Luga's Baan Thai

Moving into the top floor of Sanlitun drinking den Luga’s Villa is Baan Thai, which has the same owners as the bar below, but is run by a largely Thai management team. While the décor does little to reflect Baan Thai’s cuisine – save for some wooden panelling – the food does have all the right ingredients, though not always used in the right proportions.

The Thai-style seafood salad (48RMB), for example, comes with big pieces of squid, large prawns and fresh mussels. It’s chock-full but tastes bland, let down by too little lime juice and chilli. The same goes for their pad Thai (38RMB), which is too sweet, and the rice noodles too sticky.

Thankfully they do get it right with the Tom Yung Goong (58RMB large, 28RMB small). Served in an earthen pot, the hot and spicy broth is complemented with juicy prawns, thin mushroom slices and enough lemongrass that you smell the dish before you see it. Watch out for the chillis, or at least have a glass of water ready if you bite into them.

The Thai tapas (68RMB) is also good, especially if you want to try a little bit of everything. The platter consists of nicely seasoned chicken skewers, oily but tasty prawn and fish cakes, samosa rolls and three dipping sauces.

Skip the dessert of glutinous rice with mango – the rice is mushy, the mangoes aren’t sweet or soft, and the coconut cream tastes like blue cheese. Instead, end the meal with the sweet durian crisps (8RMB per piece).

The service was standard the night we visited; orders and requests were seen to, but with only two tables that evening we can’t say how they’ll fare on a busier night. Best to come to Baan Thai and order its spicy dishes before heading downstairs for jugs of Stella to put out the fire. Kenneth Tan