Out To Lunch

Slowly but surely getting "back into the swing."  On Tuesday, I met Jen for lunch at Tamar Bakery and Restaurant.  This little establishment is run by Tamar Center, a non-profit that helps get women off the street and into alternative jobs.  From their website:

Tamar Center is a center for help, healing and hope, offering the ladies jobs in their card-making program, hairdressing salon, bakery, restaurant and other income-earning activities, as well as giving courses in life skills...

tripadvisor.com

The restaurant is a bit difficult to find; the only sign out front is a banner under an awning.  Even though I had it clear in my head where to find it, we drove past twice before I had to call Jen and have her come out to the curb to wave us down.  It was a small, modest storefront with an air of cleanliness and pride of work.  We had a nice, basic lunch - I had fried rice with chicken and a banana mango frappe - that was very inexpensive.  The bill for two of us came to just 170 THB, just over five dollars.  Their baked goods are supposed to be wonderful, but we were too full to indulge.

On Thursday, I visited Foodland for grocery shopping in the morning, where I met up with Mika.  She rode back to the condo with me so I could put away the food, then we headed out to lunch on my side of town.  Cape Dara is a resort just minutes away from us, but because it is tucked away down a small road, we'd never really noticed it.  Mika had been once before and recommended it for the lovely view.  The majestic entry frames the pool in dramatic fashion, with the gulf as the backdrop.  The hotel has several restaurants from which to choose.

My lovely dining companion!

We had cantonese dim sum in the Ming Xing Restaurant, ordering several dishes from the set menu.  The restaurant is pretty, with lots of pink and white and a circle motif throughout.  The booth seat was a bit low for me, so I had to sit on a couple of pillows; what I really needed was a booster!   I don't remember everything we tried, but we liked nearly everything.  We were a bit disappointed that a cantonese restaurant had no rice dishes - everything was noodles, rolls or dumplings.  I felt like a dumpling myself by the time we finished with our mango pudding and waddled out the door.  The set meal was quite pricey, but was a nice change of pace.

An associate of Tim's from China was working here in Thailand for a couple of weeks, and we intended to take him to dinner on Friday.  Those plans fell through, but I'd solicited some restaurant ideas from Mika, and Tim and I decided to check one out ourselves.

According to the website, "Steak & Co." is on Soi Lengkee just off Third Road.  Our driver seemed hesitant when I told him the location, and drove to a restaurant called "Soi Lengkee."  I instructed him to continue on and pointed out the street where we needed to turn.  He insisted that this was not Soi Lengkee, it was Soi Buakhao.  I questioned my memory at this point, but we continued down the street and spotted our destination.  I consulted with the Russian(?) manager to confirm the street on which his establishment was located, and he confirmed that it was Soi Lengkee.  Why The Face?!

We enjoyed a lovely, albeit a bit pricey meal that started with an actual basket of bread brought to the table.  You have no idea what a rare and wonderful occurrence this is around these parts.  Usually one has to order, and pay for, a measly piece of bread with one's dinner.  We appreciated the sorbet brought to cleanse the palate before the entree, and a lovely lemoncello digestif to finish the meal - very nice!  When we got back into the car, I relayed what the manager had said, but Mick held his ground, insisting that "Thai people" call this road Soi Buakhao.  I'm afraid we must agree to disagree on this.  I would say that our driver is feeling quite comfortable in his role at this point...