Umm!... Milk

In the last two weeks I've done nothing but work and eat, hence another restaurant blog...

Chokechai Steak House is almost exactly half way between Korat and Bangkok and a perfect pit stop for a good meal and to break up the monotonous 3-hour journey.



There are not many "steak houses" in Thailand. You'd understand if you ever saw one of their cows.

This is my friend Supot's cow. It's actually one of Thailand's healthier specimens.


Although cow is on the menu, most dishes are chicken, pork, or fish. Full-sized steaks are rarely seen, and I'm sure any quality steaks are imported.

Chokechai Steak House is trying to change all that, and by the fact that this roadside restaurant is always teeming with tourists, I would say they're doing a good job.

Recently, Nuch and I stopped by on the way back from Korat.

This is a painting of the founder - Mr Chokechai

Why build a steak house in the middle of Thailand? Perhaps, Mr. Chokechai was inspired by Ronald Reagan's old cowboy movies.

Here's the giant Chokechai mascot. A bit boney in the rump, and the head looks a little small for the body. Can you see the the veins running along the sack of the utter? With such attention to detail, why not make the body and head proportional to each other?

This was taken in front of Chokechai Steak House. At some point in history you would have seen the lush green hills of Kao Yai National Park. Now, you see two of the world's largest billboards that are currently slowing down the Earth's rotation.

Chokechai is also taking on the not-so pleasant responsibility of introducing milk to the lactose intolerant masses of Thailand.

I noticed these signs at the milk shop - one is in English and one is in Thai.

When writing "Umm!... Milk" in Thai - instead of using the word "Nom", which means milk, they spelled "Milk" phonetically in Thai. Either that's just a trendy way of promoting this typically Western product, or they were concerned Thais would take "Nom" as it's commonly used slang meaning for mammary glands.

Umm!... Breasts

Finally, the meal. No offense to Chokechai's cow steaks (I've had them before and they're not bad), but Nuch and I enjoyed some fried rice and chicken along with an excellent grilled salmon steak.

Next time I'll stop for one of their famous steakburgers.

At least, I think they're steakburgers...