Christmas and New Year celebration
(Seika Chujo / Shutterstock.com)
Fortunately, Charly's life is full of pleasant surprises (unfortunately sometimes also less pleasant ones). For several years now he has lived with his Thai wife Teoy in a resort not far from Udonthani. In his stories, Charly mainly tries to raise awareness of Udon, but he also discusses many other things in Thailand.
Christmas and New Year celebration
After last year's excellent experience, this time again opted for the Christmas Eve buffet on December 24 of the Pannarai hotel. Booked some overnight stays at the same Pannarai, so that it becomes a mini-holiday.
There are quite a few restaurants that want to make a move on Christmas Eve and come up with dinner / buffet offers to lure guests. This year there seem to be more than last year. Apparently, during the Christmas season, people want to try to give the not very successful year a big boost in one go
A striking newcomer to this genre is daSofia. For the first time daSofia also comes with a Christmas Eve dinner. Unfortunately, I am not very impressed with what daSofia offers. I am most shocked by the price they want to charge for this, namely 950 baht. In my opinion, this is a completely hopeless offer, which only a few of their regular customers will take advantage of. I think DaSofia makes the following mistakes:
- A glass of white wine, otherwise excellent, is included in the menu offered. You should not do that. Not everyone likes the drink offered and the drink drives up the price of the menu.
- Not being able to choose dishes. It is a predetermined menu with mussels and seabass fish as main dishes. You won't like fish.
- The menu pricing is way too high at 950 baht.
Apparently daSofia now has a good taste, because a New Year's Eve dinner is also offered. The price of this is also spicy, 950 baht. This time there is a limited choice, namely from two main courses. Some drinks are included in the New Year's Eve menu.
The Brick House burger beer joint also has a Christmas offer. Both on Christmas Eve and on 1e in 2. e Christmas Day you can enjoy a fixed dinner there. Here there is the possibility, but very limited, to make a choice from the dishes offered. The main price of 880 baht per person is requested for this (10 baht is charged for children up to 440 years). Bring a packed lunch, because the waiting time at Brick House can be quite long. Waiting one to two hours is not a rarity there, especially on these kinds of holidays.
Good Corner also comes with a Christmas dinner offer. For a very reasonable price of 495 baht. The composition of the dinner still looks about the same as three years ago, unfortunately it was not to haggle then. Particularly bad. That will probably be no different this year, because no other chefs have entered the kitchen.
The Centara hotel is also competing for a full occupancy and a large turnover on Christmas Eve. Centara offers an extensive buffet for no less than 1.200 baht per person. I must say that the buffet offered is very extensive. I can't comment on the quality. And so there are many Christmas Eve dinner / buffet offers.
I'm not going to list them all here. The people who live in Udon or the surrounding area are man/woman enough to find their way. Personal preferences and available budget naturally play a major role in this. As said, again opted for the offer of the Pannarai hotel. In my opinion it is the best choice, considering quality, options and price ratio. For the very reasonable price of 499 baht per person, a very varied buffet menu is offered (for children 250 baht). The menu contains roughly the following composition (and sorry, but not all dishes mentioned in English are easy to translate into Dutch):
Salad bar: with iceberg lettuce, green oak, red coral, beetroot, red beans, pumpkin and sweet corn;
Also herbs: Parmesan cheese, bacon, green olives, caper cucumber, pickled, croutons, sliced onions and sliced herbs;
dressing: French dressing, Thousand island dressing, Italian dressing, Caesar dressing, balsamic dressing and sesame dressing;
Bread station:
Rolls, baguette, brown bread, bread with nuts, and many more types of bread and butter;
Soups:
- Miso soup
- Lobster soup (lobster bisque) with brandy;
Main dishes:
- Braised leg of lamb with fettucini
- Beef massaman with roti
- Roast chicken drumstick with bbq sauce
- Lasagna with spinach and stewed meat
- Roast turkey in slices
- Roast pork with Thai herb sauce
- Vegetables, parsley potatoes, crab fried rice, steamed rice;
Dessert:
- Cheese board with Edam cheese, Gouda cheese and Emmenthaler, crackers
- Carrot, celery fresh and dry fruit
- Cream brulee
- caramel custard
- Selection of fresh fruit
- Selection of cakes
- Icecream
- Crepe sauce
- Chocolate fondue.
