Indian weddings, a Pattaya niche market, cater for hundreds of guests with an exotic buffet available 24/7 being routine. According to a Pattaya Mail contact with an adding machine, there are currently 77 Indian restaurants alive and kicking in the Pattaya region. Actually he has missed the tasty New Fisherman cafe at Mabprachan lake, so the total should read 78. And yes, the total does include one or two companies on Second Road whose work permits say they are Pakistani or Bangladeshi run. So that means there are around 2,000 customer seats (say 78×25) available at Pattaya’s Indian restaurants at any one moment during opening times. Or about 25,000 during the working day. That’s certainly a lot, but nothing to be surprised about. Social media, especially Facebook bloggers, report the same generous provision worldwide. Many attribute the numerical growth to the popularity of vegetarianism, not only in India but increasingly worldwide. This is a point often missed in debate. Krabi in southern Thailand is evidently heaving with Indian restaurants, apparently because of sub-continental migration and the ease of opening new businesses down there. Another particularly hotspot is greater Toronto in Canada, including Niagara Falls, which is apparently humming with countless Indian students on business courses. Not to mention the Czech Republic’s Prague with a curry house on every street corner to cater for masses of curry-loving foreign tourists. Pattaya’s alleged oversubscription to Indian food opportunities can be examined through Goggle’s artificial intelligence summary. The explanation there is a mixture of migration, tourism, cultural exchanges and business opportunities. Yet even Artificial Intelligence fails to notice Pattaya’s several Indian retail shops which specialize in selling the raw ingredients such as four different types of rice and umpteen spices. Most of Pattaya’s Indian restaurants are centered on Second Road and offshoot streets. Jomtien, by contrast, is deprived but does include Masala Twist, particularly popular with northern Brits, and the elegant Indian by Nature on Thrappaya Road since 2004. The preponderance of Indian restaurants in central Pattaya suggests a cartel approach there: a similar product by the many competitors, each claiming uniqueness. Expats routinely applaud Tarka House, evidently popular with the retiree market, or what’s left of it. Whether they all make a profit is a continual debating point on the internet with dark rumors abounding. Maybe some hire illegal Myanmar workers on starvation wages, or perhaps they provide very small portions via an expensive menu. The eateries could be a cover for other businesses, such as travel agencies or clothes shops or immigration shortcuts, or (heaven forbid) they might be dark centers for dubious money changing transactions and that flavor of the month – cryptocurrency. Some doubters on Facebook frown about cookie jar practices, namely fake bookkeeping to disguise losses. There is, of course, no actual evidence. A recent check on licences by local authority investigators found them mostly to be in order. Still, it could be that Pattaya just has too much of everything and that Indian restaurants simply fall into that category: the revenue cake has to be shared in smaller pieces. Critics of Indian restaurants usually don’t like Indian food anyway and often resort to racist interpretations. One could equally well complain about the large number of barber shops, massage parlors or open bars with happy hours. How do they all survive? Or will they in future? It’s best to declare a personal bias. There’s no such thing as the “best” Indian or the “best” British breakfast or the most delicious fish and chips. It’s all in the subjective mind of the beholder. My personal favorites are Ali Baba on Central Road – any family restaurant dating back without interruption to 1984 and with steep steps to climb must be exceptional – and Madras Darbar opposite Central Festival on Second Road which does have that singularly compulsory element. Many Indians eat there regularly.