Pattaya Food Map: Where to Eat in Pattaya
Starting in the North with Seafood and Wong Amat Beach
A little further north is my favorite seafood restaurant in the area: Mum Aroi. That’s not the only restaurant in the area. You can try every one. Thais can’t cook badly. It comes directly from the fishermen and from the fish market.
Naklua is basically the old Pattaya, where Pattaya started. very old-school and very Thai. Mom Aoy is one of the restaurants that I really loved and that saved me once when I walked the Pattaya Marathon. And as soon as you see a restaurant in Thailand with blue little swimming pools outside, you know you arrived in food heaven because these little blue pools are for live seafood.
Everything is still alive, including lobsters, squid, and shrimp. It is like a fresh seafood market. As soon as you order something, the staff picks one. Then you eat it.
You can sit inside under a roof or outside, and it is really beautiful. When I was there, a little guitar player also played Thai music, and it was very nice. This is a really Thai restaurant. I do not need Michelin to tell me this is good.
Immediately, you know the food is wonderful, and the menu has everything you want. Stir-fried mantis crabs and shrimp are under 300 baht. This is world-class food for under $10, not street-food-level food. If you haven’t been there, you really have to go there.
Speaking of the fish market, everything is fish market stalls. You can buy something, live squid, live lobster, whatever, and then go to a kitchen corner, give them your market catch, and tell them how you want it: fried, grilled with fancy stuff, garlic and pepper, or without anything. And yes, you pay a little extra. It’s fantastic.
It’s a really cool area to walk around. The public park, cemetery, the Sanctuary of Truth, the one that influencers always call a temple, and a long, long fishing boat pier are all here. That’s it for the north.
This area is more or less 90% Thai and 10% foreigner and is a secret beach-lounge hangout, a little bit like you imagined it when you saw the movie The Beach. I hope that it’s not overrun, and sooner or later we have a beach club and a DJ already happening here.
The Beach Road Food and Beach Chairs
One important thing to know is that almost the entire Beach Road is covered by beach chair areas. Most first-timers don’t realize that these are basically the first beach clubs in the world. They don’t only offer you a chair and shade. They also have something to drink for you, coconut or beer, and, if you ask, a menu. But there’s no kitchen. That’s why many people think there’s nothing to eat. No, they have a menu.
The menu is from a kitchen nearby, a street food vendor, family, friends, or whatever. You can choose what you want, and then they text the chef. Fifteen minutes, 10 minutes, or 20 minutes later, magically, Thai food arrives near your chair with everything you need: a fork and chopsticks. While you are lying at the beach, someone cooks your wonderful, cheap Thai lunch. It’s perfect. And then a cold coconut or an ice-cold beer comes. Perfect. There are over a hundred of them. Go where you want. They’re all good.
The Terminal 21 shopping mall has tons of food, restaurants, and everything. It’s always a good area to eat, but everybody knows that. More important for you to know is Central Marina. There’s a night market, Pattaya Marina Night Market, and it’s very good. And why do I recommend it? Because we are very close to Soi 6, where a lot of you guys want to go.
Nong Ploy Thai Food is on Soi 3. Nice little restaurant. Everything you need. I tried it. I liked it. Wonderful. It’s often busy in the evening, so many people know that it’s good. And then there’s this crazy market. If you’ve never seen or heard about it, this is Runway Street Food, runway because there’s a plane, a Boeing 747. And all of this here is street food. It’s constantly growing, constantly evolving. Of course, it’s not Michelin-starred food, but it has wonderful snacks, fruits, and juices, kind of a mix of a market and a street food hub.
Directly next to it is the world’s favorite Soi 6. It’s always fascinating that there are only some bars with Google Maps entries because, in real life, it always feels like 200 bars next to each other. It’s not really a restaurant. The Queen Victoria is a crazy British and very good hotel. I stayed there. It’s really, really, really good. They have food, pizza, and stuff. But I discovered the Hole in the Wall restaurant, where I went for Thai food and made the Google Maps entry for her. It’s absolutely recommended.
There is a nice little lady with a little helper named Far, which means blue or sky. The only clients and customers are Soi 6 girls. So if this isn’t a reason to go there, I don’t know. She only has some little chairs, but why don’t you take your food and sit in one of these bars? She doesn’t have a menu, but that doesn’t stop her from cooking you everything you want, as long as she has the ingredients. I always order krapao with squid and a boiled egg. 70 Thai Baht. And she has beer, too. 70 Thai Baht. Smart lady.
While Soi 6 doesn’t really have restaurants, it is blessed with street food vendors who constantly enter this area, drive down here, and really quickly sell their stuff because it is illegal for them to sell without a license. They can’t stay there. They can’t block the road. It’s a one-way road. From time to time, the police come and make a big noise, and everybody screams. I think it’s officially because of blocking the street, not because of feeding people and making money. That’s a really good little café. This is kind of the Thai Starbucks, Café Amazon. They have a mini terrace, but everybody sits on the D Beach terrace. Further down is the Chung Beach Party. It’s more for the night. It’s a street food market, kind of a little competition to the Runway Street Food Market. It’s more like sandy beach, beach chairs, and music, cool, but I wouldn’t go there for a big dinner. It’s more like looking, maybe snacking, and walking down Beach Road.
Central Pattaya Restaurants and Ramen
You can always find Central Pattaya because there’s one long, straight road. That’s Central Pattaya Road. Central Pattaya Road has four spots that I can blindly recommend. One is for coffee, not for food: Sunset Coffee Roaster. Coffee is always important. Then a lot of people visit Café Laage, and a lot of people visit Kamikat Seafood Restaurant. I’m not the biggest fan.
