The Patara of Thai-ny feats

This review was published in February 2002

I found the press communiqu? regarding the opening of the Maddox Street branch of Patara a revealing document. Under the section headed 'Meet the Team', the chef, sorry 'renowned head chef' Somnuek Bonkomon, rates only third after the Ou Baholyodhin Studio ('the project's creative consultant') and Dols Wong Architects which 'infuses the duplex dining space with a new exotic and refined modernism'.

Had Mr Bonkomon slipped any further down the listing he would have found himself under Brian Lucas (bar manager), Sally Story, who has apparently 'excelled herself with an innovative lighting concept', and Steiner Berg-Olsen whose responsibility will be to 'tailor unique floral displays blending the oriental influence with the modern style of Patara'.

Rather like the thank-you speech of a first-time Oscar winner, this was a comprehensive list; although I can't help feeling a little upset that we were not informed who made the cutlery, which really was very attractive. Nevertheless, I can't pretend not to have been a little worried that the chef only warranted third position. Don't get me wrong, I like to think I am as superficial as the best of them, it is just that the ostensible function of a restaurant is still as a place to eat.

But any fears that I might have been visiting a preposterously over-designed, gastronomically underpowered restaurant, were allayed. The adjective that best describes my visit to the Maddox Street Patara is gentle. The minute I stepped out of the chilly London night and into the soothing surroundings of Patara, I began to feel pleasantly relaxed.

As I took my seat in the serene yet contemporary setting of the restaurant, I 'shared my feelings', as I believe is the vogue these days, and was immediately told that the feng shui of the place was remarkable. I have to explain that I was dining with a man whose books on feng shui sell by the hundreds of thousands and his macrobiotic wife who co-authored Boy George's cookbook. (For hardline New Agers, I have to say they downed Thai beers and French cigarettes with an enthusiasm that was wholly pleasing.)

But back to the feng shui - apparently, as the building is north-facing, a sense of calm is engendered, while the fact that one has to walk through the bar, turn left, walk along a little corridor and turn left into the dining room is apparently the very definition of good feng shui.

Once the food arrived I thought we might be able to get off the New Age and into some serious nourishment. Not a bit of it. As I ploughed into a dish of sliced raw tuna with a spicy lemongrass and mint dressing, I was told that the tuna was the yang; while the dressing - which also had hint of the zingy freshness of lime about it - was the yin. Doubtless the excellent and calming feng shui of the restaurant made this comment sound less daft than it might otherwise have done.

Moreover, for all the architectural and decorative neologisms, there are a few cues from the collective past of ethnic restaurants in Britain. First, a red asterisk system denotes dishes which are either 'slightly hot' or 'medium hot'. And for those who cannot quite wrap their vocal chords around the Thai nomenclature of such dishes as 'nok kratah pad mamuang', a single red-star dish of pan-roasted quail with water chestnut, dates, cashews and chilli, there is a numerical code, in this case 35.

We ordered almost exclusively from the section headed 'chef's recommendation'. I settled for number 51, 'gang kua sapparod', a 'spicy and tangy' prawn curry featuring coconut and pineapple.

Pineapple is a sadly neglected ingredient these days. Once upon a time, it was the apotheosis of exotica. But while everything from the prawn cocktail to veal escalope Holstein has been rehabilitated, the poor old pineapple somehow remains shunned.

Anyway, the curry was delightful, neither overpoweringly spicy nor killingly tangy. Presentation, too, is good, verging on the exquisite. My curry arrived in a clay pot with its own burner. Steamed sea bass in a lime, garlic and chilli sauce (number 44) arrived looking almost sculptural in its transparent dressing.