Thank you Little India, I do appreciate your openness. I have tried Foods Courts in a variety of locations, often when on the road and traveling around. This has been out of necessity because I have been hungry and nothing else was available. Regrettably, I have found the meals produced in these places to have been consistently below par at best, to not very good at all. I think the culture behind these places is completely wrong and there is no redress if you are unhappy with the meal supplied. They are preparing food for the opportunist visitor who they never expect to see ever again. I think they use the cheapest ingredients possible and with the maximum use of MSG to add flavour.
I can not speak about the quality of food on offer at any of the food courts in Surin. I have not eaten in them in many a year and I did not try the new Food Court in RLC, even my curiosity failed to get the better of me. I made my decision many years ago not to eat in Food Courts ever again, even if I'm starving.
I will only eat at food courts where I consider the quality to be acceptable. Without wishing to sound like AtB I will look for someone who cooks fresh. There is a great place at a PTT station on the 33 road from Wattana Nakhon to Kabinburi. It is enclosed (not that important), they have table service, they have knives and spoons that don't bend just from the heat of your fingers, the food quality is very good (Rik, they serve pork slices in their pad krapow - ie actually prefer mince). The prices are 5/10Bt higher than many other places.
Compare this to a very typical Thai food court at the PTT gas station in Wattana Nakhon. I will no longer eat there. When Nick and I are on our tour travels I leave him to choose from cold dishes of poor quality meat, rice and vegetable dishes that have sat around for God knows how long. I will grab something from 7/11 - at least they have a microwave.
Nick and I have often discussed this and he has said " this is what the Thais like, this what they are used to".
They may be used to it but I believe it has been a case of Hobson's Choice in the past. I do think things are changing and those establishments that make a greater effort at providing quality will be rewarded with a greater share of the market.
There will always be a market for those (businesses or customers) who think that good value = cheap. If this is all that someone can afford then it is good to have that available. For anyone who does not need to eat for 25 Baht a time then there should be greater availability of better quality eateries.
It is true that you usually get what you pay for and I will no longer pay for poor quality food where the owners are too lazy to provide decent hot food.
It is disappointing to hear the the Robinsons food court has dipped from its initial good standards. I hate to say it but I think it could be another example of Thai laziness and ready acceptance of poor quality - often not recognising what makes the difference.
