London, of course, isn't ever going to run short of phad thai, even if the dish tends to lose its charm when chicken and beef replace the prawns (though that too is authentic to some).

But Kobchok Ngoeypaiboon, who owns the four-month-old Saran Rom at the Imperial Wharf in Chelsea district and four other popular restaurants around the capital, is a traditionalist. No one messes with his phad thai and especially not the increasingly rare "Royal Thai" dishes.

Kobchok - you can call him Khun Pu - added the £4-million (Bt280-million) Saran Rom to his Siam Food Gallery Group with an eye to conveying his patrons from the edge of the Thames to the banks of the Chao Phya.

You have teakwood panelling, royal portraits and gorgeous porcelain and lanterns. You might glance out the window toward Battersea and for a moment think it's Thonburi.

Kobchok is the epitome of the successful "accidental restaurateur". He came to Britain in 1989, a 23-year-old student, washed dishes, bussed tables, cooked, gardened, decorated, delivered and even caught rats.

One thing did not lead to another, fortunately. His next move was to open a restaurant. Four years later he was making millions.

Pu's Brasserie, as it was called, remains a favourite haunt for young Thais as well as locals.

"I wanted something between a restaurant and cafe, so I called it a brasserie - with karaoke. My customers found it different from other Thai restaurants, which usually have sarong-clad waitresses. Our staff went modern with polo shirts."

Pu's debut diner was in fact so popular that other Thai restaurateurs came from Chicago and Australia to see how he did it.

In 1997 he replicated his success with Thai Upon Thames in the suburb of Richmond.

"Back then Richmond was a place with lots of young people, so I installed modern deco and black-and-white photos of the Thames, and the place was packed. Soon other Thai restaurants in the area emerged with a similar theme. Now there are 15."

No 3 in the Kobchok hit parade was Siam Food Gallery, which opened in 2000 in Esher, Surrey. It's an upmarket place with a traditional Thai ambience - bamboo tables and chairs, for instance - to suit a clientele of soccer and showbiz celebrities.

Siam Food Gallery soon had a sister branch in Virginia Water, Surrey, which exudes the restful calm of a Chiang Mai forest.

Now Saran Rom is celebrating Royal Thai cuisine.

"I fancied a new restaurant by the river, and I needed to demonstrate [to our backers] that we've grown up and can't stop growing," says Kobchok.

Saran Rom is by far his most ambitious endeavour, and matching the high overheads is a significant investment in kitchen talent: executive chef Yupa Sondhisap, who spent 25 years at the Oriental in Bangkok, and sous chef Bhithak Srimaithong from Chiang Mai's Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi Resort.

"Khun Yupa helps create a menu of Royal Thai cuisine,'' says Kanjana Issaravit, Kobchok's wife.

It's no easy feat. These dishes are fast disappearing.

Saran Rom goes so far as to offer items mentioned in the poetry of King Rama II. Among these: khang khao phuak (golden taro pastry filled with chopped pork and prawns), chor lada (steamed chicken and prawn dumplings delicately wrapped into a flower shape), te-pho (pork curry) and

pla-yang samun-phrai (char-grilled sea bass with mixed herbs).

"These dishes require special attention - we don't cook them in haste,'' Kanjana says. "The pace is slow but steady, but not too slow.

"Most importantly, we don't aim to cook Thai food for non-Thais. We do it the Thai way, with varying degrees of spiciness and hotness according to individual tastes.

"Some say Thai food has to be cooked with the farang palate in mind, but sometimes that's not what Thai food is supposed to be. Here our food has the flavours that Thais can identify with."

Thanks to Saran Rom, the classic dishes of the bygone era are making a comeback. That's enough to keep Kobchok and Kanjana happy - and the till ringing.

"Presenting genuine Thai food makes us proud to be Thai, proud of our culture and our identity," Kanjana says.

"Our thriving business has a lot to do with that very fact. I keep reminding my staff of the importance of Thainess - to not forget our culture. We're just being ourselves, being Thai."

Manote Tripathi

The Nation

London