Andy71

NALAK, on 2011-01-09 01:04:47, said:

Had a chance to try this place, Basta Pasta [or was it Pasta Basta, I can't remember] for the first time yesterday for lunch with a friend. WHAT A FIND...AND IT'S HERE ON THE FARSIDE!!! It was some of the best pasta I have had in Pattaya in the 7 years of I lived here. My friend had been before and between his earlier trip and yesterday, we have sampled 3 of the pasta dishes so it gives me at least a decent selection for this review.

First off, it's located at the top of soi Kao Talo, just past the Kao Noi junction and past the 7-11 (next to the Castro Gym and opposite their parking lot). They are open for both lunch and dinner (till 10 pm). They have taken a double-wide shop-house and completely remodeled the interior into a very classy Italian bistro type resto, with proper cutlery and glassware. At present, there is no air-conditioning but plenty of large ceiling fans (which is fine for the next month or so but could present a problem in April and May ). Overall, the ambiance is as pleasant as anything on the "other" side. The service staff have also been well trained and are friendly and efficient. OK, now on to the food...

I am an Italian food lover - especially good pasta and I could eat it everyday [sorta like Thais and som-tam]. So I am always on the lookout for a good pasta resto. There are a few places, unfortunately mostly on the Brightside [Ticino/Tocino being a welcome exception] in Pattaya that I have found over the years that do a decent pasta at a reasonable price [basically B 150-B 250 a dish IMHO]. Being mostly on the Brightside, they are sometimes inconvenient to get to and parking can be a hassle with a car. But no more! Basta Pasta, as its name implies, specializes in pasta. The menu is basically all pastas, with maybe 4-5 other meat entrees available. Starters are also limited to a cutacuria meat plate and I believe some bruschuttas. But it's not a problem because all pasta dishes come with bread rolls and a bowl of hearty soup included. The pasta selection is vast...both the noodles and the sauces they come with. There must be a dozen different pasta noodles available and maybe two-dozen sauces to choose from to put on top. There are all the basic sauces, e.g., tomato, bolonaise, carbonara, etc., but where BP shines are in the unusual one, like how about octopus or pork and shrimp in white-wine cream sauce! I have not seen such a selection in sauces in any other Italian resto in Pattaya [or Bangkok for that matter]. There is a good selection of wines by both the bottle and the glass. Espresso and a good selection of ice-creams are available for dessert.

So having all those interesting sauces on the menu is great...but can the kitchen actually come through and deliver the goods?. This is often the downfall for many a resto...but BP succeed in carrying this off in spades. For my main, I chose the rigatoni with parma ham, mushroom, and walnuts in a white-wine cream sauce. It was excellent, with the noodles cooked "el dente" and the sauce including copious amounts of quality thin-sliced parma ham crudo, tasty imported wood-ear mushrooms, and finely ground walnuts in the sauce. They also serve quality shaved Parmesan cheese to top-off the pasta...not the ground-up stuff found in your typical Italian resto. The serving size is very generous and I was fully sated by the end of my meal. As noted earlier, the meal also includes rolls, served with olive oil, and a bowl of soup, which for us was vegetable. I don't know if this soup changes day by day. The soup was not a large portion but was very good and stuffed-full of healthy veggies.

My dining companion had the rigatoni with Italian sausage and tomato sauce. He too pronounced it very good; his only demerit was that he would have preferred the sausage be more spicy. However, the dish was very good and he gave it 4 out of 5 stars. Previously, he had had the raviolis and he was very pleased with that dish as well. My companion also had an espresso and we both had ice-creams as well. My friend pronounced the espresso to be to his taste and we both enjoyed the ice-creams [B 100 for 2 generous scoops]. While the ice-creams are not made on the premises, they are "home made" from a smaller distrubutor in Pattaya and have a good flavor to them. However, be aware that they are not so much of the creamy variety, with slightly more emphasis on the "ice" rather than the "cream."

So there you have it. One of the best pasta places I have had to pleasure to dine at and it's right here on the Farside. Anyone who enjoys pasta has to give this place a try. I know it will be a regular stop on my eating rounds from now on. And I forgot to mention, the chef in Belgium, so that probably has something to do with the quality of the food served from his kitchen