This time also a few Dutch friends with their Thai spouses convinced of the quality of this buffet. In doing so, we will enjoy this together with about eight people. I wonder how they will experience this Christmas Eve buffet.
It will undoubtedly be a very pleasant evening, where it is nice to be able to chat in Dutch again without having to think. Our friends also stay overnight at the Pannarai hotel, so that consuming a few alcoholic beverages will not cause any problems.
On New Year's Eve we stay at home with the children and their supporters and then enjoy many dishes that are prepared with the mookataa and the charcoal grill.
I wish all readers and the editors a very merry Christmas, a good end to the year and of course the best wishes and lots of health for 2020.
I haven't actually done anything about Christmas for years, with the exception of the Christmas tree and nativity scene in my house. There are a number of reasons for this:
– I live in Thailand, between the Thais and no foreigner and the Thais in my area don't like Christmas;
– the real family Christmas atmosphere is not there as well as the cold weather;
– if December 25 and 26 fall on working days (as in 2019), I just have to work unless I take time off, but there is no reason for that. Last year Christmas week was an exam week at my university.
– at my faculty there is a joint end-of-year party with an exchange of presents.
– December 31 and January 1 are public holidays.
Dear Chris,
As a teacher, I assume that your students get something from this or not?
I also assume that what you write has to do with the fact that you don't have the time
gets to take off.
Well, everyone has an opinion.
Here's wishing you a Merry Christmas and New Year and hope you have a long time
at Thailandblog keeps blogging.
Yours faithfully,
Erwin
Peter (formerly Khun) once wrote that 'food is a national obsession in Thailand'.
https://www.thailandblog.nl/eten-drinken/eten-een-nationale-obsessie/
Thanks to Charly, we now know that this also applies to many Dutch people in Thailand! Great that we now know what there is to eat in Udon Thani, Charly. I wish you all a beautiful and tasty 2020!
A national obsession, of course, sounds better than me making a headline: Thais also love good food. 😉
By the way, Tino, I saw that this was your 3.000th comment.
OK, then this is my 3001st comment.
Well Tino, the dishes mentioned on the menu are certainly no reason for me to rush to Udon Thani and participate in the Christmas buffet at the Pannarai hotel. And although Charly highly recommends the buffet, given the 499 baht pricing, I wouldn't set my expectations too high. But on a culinary level I am very spoiled. For Charly, being together with some Dutch friends, probably the ones he introduced us to in a previous entry, is at least as important as the dishes served. So I wish Charly and company a merry Christmas Eve.
@Leo Th
A nice and positive reaction Leo. I agree with you that for 499 baht you should not expect culinary delights. And indeed, spending the evening with some friends is just as important. Also had the Christmas Eve buffet at Pannarai last year, and I must say it was excellent. That is why this year did not hesitate to book here again.
To fly over to Udon especially for this would be a bridge too far for me.
Yours faithfully,
Charly
Before Christmas and during the holidays I play a lot of Christmas music (usually American) and I like to watch really slow Christmas movies. I love it when the city is full of lights and I rejoice at the decorations.
But we're not going anywhere. We don't go to Christmas galas or dinners or I know what kind of splurges. Just at home with the two of us. My wife wanted to do something about Christmas (for me) in the beginning, but now she doesn't anymore… luckily.
So why should I celebrate Christmas? I haven't been to church in a long time.
The funny thing is that I used to celebrate Christmas in Thailand more often than now and then I didn't live there, but sometimes I had to be there because of my work. Then on Christmas Eve and also on New Year's Eve, a dinner was organized around the pool of the hotel. That was very nice and cozy…but those times are over….