Breakfast in Bangkok: Why so bloody expensive?

I’ve spent quite a bit of time in cities other than Bangkok over the last five months and breakfast became a bit of an obsession. The day’s first meal became important to, uh, orient myself after “the night before.”

Call me delighted. I found breakfast -- English or American or Continental or Thai -- to be quite cheap. In my world, that’s a good way to start the day, cf., “the night before” and expenses incurred therein.

The following statement is not based on exhaustive research, otherwise I’d have reclaimed those 15 kilos I’ve lost over the last four years. It appears to be that the best value for expat money in Thailand or Cambodia is to be found in Pattaya.

Pattaya must have the best collection of farang breakfast offerings, in quality, portion and price.

First though let me say I’m not a big fan of English breakfast. Too much food! And too many beans, which is to say one bean is one too many when they taste like the can they came in. You just can’t warm up some beans and slop them on the plate.  And the sausages, at least those to be found in Thailand, are more herbal pate than meaty.

A sausage exception that leaps to mind can be found at the Pig & Whistle in Pattaya. Outstanding pork sausages! Outstanding breakfast! Two sizes, by the way.

Some foreigner-owned restaurants offer American breakfast (stay away from Thai American breakfast: see below). That would pretty much be the simple combo of eggs, bacon, home fried potatoes (sometimes optional) and toast. Just my style (I’m not American).

And of course, you can always grab a bowl of 20-30 baht Thai noodle soup, which is not a bad alternative to spark the day. Thing is, not all noodle soups are made equal so I found this a bit of a dice roller when sizing up my morning/afternoon choices.

I searched for “good,” “breakfast,” “bangkok” recently. Got some recommendations in the lower Sukhumvit area of BKK, where many expats and tourists gravitate either because of brand name hotels or bars and their special companionship services.

I popped up soi 4 to the huge Hanrahan’s restaurant. Gulp! 300 baht. The most expensive I had seen on a menu price list was 280 baht at the Robin Hood. I have not sampled the food at either place. If I wanted to spend $8 to $9 plus, plus, I’d have stayed in Canada. (Frankly, I can get a fantastic full-on breakfast in Toronto for the same or much less!)

I'd already spotted the Dynasty Inn on the way up soi 4, a place I had specifically gone to eat at in the past because it's inexpensive and good -- though not until recently. It was to be my fallback. Well, the fallback won since Hanrahan's was so pricy. Good breakfast, good price (Canadian bacon, eggs, toast, plus fruit for 110 plus 70 for the potatoes), good service. The 10% service charge on the check led me to ask if staff get the cash. Nope, the hotel company does! Tip money does go to staff.

Other places checked and rejected because of the price (for English breakfast equivalents) were Queen Victoria (310 bt) on soi 23, Londoner (320 baht) on Sukhumvit at soi 33, Robin Hood (280) on Sukhumvit at soi 33/1 and Dubliner at soi 22 (400 baht for full Irish brekkie). All these places are huge operations on prime locations with big staff. I imagine the costs must be much higher, especially if some foods are specially imported, so prices reflect some of that.

My two favourite breakfast spots are Silver Dollar on Washington Square (130 baht for nicely done American breakfast meal) and Soi 8 Pub (185 baht for a substantial plate of greasy glory).

For pricing contrast, take Pattaya. Best full breakfast price I saw was 85 baht. Buffets are common, where you’ll get English, American and Thai delights for 105 baht (Diana Dragon), as much as you can eat.

I wish I could remember the small breakfast price at the Pig & Whistle (soi 7) but I think it was 130 baht. Price a bit high for Pattaya but well worth it for the quality of all the items on the plate.

As for why Pattaya is inexpensive, eateries are definitely situated in cheaper shophouses but some of them are no less big than BKK leading names. I doubt the Thai staff salaries are much different between the two cities. The cost of doing business (deliveries, sourcing foods and repair works) may be cheaper in Pattaya. Certainly there’s more competition in the more compact area of Pattaya that keeps prices down. I also think the tourists who throng the beach city fit in a lower average income level, which would tend to restrict restaurateurs to non-gouging practices.

But it seems to me that little of this explains the 100-300 baht differential between pricier Bangkok and reasonable Pattaya -- double to four times Pattaya menu prices. Maybe the real reason is that BKK businesses are largely dealing with the kind of Bangkok expats and business visitors who work at a higher income point and therefore can handily pay the freight. So those of us not boasting a surplus of money will just have to deal with it -- by shopping carefully. Which is exactly what Thai folks do.

This devine Thai omlette on rice is only 20 baht on the street.

And this "nutritious" breakfast on a train trip is far more preferable to this below . . .

Here's the kind of  "American breakfast" (in Roi-Et, in this case) you will find in many a Thai rural city.  What is described as "sausage" looks and tastes like weiners, and sandwich ham is as tasteless as it looks, not to mention the mass production egg. And then there's the cloying, sweet salad dressing common on salads that  almost makes me, uh, you know . . .

Comments

[Siam.Rick]

1.

Cool, Matt. Thanks. There's a Soi Cowboy off Silom? Unless you are using a nickname to refer to Patpong et al?

Er, um, we still haven't got together, have we? Let's try this again. I'll email you. Cheers!

[matt]

2.

Great breakfast at Molly Malone's on Silom Soi Cowboy, 99 baht.

[Siam.Rick]

3.

Sorry Martyn for being so late in responding . . .

The Pig & Whistle is top class food place! As you know, Pattaya is blessed with such an array of good quality and value restaurants, it makes BKK hard to stomach ;-)

I know what you mean about the last photo and I have to admit, I feel removing the picture! I almost feel ill . . .

[Martyn]

4.

Rick some of the Bangkok breakfast prices you quote would have me running for a mile, 400 baht for an Irish breakfast, that's outrageous.

I've eaten the English breakfast in the Pig & Whistle many times and it is excellent value and top quality too.

I've just eaten breakfast here in the UK and having viewed your bottom photo I now feel sick (I'm serious).