It took me more than three hours to get home from my lunch in Ramsgate, and I cannot deny that it felt like punishment for going there in the first place. Three hours! In that time I could have made it to Paris, or Barcelona, or Ludlow, each of them famed for their culinary opportunities.
Better with journeys like this, then, to dwell only on how long it takes to make the outward trip.
Two hours from London, down a miserable, sclerotic excuse for a train track, is worth it for the pleasures of Surin at the other end. Surin is the main town of the region of Thailand which abuts Cambodia and Laos. It is also where the chef and owner of the restaurant, known to all as Miss Damrong, grew up.
Miss Damrong is a brave woman. I know this because there is a photograph of her in the window with Ken Russell, his arm opportunistically about her waist, and she looks not at all concerned. Perhaps she had never seen any of his films. There is also courage in her decision, after years of cooking in top London Thai restaurants and for the country's royal family, to open a restaurant of this much ambition here, by the Kent docks.
For Surin really is more than your average Thai restaurant. It's obvious in their own-label Thai-style beer, a dark ale with dense caramel flavours, produced for them by a local microbrewery. It's obvious in the prawn crackers, which come to the table so fresh they are still crackling from the heat of the oil, and in the sweet chilli and peanut dip that accompanies them. And it is there in the freshness of the preparations.
At its worst, bad Thai food can be a nightmare, a calamity of industrial strength sugars and gelatinous coconut solids, scattered about with the crushed up contents of a bag of something by KP. But Surin restores faith. A soup of chicken and coconut milk to start was light and fresh and soothingly aromatic. Steamed Thai dumplings of minced pork came in the silkiest of pastas. Of the main courses the star was 'Red sea bream Penang curry'. This had me and my companion, Steven Harris, the chef-owner of the Sportsman in nearby Whitstable, scratching our heads. Was this bream from the Red Sea? Or a red curry made from bream? It was the latter, of course, the thick fish fillets first fried off and then served in a rich, chilli-boosted gravy, with layers of flavour that broke on the tongue in waves. Whole sea bass, laboriously filleted and then reconstructed as one piece, came steamed with chilli, garlic and lime juice, and while the garlic was a little raw, the flavourings did not overwhelm the delicate qualities of the fish.
The two staples we tried - a chicken green curry and a pad Thai - were both better than average. The curry had an uncommon lightness and zip to it; the noodles were not so sweet as to overwhelm the dishes that went with them, while still boasting character.
It was, in short, one of the best Thai meals I have ever eaten. And the most remarkable thing about it was that Miss Damrong was the only member of staff. She greeted, she took orders, she cooked, she served, and throughout she managed to maintain that same beatific smile that she displays in the photograph of her alongside Mr Russell. It was sweetness enough to sustain me on the long journey home. Almost.
· Surin, 30 Harbour Street, Ramsgate, Kent (01843 592 001). Meal for two, including drinks and service, £50.
