Opening a new chapter

SOUTHEAST W9, a 70-seat restaurant opposite London's Maida Vale tube station, is the brainchild of Vatcharin Bhumichitr, author of Vatch's Southeast Asian Cookbook.

Bhumichitr opened his first restaurant, Chiang Mai, in Soho in the early 1980s and shortly afterward wrote his first book, The Taste of Thailand. He followed with another book and restaurant on Thai vegetarian food. With Southeast W9, once again, the restaurant and the book are linked.

With a large extended family still living in Thailand, Bhumichitr makes regular trips there and always explores other south-east Asian countries. "Everywhere I went - Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam - I went to the markets and they all have the same ingredients: lemon grass, chillies, galangal," he says. "Sometimes, you can't tell where you are by looking at the produce. That was the starting point for the book."

At Southeast W9, Bhumichitr has picked classic dishes from Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, China, Burma, Malaysia and Singapore, but prepared to his own taste so they are not too challenging for European palates. "And if customers are curious, then they can look at the book," he adds.

The menu is divided into sections - starters, salads, soups, main courses, accompaniments and desserts - and each item is identified by its country of origin. Muan dot, for example, is a Cambodian starter of chicken wings marinated in oyster sauce with salt, pepper and finely chopped lemon grass (£3.95). Deep-fried, they are served with a typical Cambodian dip of lime juice, salt and pepper.

Goi ga (£4.95) is a cold Vietnamese chicken salad, with a light, delicate taste from sesame oil and sesame seeds, roasted peanuts and mint leaves, served on a bed of salad leaves. Served with chillies on the side this is "a good, light lunch".

Tom yam gung (£4.75) is the classic Thai prawn, lemon grass and chilli soup seen in every Thai restaurant. "People love it," Bhumichitr says, "especially during winter when they want to warm up."

One-dish snacks, such as soup and noodles, are part of south-east Asian culture and fit nicely into our newly found fondness for "grazing" meals. Kyet tha khauk swe byoke (£4.95) is a spicy chicken noodle soup from Burma, similar to the Malaysian/ Singaporean laksa, but the Burmese version uses yellow egg noodles instead of Malaysian thin rice noodles, and substitutes chicken for seafood.

Fish dominates the 20-strong selection of main course dishes, with items such as gung kratiam (£6.95), prawns fried with garlic and peppers; pad krapow talay (£7.95), mixed seafood stir-fried with basil leaves and chilli; and pla samui (£7.95), hot and sour fish with ginger and pineapple. Other dishes include egg sambal (£5.50), a Malaysian dish of quails' eggs in spicy tomato sauce, and kalee ped (£5.75), curried duck with potato. n

Southeast W9, 239 Elgin Avenue, London W9. Tel 0171-328 8883