Forking out at Patara

Opulent finishes and dramatic lighting feature at Patara Soho

We mustn't upset minority groups. I am married to someone who belongs to a particularly small minority: those who don't like Thai food. He is impervious to the siren song of sugar that wheedles its way into so much London Thai cooking and is left cold by the heat of the deepfat fryer into which so much London Thai food is lowered.

When we went to the recently opened Patara Soho, he ordered kong nueng ruam as his first course. These are assorted steamed dumplings that could almost be Chinese. They were quite good - one little parcel had green dough dyed with spinach - but not top of the range.

But a salad of julienne of duck with herbs and roasted rice was delectable, the meat and the salad leaves imbued with spices and given a lively mouthtingling edge by the use of fresh mint.

The flesh of long aubergines removed from their skin provided the base of another imaginative salad. The garnish was fresh crabmeat and the dressing was flavoured with caviar. It quickly became obvious that this was not your average London Thai restaurant.

Patara is an international group which allegedly trains its chefs in its Bangkok flagship. Big investment has gone into the interior of this, its fourth London branch.

High prices reflect the hiring of the same architect and designer who created the look of the Indian restaurant Benares. Finishes are opulent and the lighting dramatic. Our polished wood table laid with white linen runners was next to the centrepiece, a model teak Thai palace climbing to the ceiling, lit from within by nightlights.

There is a bar area near the entrance where "acclaimed cocktail creator Brian Lucas" has dreamed up drinks such as Kumquat Sour and Spiced Pear Daiquiri that are designed to go head to head with the spicing of the food.

Our main courses of grilled black cod with ginger and pickled yellow bean sauce and rack of lamb with sweet rice rolls and a spicy salad didn't defeat the wine we had chosen although the incessant topping up of glasses tried our patience.

The black cod - a sine qua non of would-be fashionable restaurants - was delicate and just tantalisingly sweet; one lamb chop was very much better than the other two, which was disconcerting. It was only the freerange green chicken curry with sweet basil that brought up words like Radox, hitherto used to describe Thai food by its now almost converted detractor.

A dessert of exotic fresh fruit was generously served for the price of £6.95. Having someone else peel and prepare fruit seems to me worth a lot. That way you eat it, rather than buy it and a few days later throw it in the bin.

Staff are friendly and efficient, their smiles sometimes connecting the eyes to the mouth. If you want to try Patara Soho without forking out too much moolah, there is a set-price lunch and also a pre-theatre platter served from 6-7.30pm for £14.95.

Patara
Greek Street, London, W1D 4DP

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