New Spanish restaurant opened in Pattaya
Very recently a new restaurant has opened in the Central Shopping Arcade on Second Road, right opposite the back of Mike's Shopping Mall. It is called Don Pepe Tapas Bistro, but also has a number of dishes from countries around the Mediterranean on the menu.
The restaurant is a new adventure from Allessandro, a chef from Madrid, who has already made his mark in restaurants in Phuket and Bangkok for the past 8 years and Patrick, the Belgian owner of Patrick's Steakhouse in the same shopping arcade.
History
The Central Shopping Arcade leads directly to the entrance of Megabreak Pool Hall and for that reason alone I regularly visit that shopping arcade. At Second Road, the gallery begins with a Kiss restaurant, but further along you will pass four quality restaurants, namely Patrick's Steakhouse, Beefeater Steakhouse, Longhorn Steakhouse and Calle's Restaurant. I have heard someone call the gallery the “Steak Alley”.
Calle's Restaurant closed earlier this year, but soon I saw construction workers at work turning the restaurant into a new venture. That turned out to be Don Pepe Tapas Bistro. It surprised me, because in this day and age you are constantly confronted with closures of shops, hotels, bars and restaurants, it is quite a risk to start a new restaurant. However, Patrick and Allessandro are confident that it will be a success, especially if (in the long term) the tourists come to Pattaya again.
The restaurant
It has become a friendly restaurant with chef Alex, who is happy to explain the details of the many dishes and give advice to guests. The menu obviously comes from his hand, but in the decoration I clearly see Patrick's hand, so a great collaboration.
The menu
I am a regular customer at Patrick's Steakhouse myself, but then last Friday I alternated his restaurant with a visit to Don Pepe Tapas Bistro. A menu with beautiful dishes, which I will not mention here, because you can see it complete with photos and description on the website: www.donpepepattaya.com
For tapas I chose the Spanish potato omelette, which can be considered a light meal alone, and then the imported sardines, drifting away to Spanish and Portuguese fishing villages, where I have so often enjoyed the delicious freshly baked sardines in the past.
Finally
Don Pepe Tapas Bistro is definitely an asset to Pattaya, although it is currently little visited due to lack of tourists. I wish Alex and Patrick every possible success with this risky venture.
I will definitely pay them a visit at Christmas and New Year's Eve in Pattaya, saw a delicious paella in the photo.
And for my wife delicious fish, she is a lover of yesterday's mackerel roasted on the BBQ aroy mak mak.
He dares or has too much money and can suffer a lot of loss. With the long haul it might work, but there are plenty of examples that prove the opposite. Also in Terminal 21, just to name a few, there are some more expensive and more luxuriously furnished restaurants, which are rarely if ever fully packed. But I understand if you don't try you will never find out.
It's always nice when people just go about their business despite headwinds. Spanish can be appreciated by both Thai and foreigner, so that in itself does not have to be a problem even in a tourist poor Pattaya if the price ratio is good.
This year it was our plan to regularly visit the foreign kitchens in Bangkok, where the question arises how they do it. Japanese snack bars have suddenly become such a phenomenon in the vicinity of Thonglor. It is very similar to the formula that eg coffee shop owners went into the neat catering industry and great dishes were served for very good prices and had their own financial reason for doing so.
The Don Pepe restaurant is managed by Anthony Abeloos and Patrick's wife Rinny. The cook is Alessandro
Well, at least he has the guts to open a catering business in Pattaya at this time.
Maja if you can survive during this period you will also be pretty strong in the coming years I think.
Good luck anyway and hope for a better 2021!