To Thai for...

It's not for want of trying, but my chopstick skills remainrather limited. Tired of looking like a ham-fisted rookie tourist, Ihave found myself in steamy, tropical internet cafes studyingchopstick savoir faire on YouTube. Guidance like "Hold the firstchopstick stationary as you practice moving the second one towardsit" seems crystal clear, it's just doing it that's hard. Mind you, Iwas in the remedial stream for tent pitching at the Brownies. Evenshoelace tying was challenging.

It got a lot easier when a Singaporean friend explained that youneed to hold your bowl under your chin so you can slurp up slipperythings like noodles as well as pinioning them, without sending dripsflying, but I haven't quite perfected the art of fixing a dumpling,getting it to my lips and lowering it again, without dropping it.

Mind you, I now understand the theory, if not the practice, ofhandling those volatile Chinese soup dumplings that are primed todischarge hot stock under the slightest pressure. You're meant toset them crinkly side up on your spoon, just under your mouth, withyour chopsticks, then nibble off the wavy top to let the steam outbefore pinioning it again. This way, you catch the juices and don'tburn your lips. But why bother? It's easier with a knife and fork,or fingers, is it not?

And yet, despite the humiliation, I persist in sending back theWestern eating utensils and struggling with the oriental onesbecause I love their delicacy, the way you can use them to winkleout choice morsels, the way they slow you down, making you focusmore on what, exactly, it is that your eating. My sheer inefficiencywith chopsticks means that I savour the food more and eat, asBuddhists would put it, more mindfully.

And if ever there was a restaurant that deserved the complimentof grappling with chopsticks, its Passorn, in Edinburgh, whichserves delicate, carefully prepared and really quite beautiful Thaifood showcasing precise, clear, expertly balanced flavours. Like allgood South-East Asian food, it grows the appetite rather than dullsit.

It was apparent that Passorn was a class act as soon as thestarters appeared. A good Thai salad is hard to beat as a starter inthat its lively flavours wake up the tastebuds, yet it sits lightlyin the stomach. A beef salad, topped with lemongrass, mint,shallots, coriander, chillies and tart tamarind dressing reallymerited its "tenderloin" description". Passorn says that it onlyuses "the finest and freshest ingredients" including lots of top-quality Scottish produce - I believe it. The other starter ofscallops, looking pretty as a picture on the half shell, camelightly bathed in a stunning dressing featuring several of the abovearomatics, but with kaffir lime and mint in addition.

It should be said that Passorn is a quietly elegant, tastefullykitted out restaurant in a serene, unostentatious, Farrow-and-Ball-meets-Thai-temple way. This same aesthetic shows in the presentationof the food. It's not just the hand-carved vegetables that garnishdishes, but little touches like neatly cutting vegetables indifferent ways so the shapes compliment one another, as though afood stylist was setting up for a shoot. So while many a stir-frylooks messy and random, our gratium prig Thai prawn one, with itslittle grape-like bunches of peppercorns, was a work of art anddelivered flavours to match. Crispy-fried monkfish in a turmeric andcoconut sauce fragrant with lemongrass and a battery of other Thaiaromatics provided a gently emollient contrast, while a thick redcurry of beef demonstrated that Thai skill of building up a sauceusing a balance of contrasting, yet harmonious flavours.

The one ordinary dish we ate was pad mee (stir-fried eggnoodles). It wasn't bad, just not scintillating like everythingelse, but the sticky rice was as it should be. And for dessert, Ican heartily recommend the warm, black, glutinous rice with coconutmilk and fresh mango. I have been back to Passorn for lunch, andalready I'm looking forward to the next one.

23 Brougham Place,

Edinburgh 0131 229 1537

Lunch pound(s)7.95 Dinner pound(s)15-25

Food rating 9/10

Passorn