Greenside

Thought I'd try the Huay Kaew Road corner of the moat this afternoon but should really have known better.  The traffic on Madhidol Road was backed up to the Toyota dealer where the flyover lands and almost at a standstill.



This forced me to abandon the car and spend a (dry) hour on the bridge which, I'm pleased to say had its advantages...

So, aside from making a couple of posts drawing attention to the less-than-terrific-at-the-time customer service at Pizza & Pasta's previous location which made me PNG (quite embarrassing, really: my son and I went back to collect the pizza we'd ordered 20 minutes before and the owner charges out into the car park yelling "we don't want you or your money here - go away!"  Difficult to explain this strange farang behaviour to a 10 year old but I think he got the picture and knows we're not all like that.), I actually think I might have discovered a new pizza place....

It's called Finns (053 141 074) and it's in a shophouse on Kow Klang Road which runs between Mahidol Road and Nong Hoi Market, about 100m beyond the Cock D'Or if you are heading into town but blink and you'll miss it.

It's run by a Thai guy called Jeab and he tells me that he supplies frozen pizza bases to places as far afield as BKK and Phuket but, if that's his main business, then he needs to work on the recipe as I found the bread a bit bland - much like Pizza Hut/Company, neither of which do much for my taste buds.

That said, the quality and quantity of the toppings is great and although the choice is fairly limited - it's take-out only and they currently offer 8, 10, 12 and 14 inch pizzas with both thin and thicker crusts.  I don't have the prices here but the 14 inch pictured below was about 350 baht if I recall...





But wait (as they say) there's more!

If you invest 300 baht in their loyalty member card you get a second pizza of your choice although smaller than the one you purchase.  (I think you buy a 12 or a 10 inch you get an 8 inch and buying a 14 inch will get you a extra 10 inch.)   Today we got a 12 inch and an 8 inch Ham and Mushroom like the one above for a grand total of 249 baht and they fed three adults with a couple of slices for breakfast - not mine, I hasten to add.

For those who might just be wondering, an 8 inch and a 12 inch are equivalent to a 14inch, so for 250 baht it's hard to beat.

Jeap seems like an obliging guy, eager to make a go of this venture and I get the impression that if asked he'd tweak his recipe to suit customer tastes.

I have no connection blah, blah, blah....

Just wanted to draw your attention to this post in the TV General Forum that links to an e-petition aiming to get the freezing of our pensions reviewed.  We shouldn't be taking this lying down as it were.

The supplier in China seems adverse to using regular mail and suggested this company (actually they named DPEX but it's just been taken over by Toll Global).  Received wisdom says to avoid FedEx and UPS for imports as they seem simply to offer an open invitation to the customs people to extract the maximum duty but maybe these people are different in some way?  The invoice value of the items will only be about US$100 and I'd expect the shipping to run about the same.

Advice from those with experience of getting small shipments from China appreciated.