Thai Emerald, Evesham

MY Evesham buddies have long been singing the praises of a gem of a restaurant in an otherwise non descript area of the town’s High Street.

Thai Emerald certainly looked the part, housed in an impressive white-fronted building, with ornamental elephants adorning the entrance.

Once inside the packed restaurant, I was immediately struck by the small wooden footbridge above a babbling fishpond, over which we were led to enter the dining area.

It was fortunate that we’d only consumed a couple of glasses of wine.

Safely in our seats, we were able to observe the intricate wall carvings, bamboo claddings and an abundance of tropical plants – we could have almost been in Phuket ... almost.

We had to prompt staff for our welcoming drinks and complimentary crackers but the service afterwards was fine.

Being fish fiends, one friend and I ordered the three-course seafood banquet, (£24.95 each).

The mixed seafood starters came neatly arranged on beds of crisp cut vegetable dressings with a variety of sauces and dips.

The fabulous seafood included succulent melt-in-the-mouth large Thai-style fish cakes, breaded king prawns on sticks, crab cake, battered calamari and plenty of mussels to share. It was all top notch fair.

Our third diner chose the nuea sawan starter, a thin slice of beef, marinated in honey and Thai spices fried until crispy (£4.95).

He declared it a pleasant appetiser and it certainly whetted his appetite for more, not to mention a glass or two of the Chilean house wine, a perfectly palatable sauvignon blanc (£12.95). And he certainly had no beef with his Thai Emerald steak (£10.95). He judged his sizzling, sliced, marinated sirloin steak juicy and tasty, offset well by the spicy tamarind sauce and fried rice (£4.25).

The seafood banquet main courses looked and smelled wonderful and the array of dishes more than matched up in the taste stakes.

A fried whole sea bass in slightly sweet and sour chilli sauce was just right – although my dining companion squeamishly sent the fish head back to the kitchen despite the waitress declaring it the best bit – and king prawn stir-fried in pepper, pineapple and onion had the correct combination of sweet and sour.

Octopus, prawn and mussels made up the remainder of the mixed seafood dish. These delights were cooked with shu shi curry paste, pepper, onions and Thai herbs to give it a delicious nutty taste and leaving us jousting over the next forkload.

Our fourth dish consisted of stir-fried noodles with king prawns, eggs, bean sprouts and tamarind sauce. It was a fine accompanient to the other dishes along with the light Thai steamed rice.

For dessert we opted for raspberry pavlova and ginger crème – both with guilty lashings of fresh cream. They looked a mess but tasted a treat and the pavlova had a generous portion of raspberries.

After our feast, we were perfectly satisfied but not over full.

The restaurant had a good vibe, lots of chatter, and the Thai adornments gave it a relaxed, oriental ambience.

If you’re willing to splash about £30 for an excellent night out for three courses, coffee and drinks then Thai Emerald will certainly be a prized jewel in your dining diary.

HOW IT RATED

Food: ★★★★✩
Service: ★★★✩✩
Value for money: ★★★★✩
Ambience: ★★★★✩