A yen for change

A brief history of I-THAI. When Anouska Hempel opened The Hempel hotel in what she hoped would be renamed Hempel Garden Square, but seems to have defiantly remained Craven Hill Gardens, the menu of the basement restaurant was designed to celebrate the fusion of East and West, the latter being represented by Italian risotto.

Despite the enduring success of another Hempel enterprise, Blakes, Anouska's eponymous Bayswater hotel did not attract the same lively level of business. Maybe the location was off-key or the sterile minimalist surroundings lacked a wide appeal or, as Americans might put it, you didn't get much of a bang for your buck, but a year or so ago Anouska - I wonder if she knows that the Microsoft Word spellcheck suggests Anoraks - and The Hempel parted company.

Reading a Japanese newsletter the other day (in English, I will admit), I discovered that I-Thai has a new chef in the shape of Rob Shipman, who worked at Nobu for a significant five-year period.

He has worked in other Japanese restaurants, in a fishmonger's and is married to a Japanese woman. Shipman's approach at I-Thai is, in his own words, "Modern Japanese or Japanese-French fusion. To justify the phrase, he reminisces, rather worryingly, about his admiration for nouvelle cuisine.

Although the official launch of the new menu, when the restaurant name will be changed to Hanami (a word associated with springtime), is a few months off, Shipman has been working in the hotel's kitchens since November, evolving his particular style. As ever, one of the most striking things about I-Thai's menu is the cost of the dishes. Main courses range from £20 (for green chicken curry, the only Thai remnant on the list) to £29.75, with side dishes priced between £3.25 and £8.50, all subject to an "optional 15 per cent service charge.

In a fit of fiscal Puritanism, or prudence, I decided to start with a side dish of edamame (steamed fresh soy beans) which is only £3.25. My companions chose cepeandtruffle chawan mushi and panfried diver scallop with confit of cured pork belly.

The flavour of truffle rather scarred the innocence of the shivering custard that is chawan mushi. It was a case of over-egging the savoury pudding. A spooky similarity-between the texture of the pork fat and the scallop intrigued the recipient of that dish.

A selection of sashimi is offered "from £19.75 as one of the first courses. When asked what it would cost as a main course, the waiter ventured £30. It turned out to be a timid selection in terms of species: salmon, tuna, seabass and prawns.

Miso soup with home-made tofu was an unusually creamy-rich, depth-charged broth. Lobster poached in blended nut oils with crystallised soy and Japanese lime promised a sort of confit but delivered fairly straightforward lobster whose provenance was Canada. At £29.75 you might hope for Scottish. The accompaniments of lotus noodles and glazed fennel were the more interesting part of the dish.

Roasted and braised squab donabé cooked in an earthenware pot with parsnips, mirin and grated daikon sauce produced tender, rosy slices of meat in a savoury gravy with just a couple of small chunks representing the world of parsnips.