I love Osama Ramen. Thais make everything better. McDonald’s in Thailand is better. Pizza in Thailand is better than in the rest of the world, except Italy, of course. And, of course, they can do ramen. Thais are so wonderful. They look at something, taste it, and say “Oh, very good.” And then they learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, and make it a little bit Thai. And it’s perfect ramen. Very good. Ramen is especially good if you had a long night.
Down here is Leng Kee, an absolutely super-old, old-school classic Thai restaurant. Nothing fancy, but wonderful. Little fun fact: Leng Kee is one of the richest and most influential families in Pattaya. Think about the first letters, L K, then LK Metro. Maybe it makes a little more sense. They own a lot in the area, and it all started with Leng Kee Restaurant. Close to Central Festival is the Hilton Horizon rooftop bar. I know, it’s more expensive, and it’s not classic Thai, but it’s a perfect location with a wonderful view. Maybe for the guys who someday want a little bit fancier, more expensive food, it’s really good. I’ve been there.
And what I love: the South Korean fried chicken legend, Bonchon Chicken. It’s the same with Osama Ramen. Asian cuisine is just amazing. If you want to taste the best fried chicken in the world, that’s not KFC; it’s Bonchon Chicken from South Korea. One more food recommendation when you’re in the central area is an absolutely established old Thai restaurant. Very good. I don’t know what’s wrong with Thai men in the service industry, but they’re completely overwhelmed by the job. I don’t know what they teach them or what they think could happen if a guest comes to a restaurant, but it doesn’t make sense to order when there’s a male staff member. Believe me, it has to be studied. That’s it for the central area.
The Area Around Soi 3 Thai Restaurants
Very close is a Michelin-recommended place, but it’s absolutely worth it: Neon Boat Noodles noodle soup. And you can choose the Wagyu option. It’s so good. I love it. Then we have, next to it, Sala Restaurant. I discovered them through trial and error. Nice female chef, female staff, so everything is okay. Very good. This is the Thai restaurant that you would want to have in your home country.
Soi Buakhao Street Food and Burgers
The first thing that I always recommend is not Thai, but it is so insane: Prime Burger. I don’t know why; for me, it’s the best burger in the world. I always order the Paris burger with extra cheese and fries. Then we have Tree Town Night Market, the street food area. Then we have a wonderfully funny-named restaurant. It’s the Nameless Thai Local Restaurant. It’s not the local Thai restaurant with a name. It’s the Nameless Thai Local Restaurant, but it’s very good. They have chicken rice and so on. It’s always busy with Thais and farangs. Go there. You can’t go wrong.
Walking Street Restaurants and Food
I discovered another restaurant because it rained. It suddenly rained, and I was like, “God damn it, where can I sit?” As always in Thailand, there’s a restaurant. I sat there, ordered, and, of course, it was good. Try it. It’s wonderful. It has the very un-Thai name Focus, but it has Thai women, a female chef, a female boss, and a female waitress, so it can’t get better. We are very close to Walking Street.
How do you know that the beach has ended? The Pattaya Beer Garden is just here. Most people have a love-hate relationship with the Beer Garden. Some think that’s the worst place in Pattaya. For a long time, I thought this was the best place in Pattaya. It depends a little bit on the season, the staff, the mood, the vibe, the day, and the week. I don’t know. But usually, it’s really cool. You sit on stilts over the water, overlooking Pattaya. You see the city sign and the pier, amazing. And it’s at the start of Walking Street. Usually, you go there at 7:00 p.m. or 7:30, and when you’re finished, every go-go bar is open, and let’s go. They have some international stuff, but they have a very good Thai menu, and usually everything is cool and fine. But sometimes it’s just overrun with customers.
As soon as you enter Walking Street for the first time, you are welcomed not only by many people who want to lure you into a ping-pong show, but also by people who want to lure you into Indian nightclubs and lobster restaurants. A touristy area with lobster, people who lure you in, and people who show you the menu on the street can’t be good. But I tried it, and wow, it’s exactly like you thought.
Thepprasit Market Food Vendors
Thepprasit Road is very famous for Thepprasit Market. The only thing is, it’s not really close to the action, but it’s very, very good.
Jomtien Fishermen’s Morning Market
This place is overlooked by many people. It is open only very early in the morning. If you are staying in Jomtien, there is no excuse not to go there. Some boats are parked in the back.
In the morning, fishermen sell the catch of the night from plastic pools and bins. You may be the only farang among Thai customers, but they are friendly and you can buy something. There were no chefs there when I was there, so it is a classic market. Many locals shop there for the day or weekend.
It is very interesting to see what happens there.
Poo Pen Seafood in Jomtien
Poo Pen Seafood is one of my favorite places in Pattaya. You can reach it by bus.
I usually arrive early and walk along part of the beach because it is beautiful, empty, and peaceful. The goal is to arrive around 6:00 p.m. for sunset. At around 6:00 or 6:15 p.m., the band starts playing. They have their own band outside playing romantic Thai surfer beach music.
The name Poo Pen sounds funny to German viewers, but it refers to crab, which appears on the sign and logo. There is a large parking lot, and many local people and tourists visit in groups. It is a family restaurant, but there is no problem going alone. The beach is usually quiet and almost empty.
It is a well-established restaurant with everything. The seafood and crab are very good. The restaurant name has something to do with crab, so you know what to order.
