As mentioned in the previous post, CentralFestival was the latest shopping mall to open along Pattaya Beach, owned by the same parent company that operated the humongous CentralWorld in Bangkok.
I thought it was also the largest mall in Pattaya too, completed with cinema halls, a departmental store, a supermarket and dozens of eateries. If you were tired of the sun and sand outside, I guessed you could easily spend the entire day in here!
Food Loft was not the default food court of CentralFestival (which was another one located at the basement), but a chic Marche-like place that housed various restaurant brands for Italian, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese and Korean cuisines.
By the way, many food courts in Thailand adopted a prepaid card system in which you would top up a card for food purchases, then had the remaining money refunded upon exit.
With free seating arrangements, we were all eager to grab a table near the glass windows for more pretty view of the beach in the comfort of aircon! After ordering your items, just pass the receipts to any of the waiters and they would deliver the dishes right to your table when ready. That kind of amazed me as they relied entirely on memory for whom to deliver to. Wondered about the accuracy on a busy day!
Seafood Squid Ink Pasta (฿240)
Frankly, we didn't have high hopes for this and true enough, there was barely any trace of squid ink in the spaghetti while the white wine sauce had only a salty aftertaste. At least the seafood toppings were decent with ice cold Asahi beer saving it as well!
Tom Yum Goong (฿220)
We realised that it was pretty hard to not find a good tom yum goong in Thailand. Seriously, its their national soup! With fresh, huge prawns, the seafood broth had fragrance of lemongrass and was suitably spiced.
Pineapple Rice (฿150), Phad Thai (฿120)
Strange enough, it was the first and last time we had this for the trip! With sweet raisins, pineapple bits and cashew nuts, the rice were nicely flavoured and perfectly fried with fluffy, individual grains. Left only a clean husk!
By then, my parents already knew that this was a standard item at every meal. Again, I could not further emphasis on how much I loved the texture of their noodles. Bonus points went for frying the beansprouts together which got rid of that cold raw taste.
Mango with Glutinous Rice (฿125), Banana Crepe (฿120)
Okay this really was the last one for the trip (not that we didn't lugged back fresh mangoes by the kg though!). I was almost taking sweet mangoes and al dente glutinous rice for granted already!
My dad was in the mood for crepe when he ordered this, though it didn't leave much good impression with limp texture and syrupy orange sauce.
With premium pricing at Food Loft, you are indeed paying for cheerful Thai hospitality and an excellent view to boot. Pamper yourself more on a holiday ah!
Food Loft
3rd Floor, CentralFestival
Pattaya Beach
Tel: 66 38 930 985
Taken with Nikon D70
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