The old adage 'don't judge a book by its cover' is never more apt than when you first see the building housing Albrighton's newest restaurant. Café Thai Bangla may be in Station Road, but it's actually ON the station - in fact the restaurant backs onto the platform making it look more of a railway café than dynamic contemporary eatery. When you walk round the front to the main door of the restaurant it looks even more unassuming - a small sign and an exterior that looks a bit like an outbuilding are the only indications of life at the minute. But when you open the door and step inside, the décor and atmosphere is pure city class and as engaging as it is surprising. Café Thai Bangla markets itself as being 'unashamedly individual' and it really is. With two chefs - one from Bangkok who handles the Thai side of the menu, and one from Bengal who handles the Indian side - you can rest assured you're getting authentic, quality food whether you're in the mood for popadoms or prawn crackers. It also cunningly stops any rows between couples who might have different opinions on where to go for dinner. Be warned though, two menus equals double the amount of choice, making it a ditherer's paradise, even before you factor in that everything sounds so fantastic. In the end we both plumped for the Thai side, beginning with a Ruam Mitt mixed starter platter (£5.95) - a great way to get a taste of everything, although the chicken satay was particularly wonderful and worthy of a separate order at a later date. For the main course, self-confessed curry-phile Alan ordered the intriguingly named Thai Maad Sa Maan Neua curry, (£7.95) and a side order of plain jasmine rice (£2.25). Described in the menu as a 'Muslim style curry with potatoes and beef', Alan declared it to be superb and unlike anything he'd ever had before. As for me, I'd gone for Pad Thai Goong (£12.95) a plate of luscious king prawns butter fried and chargrilled and laid on a bed of traditional pad thai peanut noodles, beansprouts and sliced spring onions. The problem with ordering king prawns in restaurants is that sometimes they don't seem much bigger or more flavoursome than their less royal cousins. Not so here. There may have only been four delicately butterflied prawns, but they were huge, lusciously seasoned and went perfectly with the slight bite of the noodles. Settling back replete with the remainder of a bottle of Shiraz Scenic Ridge (at £12.95, £4 more expensive than the house red but the best bottle of wine for that price I've had in a restaurant for ages) we ended up being tempted by a dessert to cleanse the palette - well that was our excuse! I went for pineapple ice cream, while Alan chose an orange sorbet, both of which were a worthy end to the meal - although we were still waxing lyrical about the amazing main courses long after we'd finished. On a quiet Tuesday night we were one of half a dozen couples sat in the restaurant enjoying dinner, but if it gets its own just desserts then Café Thai Bangla is unlikely to be a hidden treasure for long. The atmosphere is great, the service is friendly and the food is simply sublime. And with generous portion sizes it's great value for money too. For too long for decent Thai food the only option has been to head into some of the region's bigger towns and cities. If our meal at Café Thai Bangla is anything to go by people from the cities can now start the exodus the other way to experience some of the best Thai food they're ever going to taste. Café Thai Bangla Station Road, Albrighton.Tel 01902 376900
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