Tapioca

My personal record is seven. Seven flyers to seven different Thai restaurants, all crammed into my tiny mailbox on one day. Did I say different? Not likely, with their forgettable names (the latest one is AppeTHAI'sing) and their me-too noodle/curry/rice menus all promising the same mindless meal - and free delivery.

With so many same-as Thai restaurants, it takes a bit to get me out to try another one, especially one with a forgettable name like - what was it again? Tapioca. Something like the fact that two long-serving female Sailors Thai chefs have opened their own place. Yeah, that would do it.

Pacharin Jantrakool (known as Air) has cooked at Sailors Thai Canteen since 1995, while Krongthong Akkachitto (Krung) was head chef at Sailors Thai Potts Point. They met Bancha Moolsuwan when he was working the floor at the Sailors Thai in the Rocks. Now all three are at what was Banana Blossom in Cremorne.

Unlike the heritage-listed sandstone chic or industrial charm of their former places of work, this long, thin streak of a restaurant sports a smart-casual fitout of polished floors, a random forest of oversized hanging bare light bulbs, moulded chairs and pale walls hung with diverse still lifes.

The equally diverse crowd (families, after-work couples and chummy older groups) is quite possibly the same one that frequented Banana Blossom but any Sailor's Thai habitues will feel completely at home once they open the menu.

The gang's all here, from the miang kum (betel leaves with smoked trout and roasted coconut) to hot and sour soup, crisp rice balls with minced chicken, jungle curry of barramundi and stir-fried silken tofu and eggplant. To say they are Sailors Thai's greatest hits suggests plagiarism but many of these dishes are simply Thai classics that have gone through the Sailor's Thai filter of decent produce, integrity and imagination.

Grilled marinated prawns ($16) give a whole new mojo to throwing a shrimp on the barbie, with four, large, smoky, scorchy, head-on prawns well-matched to a punchy green chilli sauce. Some dishes take up where Sailor's Thai leaves off. Four ornate flower-shaped dumplings (chor lada, $12) taste richly nutty and floral, naturally coloured a delicate shade of violet from the butterfly pea flower.

Tapioca's take on traditional ''son-in-law'' eggs (deep-fried boiled eggs) is value-added by wrapping quail's eggs in prawn mousse ($18) then encasing them in noodles before deep-frying into something explosively crisp and crunchy, drenched with a sweet-sour tamarind sauce.

For a place called Tapioca, the service isn't at all starchy. Instead, it's Thai-warm and friendly, with more polish than expected. Pacing is good, too, with dishes grouped together sympathetically.

A couple of things fall short. A fresh, bold-looking salad of salmon lurking under piles of green mango, mint and coriander leaves ($28) is let down by the dryness of the fish, while an intense, spicy northern-style salad (larb) of minced duck, ground rice and Thai herbs ($27) is quite austere, possibly as tradition dictates. Curries are supremely well done; one a rich, murky-looking, full-bodied green curry of tender wagyu beef and Thai eggplant served with roti ($27); another of lamb shanks balanced beautifully with the mussaman (Muslim) additions of potato and spices.

While the wine list features a lust-worthy 2000 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz at $159, it is, for the most part, a serviceable, fairly priced list of fresh, fruity wines.

The meal is going swimmingly, especially with the dramatic appearance of a classic deep-fried whole snapper ($29.50) sitting upright on its pool of sweet, tangy, garlicky, tamarind-driven sauce.

Desserts feel redundant after the sweetness of the savoury courses but duty calls. A lightly icy house-made smoked coconut ice-cream ($6) has a lingering, almost caramel aftertaste, while a glass of plump tapioca pearls with young coconut in coconut cream ($9) has that luscious sweet-salty balance that keeps your dessert spoon coming back for more.

Tapioca has a Thais-are-doing-it-for-themselves joy about it and the cooking has substance, balance and bucketloads of flavour. While it lacks the hard-edged style and sophistication of Sailor's Thai, it's not as exxy, either. And it represents the important next stage for Sydney, the filtering down and disseminating of great kitchen talent, recipes and technique to all corners of the city. With any luck, it signals an upgrade of the average suburban Thai restaurant, so those flyers stuck in the letterbox could turn out to be more than just junk.

tdurack@smh.com.au