The traditional Christmas dinner is almost as festive as Santa Claus himself and is an essential part of xmas celebrations.
Depending on where you are from in the world, the festive feast is usually eaten on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and is usually a filling three course meal that often takes days to prepare. Such a meal forms the main part of Christmas festivities and is a celebration of the birth of Jesus within the Christian faith rather than just a fancy meal, somewhat forgotten here in Pattaya.
A typical English Christmas day feast is often a three course meal that begins with a starter, such as pumpkin soup, prawn cocktail or pâté with toast. The main course nearly always features a huge turkey although goose is becoming quite popular, additional meats would be honey baked ham, pork with crackling, and roast sirloin of beef.
Sides dishes would include a variety of roasted vegetables such as potatoes, parsnip, carrots, along with Brussels sprouts, cauliflower cheese, broccoli, mashed potato, sage & onion stuffing. Not forgetting gravy and sauces such as cranberry and horseradish.
Desserts such as Christmas cake, pudding and mince pies, are often prepared with alcohol months in advance. For children, apple pie & custard, chocolate cake and yule log are always a popular compared to the adult sweets. And if there is room in anyone’s belly after all of that, then cheese and biscuits would follow, after eight mints and the traditional quality Street or Roses selection.
Here in Pattaya, you can enjoy a traditional Christmas dinner at many restaurants across the city. However it’s very different from the traditional feel and atmosphere back in northern Europe or America, where the cold of winter brings heavy snow and families are huddled up in the warmth of a wood fire, or in most cases, central heating. Here in Pattaya, it feels strange with the temperature in the mid 30°C and everyone is wearing shorts and tee-shirts.
The choice of where you can eat in Pattaya on Christmas Day is far from limited. Naturally, you may want to eat close to your home and if that is the case there are a wide array of options across the city.
In East Pattaya, you have The Loft Resort which is perfect for families along with the Retox Outback Bar that meets everyone’s culinary wish. In Central Pattaya, you have the usual favourites of the Robin’s Nest, Jameson’s, The Sportsman and I-Rover with Linda’s and Hemingway’s being ideal if you are in Jomtien.
Many of these restaurants will also serve some of the of the foods that we might associate with Boxing Day such as turkey sandwiches or maybe even a turkey curry. Whilst these may have been things that we dreaded back in the West, they can be a welcome change or maybe something that helps anyone who might be feeling a little homesick. Although your Christmas may be anything from the ‘norm’, you can be certain that you will be able to get many of the things that you associate with home.
Of course, for many people, Christmas is all about being at home with loved ones. The fact that you are in Thailand certainly doesn’t mean you can’t have a home cooked Christmas feast. It’s just a lot of work preparing the food at home, and without air-con in the kitchen, a very hot task indeed. If you are going to cook at home, you can get all your products from expat shops such as Siam Expat Foods and Siamburi’s, large turkey’s are available from Prime Foods and other major supermarkets.
If you haven’t made any plans or you don’t feel like venturing out after perhaps after a heavy Christmas Eve out on the town, you can always order your favourite food in from Door 2 Door. This is a great option if you are or aren’t feeling in the festive mood with regular menus available from some of Pattaya’s top restaurants. Of course, nearly all the bars in Pattaya will be open as normal so you will be able to catch up with your friends much like any other evening.
