Sailors Thai The Rocks

Splashes of lime and silver and marshmallow-pastel cushions echo the hot pink pillows of Sailors' predecessor, the ground-breaking Darley Street Thai. However, the flamboyant stamp of both the talented, now-expat chef David Thompson and the late Peter Bowyer appears, sadly, to be missing from Sailors's service and ambience. Happily, their uncompromising approach to Thai cooking survives. Buttery wagyu beef squares off against a lime-sharp tomato-chilli relish and fresh mint leaves. An initially tart banana flower salad hides bursts of cashew crunch, dried shrimp saltiness and coriander. Hot and sour seafood soup layered with woody galangal and turmeric flavours, perfumed lime leaves, tiny green chillies and lemongrass shows how it's done, with none of that crazy sugariness found at other Thais. Red duck curry with lychees is exactly that, but a decorative dessert plate that includes fluffy mung bean sponge and pearls of tapioca in pandan and coconut is more than worthy of its pastel-pretty surrounds. Also at Sailors Thai Canteen, The Rocks