This article featured in the 16 July 2001 issue of Yorkshire Post Magazine.
Reproduced with permission.

Sahm like it hot

You are invited to return, and, hammy as it sounds, that's what people have been doing since it opened in mid-May. Booking is already recommended at weekends.

The food is full-flavoured Thai. A decision has been taken to give the aromatically spiced authentic taste, rather than a blander compromise. If you want the heat turning down, then you must ask.

In Thailand the flavourings can be even fiercer but Sangthai hasn't skimped on the fire in Tom yum goong, the hot and sour prawn soup familiar to old Thai hands. You'll soon be reaching for a cool drink. It sparkles with chilli, lemon grass and lime leaves. Ask for number 11, a numeric device to help the staff take your order. All but one are Thai.

Escrick, between York and Selby, isn't where you'd expect to find a fine Thai restaurant, next to the church. On the other side is The Parsonage, an established country house hotel. Sangthai is part of a much newer business called Church Cottage Hotel. The owners are Robert Malpas, and his wife, Saengthai, who comes from northern Thailand and loves cooking.

Driving through the tight entrance arch is a feat of faith, aggravated by meeting a sleeping policeman halfway through. A jarring experience in any language. The place itself is bright and airy, furnished in the Modern British Conservatory Style of cane and cushions: unpretentious, comfortable, magazine glossy. The Malpases call is Thai colonial.

The menu is particularly helpful in advising on what and how to choose. It is written in Thai with an English translation - a useful guide if, like our table neighbours, you are planning your first trip to Thailand. For example, you are told that you will find fibrous ingredients in the soup, which are there for flavour, and should be left in the bowl. Here speaks one who has tried to chew his way through it all at the Teak House in Chiang Mai.

I hope you hear better music instead of the Smash Euro Hits Compilation Thai-style, which was droning in the background.

I digress. The food is very enjoyable and it struck a chord with diners who were chatting happily. Next time, though, I'll skip the starters. They career round the deep-fried pastry parcel formula, popular in the East but tends to leave me feeling that I shouldn't have done it.

A selection for two threw a clutch of them on to one plate, with a quartet of sauces. You couldn't fault the execution; its just a matter of personal choice. My choice had been to have No11 (the searing prawn soup) also a starter but as Thais and their ilk tend to have soup with the main course, the whole thing became confused, and soup came as a second course. No big deal.

Time for that bottle of Tiger, the Singapore beer you may find preferable to the Thai Singha brand. Time also to get to grips with the incongruity of all this happening in what apart from some ethnic Thai stuff in frames, is a dining room decorated in English tearoom cream.

Once the rather fattening starters had been consigned, everything was fine. Gaeng keowan gai (number 29) was green curry with chicken, Thai aubergines (like crunchy bitter peas, said to be good for tummy problems) coconut mile, basil and lime leaves. They but the stuff in Manchester, in case you wondered.

Number 47 must be the best thing on the menu. It is Pla sahm lot, a sea bass fried crispy and assaulted with sweet, spicy and sour sauces, and tamarind, and garlic pickle, and shallots, and, said the menu, large fresh chillies, though I didn't see anything matching that description. Anyway, great flavours, great fishy textures. I'll be back.

Just out of interest, as we had already eaten quite an amount, we had a bowl of 52, Khao suey (steamed rice), lovely enough to enjoy on its own.

Puddings by now, were only of academic interest. Bananas headed the list but Thai custard was a headline dish; egg custard with pureed mung beans and coconut milk. The menu said it would cost £3 and was delicious.

The word different would have sufficed for me. However, there's little reason to groan about value for money. Soups - remember, almost a meal on their own - are £4 or £5. Green curries, stir fries, noodle and other main courses are £6 or £7. Even Number 47 (pay attention, Pla sahm lot) was £8.95. Rices start at £1.80, and I'd suggest one helping between two if you're on a multi-course strategy.