Greg’s Kitchen on 2^nd Road in North Pattaya is two things. 1. It is one of the finest restaurants in the Pattaya area and 2. It is a bit of a misnomer because Greg, an ex London chef, stresses the fact that his restaurant specializes in Continental Cuisine, not English food, while he does a little fence straddling advertising his British food on his menu and on the signs in front of his restaurant. So what is Greg’s Kitchen anyway? Is it an English establishment that also serves up other ethnic dishes or is it a cosmopolitan restaurant that goes a little heavy on the English selections.

Even Greg himself will admit that English or British cuisine is not at the top of most peoples’ lists as the world’s best. That’s when he stresses that his restaurant serves up European or Continental food. But I have to admit that it’s some of his traditional British favorites that really get to me. His fish and chips are done to perfection with the vegetables cooked just enough to maximize their flavor yet still retaining the crispness that lets you know that the chef knows what he’s doing. The fish nearly melts in your mouth after you taste the initial crispiness that there’s when the batter is fried just long enough.

But out of all his selections, the one I crave the most when I’ve been away too long is his English meat pies. My favorite’s the mince and onion although he has shepherd’s pie and Steak and Kidney pie and a couple of others to choose from. But no matter which one you order you still get to choose your style of potatoes from 12 different choices with names such as Lyonaise, Hunter style, Bombay and Cheese Gratin just to name four of them.

Nearly nudging out the Mince and Onion pie as my favorite of favorites, Greg’s Hungarian Goulash. It’s a bit like a beef stew except there’s a great deal more of it and it’s a lot better. It comes with a large chunk of hard bread which I like to dip into the Goulash. There’s Goulash and then there’s Greg’s Kitchen’s Goulash just as there’s meat pies in other places now, and then there’s Greg’s meat pies. You are virtually guaranteed to get filled up here and the flavor of at least the food items I’ve had here is a cut above practically everything you are going to get elsewhere.

And if you bring your Thai girlfriend along, there’s a fair number of Thai dishes she can choose from, and just as it is with the goulash and the meat pies, the Thai dishes are more ample than the competition’s.Here you can either sit inside the restaurant where it’s air-conditioned or you can relax outdoors where you can have that Hawaiian restaurant thatched hut ambience. I prefer the thatched hut ambience to the air conditioning but that’s just me. I’m just one of those hardened types who’s accustomed to lying around the beach all day in the hot sun so I’m used to it. Greg’s Kitchen is a first rate restaurant offering superb service and it’s only 800 meters South of Big C on the East side of 2^nd Road between Bangkok Bank and the Grand Sole Hotel.