Siam Cuisine

Mix three jiggers of Lillet Blanc with one Lillet Rouge, add six ounces of gin and you have the color of the walls at this marvelously bedecked Arch Street restaurant. All walls have waist-high chair rails, a few feet above which hang gold-framed brass rubbings of Thai princes and princesses playing with native-born snakes. The royal heads are slightly off center and regal fingers are unusually well-nailed.

There are college and graduate students here discussing language requirements for a doctoral degree. Once the food arrives, conversation deteriorates to distinguishing between lemongrass and lemon root. Most importantly, Thai families abound, the true assurance that you're about to dine upon the genuine article.

Duck is also often offered off the menu. Get it. Here it's warm and creamy in a curry sauce flavor with garlic and cilantro. The bite-sized, not entirely skinned duck morsels are supple, crisp and fleshy. Wait five seconds for the fleshiness to turn to flashiness as the Thai spices prevail. Each mouthful has depth and a kaleidoscope of lingering tastes.

The grilled fishes at Siam Cuisine are prepared superbly, served amidst carrot strips, red pepper slices and a huge mound of white dry rice. Deep-Fried Fish ($9) is perhaps the best anywhere. "Caught-today, bought-today" freshness exudes from a whole fish (without eyeballs upon request) doused in a lava, peanut and sesame sauce. The ocean dweller's body is held upon the plate by string beans, tomato roses and sprigs of mint.

Don't leave without a dessert called Thai Coconut Custard. This little pudding square is speckled by chopped shallots, giving a mildly onion flavor to the conclusion of the meal, and allowing a filled diner to brandish a Siamese sigh.