IF you are looking for a restaurant which serves good food at a reasonable price, in relaxed surroundings with a pleasant view, efficient, helpful staff, and maybe a genial owner who cares about his customers, then Mando’s steakhouse on Rawai Beach Road is just the place.

And if you have a Thai partner you want to impress, then it is definitely the place to go.

The restaurant comfortably seats forty people so a level of intimacy is always assured.

The menu caters for all tastes and has an extensive phonetic Thai section.

This suggests that it’s predominantly for foreigners, which is also hinted at in the prices,
although they are still quite reasonable.

My Thai partner would have preferred the proper Thai language version as well, which seems to make sense considering the demographic of the local clientele that normally frequent the restaurant.

I started with the onion soup served with bread (110 Baht), which was smooth and full of flavour.

Onion soup can sometimes be oily, but this was not, and the onion was tasty and not sharp.
With just a hint of pepper, mine was very palatable indeed.

My partner started with the Tom Kha (Chicken) (130 Baht), a spicy, hot sweet soup made with coconut milk, lemon grass and chicken. It also has fried chillies in it ,which add texture as well as a smoky flavour.

With foreigners in mind, it wasn’t overly spicy and was perfectly edible, the balance of the spices being carefully maintained. Normally it would be more fiery.

For my main course, I chose the princess filet (290 Baht).

It came with bacon, wrapped asparagus and Béarnaise sauce.

I find pork can sometimes be tasteless and needs cooking carefully, but my meal was cooked to perfection.
The serving was very generous, with five medallions of pork, and lashings of cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and mashed potato.

The mashed potato was smooth and buttery, and the vegetables were cooked to crispy perfection.

The bacon-wrapped asparagus was the best I have tasted in a very long time.

The asparagus was delicately nutty, and was definitely a taste-bud teaser.

The pork was lean, properly browned and delicious, and the béarnaise sauce was fresh and alive and really fortified the taste.

My partner had Pla Chu-Chi (150 Baht), which is fresh snapper cooked in red curry paste and coconut milk, with sweet Thai basil and lime leaves, served with steamed rice.

The spices were there in the right amounts, and the fish was perfectly cooked, falling to pieces in the mouth.

I had a glass of house white (120 Baht) to wash down the meal, which turned out to be a slightly fruity chardonnay with the merest hint of dryness.

I finished with chocolate mousse and raspberries (120 Baht).

This was luscious and the complimentary tastes were in perfect balance.

If I had not eaten so much, I would have certainly backed up for another helping.

Willi Janssen, one of the two owners, is a seasoned bar owner and restaurateur who cut his teeth in the pandemonium that is Patong.

He became tired of suffering the continual chaos, and wishing to refine the atmosphere, he moved his business to Rawai.

Mando Steakhouse has a commanding site overlooking Rawai Beach, albeit across the main Rawai Beach Road.

Will says he is serious about quality and insists on very high standards from his staff.
I have no complaints on that score, and they were always smart, smiling, pleasant, helpful and polite.

Mando’s has space upstairs for private parties and it’s the ideal place for ‘sundowners’ who want to see the sun set.

Being a steakhouse, there is, of course, a wide range of fresh, juicy Australian steaks to choose from,. Prices start at about 500 baht.

Willi said he will be expanding the range of steaks in the near future.

Having dined here previously I can vouch for the tenderloin with cognac and the Massaman curry, although the Massaman is a little too spicy for me, both are worthy of a visit.

Mando Steakhouse also does take-aways, hotel pickups and returns, and caters for private parties.