bar and restaurant. And on the Riverfront, The Pontoon is a new floating Bar on the water itself that is getting good reviews. More on both these venues next month.
The Pickled Parrot is still the benchmark operation in the area, bright, clean and well managed with good food, excellent pool table and good guest rooms upstairs. Well established places like Rose Bar and Zanzibar both have lots of good company and One Zero Four is certainly a fun spot to meet fellow expats and travelers. The newly opened Darlin Bar has already gone through its first change of ownership and is now named Eden and the Francophone owners have a typically Gallic attitude. Also changing hands recently was Chez Ton Ton, so we will wait and see how these places fare. One of the more welcome additions to the street is the new Kebab Shop that is serving up some great Kebabs and Pakistani cuisine.
Meanwhile around the corner towards 102 Street the new high end Italian Restaurant Volpaia is getting rave reviews.
This month’s Pearl is the Freebird Bar and Grill on 240 Street. This operation recently won the People’s Choice Award as Best Restaurant in a contest sponsored by Cambodia Pocket Guide and well they should have. Great American style food in a clean bright atmosphere. Daily Specials are only $3.75 including soft drink, they will deliver, and the staff is the best I have found anywhere in the city. Not only to they speak and understand English, they are polite, attentive and genuinely friendly. To top it off they do super promotions such as the Saturday afternoon free Chili. Complete with all the little touches that make this place a real winner. Don’t miss this place. It has the Bamboozler’s highest recommendation. Great job guys.
The cool season is almost over and next month things should be heating up ………. Along with more reviews of the latest places.
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