By T. Digby, Shanghai Star. 2001-06-28

Hot and sour shrimp soup and pineapple fried rice are on the menu, but Thai beer is not.

Lan Na Thai's interior, complete with Ramakien guardian figure.

THAI cuisine is still new to Shanghai. For instance, one local dining guidebook says of a place in the Hengshan Lu area: "It is the perfect spot for a romantic Thai dinner. We ordered samosas." Which is a bit like saying: "Perfect spot for a Mexican dinner. We ordered haggis." Samosas are, of course, unheard of in Thailand.

A gastronomic rag-bag may be what some diners want; or it may be for the convenience of certain kinds of restaurateur. You often find establishments purporting to offer Thai and Indonesian and Vietnamese, with the odd Indian dish thrown in for good measure. You could probably get a burger as well.

Lan Na Thai is such a place, but only to the extent that it shares a building (in the former estate of H.E. Morriss, late proprietor of the now-defunct North-China Daily News) with two other outlets: Face cocktail bar and Hazara Indian restaurant.

If you order cocktails, they will be prepared by Face, but Lan Na Thai's latrines are its own. The urinals have been called the most luxurious in North China. On this reviewer's inspection there were three in all, each filled with ice cubes. In the act of micturition, there was a sense of pouring vermouth into an ice-filled cocktail shaker.

But is it a true northern Thai restaurant? Readers will not need reminding that Lan Na (Land of a Million Rice Fields) was the 14th and 15th century northern Siamese kingdom with its capital at Chiang Mai. So the restaurant's name suggested that northern dishes might be on offer.

This was misleading. The shrimp paste nam prik ong - which blends tomato, shallots, garlic, tamarind, red chili and sometimes shredded pork - was nowhere on the menu. Nor was there any khanom jin nam niew, nor could the classic northern (Shan-influenced) noodle dish khao sawy be found. There were no sai oua (northern-style sausages) and no kap mou (pork scratchings).

Granted, these are trivial objections. It is enough that in Lan Na Thai one has found one of the few half-way decent Thai restaurants north of Guangzhou; the staff cannot be expected to cook up arcane regional specialities at the whim of every gourmandizing pedant. And to be fair, an authentic northern miang kam appetizer was served with the customary herbs and lime. It came compliments of the house.

This reviewer selected an assortment of appetizers, including a very good rendering of gai hor bai toey (marinated chicken wrapped in Pandan leaf), together with prawn cakes, fish cakes, and spring rolls. Next came plaa phad tau si, or red snapper fish fillets. They were admirably fresh, fried with spring onion, capsicum and various spices.

Ordered as a matter of course was larb gai (minced chicken salad with herbs). This is found all over Thailand, but especially in the Isaan region. Unfortunately, Lan Na Thai's version was not done in the northern style, which involves the addition of animal blood. If it lacked the piquancy of pukka larb, this was not just a matter of chillis: there was also not enough nam plaa (fish sauce - a fundamental component of Thai cooking that is not easy to come by in Shanghai). Moreover, larb should be served with tua fook yao (a variety of string bean), and these were absent.

A word about liquor. Mekhong or Sang Thip rice whisky - or one of the many other brands - would have been welcome, but was not on the drinks list. A baen (35cl bottle) of Mekhong with soda water or cola and ice would have accompanied the meal well. The ice could have been purloined from the urinals.

A lot of thought had gone into the decor, although the presence of large-scale sacred images, such as those of the Buddha, in a mere restaurant may offend religious sensibilities. Incidentally, the Buddha images were in the Burmese rather than the Siamese style, as is normal in the "antique" shops of Bangkok. This is apt, since it was the Burmans who destroyed the Lan Na kingdom in the sixteenth century. To purchase Sukhothai or Ayutthaya style Buddhas, you have to go up to the Sao Ching Cha (Giant Swing) area of the Thai capital, but the government rightly imposes restrictions on their export.

For all this reviewer's carping, the meal was of a high standard and confirmed Lan Na Thai in its apparently impregnable position as Shanghai's premier Thai restaurant. Sadly, it is not for the pocket-shy: there is little change from 500 yuan ($60) for a meal for two with just three or four beers.

Lan Na Thai

Building Four, Ruijin Guesthouse

Add: 118 Ruijin Erlu

Tel: 6466-4328