Thai for two

Holding the phone far from my ear while they howled at my expense I wondered why I had bothered inviting him to come to Chiang Mai's Kitchen in the first place. But then I had to admit, he had a point.

Because, however hard I try, I can't imagine Queen Elizabeth sitting down to a good pad thai, or a Thai family serving a fresh green curry amidst the low beams and wooden floors of Tudor England either.

But I'm well aware that I'm the odd one out, which is why I've taken so long to review Chiang Mai's. From the Good Food Guide to Harden's, most people love it, yet time and time again I leave unfulfilled and instead book into my favourite Thai restaurant, Bangkok House, which does it for me every time.

But more of that later - first of all Friday night's foray to Chiang Mai's, where I was hoping the scales would fall from my eyes. But, yet again, I was seated at a pokey table, knocking knees with the people sitting at the next table, sharing our conversation with anyone within hearing distance, which was everyone, and wishing I was at Bangkok House.

It was like eating curry without the flocked wallpaper, silver trolleys, hot flannels and Asian music. And by the time you have driven into town, parked, walked up the High Street and ordered, you wonder why you bothered. Biased, obviously. Confused, definitely.

Apart from my mainly unsubstantiated bewilderment, it was the prices that rankled most.

Remembering the exciting fresh salads you get in Thailand I ordered the salad Chiang Mai, expecting an exotic assortment of raw vegetables, fruits and nuts accompanied by a piquant dressing of lime juice and chillies. The £6.95 result was iceburg lettuce, sliced tomatoes, grated carrot and a chopped egg with some peanut satay sauce plopped on top. Talk about an Anglicised version. This is McDonalds Thai at best. I'm sure the Thais wouldn't know an iceburg lettuce if it hit them on the head. And at the £7 mark, it was pitifully small and ordinary.

The peek gai yad sai, Thai chicken wings, stuffed with pork and shrimps, was described by Mr Greedy as strange' - aren't men descriptive? His main was detailed as chargrilled steak, sliced and served on a sizzling hot plate with a special Thai sauce' and, while the beef was tender, it arrived immersed in gravy without a sizzling skillet in sight.

Luckily, the pad phed pak, a curry with fresh green peppercorns, lime leaves and baby aubergines, was delicious.

The bill with rice, a couple of beers and some green tea came to £48.50, and we decided that although Chiang Mai's was busy, atmospheric and up-beat, it was over-priced and the menu was more appetising than the actual dishes themselves.

Fast forward a week and I was in Bangkok House.

We hadn't booked because it was a cold, rainy weekday night and I didn't imagine anyone else would have ventured out for dinner, except a restaurant critic with a Thai craving to fulfil. But the place was rammed and we had to wait for a table. Now that's a sign of a restaurant with a winning formula, especially as lots of the diners were oriental, further proof that you are in the right place.

Seated at one of the ornate carved wooden tables overlooking Hythe Bridge Street, everything felt right. The waitresses in their beautiful gold and embroidered silk outfits and that wonderful smell as the food is silently placed on the glass-topped tables in china bowls with china spoons - bliss.

I'm afraid I didn't even look at the menu here and just ordered happy soup and Thai green curry. I call it happy soup because one mouthful has you grinning like a Cheshire cat, but actually its technical name is tom ka het.

My friend chose the deep-fried beancurd with the spicy peanut sauce and the red Thai curry. We accompanied our choices with green tea and Thai beer, and munched on the prawn crackers while we waited.

And neither dish disappointed. I was grinning within seconds as that magical combination of mushrooms, lime leaves, lemon grass, chilli and coconut milk slipped down my throat, velvety smooth. The bean curd was bland until you dipped it in the satay sauce, as required, and suddenly the dish came together, a sum of its parts.

And take it from me, the curry here is the real thing, hot, spicy, aromatic and full of strange vegetables you wouldn't find anywhere else. In short, Bangkok House hits the parts other Thai restaurants cannot reach, and all for £30.

So, as I obviously can't understand the heat, I shall be staying out of Chiang Mai's Kitchen in future.

Bangkok House, 42a Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford. 01865 200705.

Chiang Mai Kitchen, Kemp Hall Passage, off High Street, Oxford. 01865 202233.