Ruan Thai

By GRAHAM HEPBURN for Viva

As I don't get to Mission Bay regularly, the proliferation of eateries fronting Tamaki Dr and infiltrating the side streets came as a surprise to me - something akin to the restaurant takeover of Ponsonby Rd but on a lesser scale. It seems like only yesterday (well, okay, it was the 80s) that the place had nothing much more than the odd ice cream parlour and a smattering of kitsch pizzerias.

On the Sunday night we ventured east to dine at the newish Ruan Thai, restaurants along the beach-front strip had their doors thrown open and the place was buzzing.

The Ruan Thai, which is upstairs alongside the Reef Bar, is owned by the same people who run Sawadee in Ponsonby Rd and seems to be following in its successful footsteps.

Sawadee has expanded and expanded again over the years and this new enterprise has a similar look: lots of wooden furniture, carvings and ornaments, and indoor vegetation. And the mood set by the decor is complemented by the sugary Thai pop played at a restrained volume.

It's a very family-friendly atmosphere and the kids can order meals from the Reef Bar next door if they don't have adventurous palates.

The restaurant has booths lining one wall while the open dining area's artefact-crammed display cases provide a visual distraction as well as a more private and intimate setting.

But the relaxed atmosphere does not infect the staff: on a reasonably busy night, the service was sharp and helpful, and the food was uniformly superb.

We started with gari puff (deep-fried minced chicken, onion and kumara in pastry, $8.50) and a creamy, intensely flavoured tom kha gai (spicy coconut soup with chicken, $9.20). We followed this with grilled, red wine-marinated pork in honey sauce ($17.90), roast duck with pineapple and grapes in a red curry sauce ($18.90), and some shared stir-fried mixed vegetables in ginger sauce ($16.20). All three dishes had punchy, tangy flavours and even the mixed vegetables, which can quite often be a source of disappointment at other establishments, were interesting and adventurous.

Most of the mains come in under $20, except for the seafood dishes, and they're large - so much so that we had to skip the intriguing but incongruous-sounding dessert offering of "Mom's apple pie (from our Thai mum to you)".

Our meal, which came to $92.70 with a few drinks, was good enough to make me think we might be getting out to Mission Bay more often.

Open: 7 days for lunch and dinner

* Read more about what's happening in the world of food, wine, fashion and beauty in viva, part of your Herald print edition every Wednesday.