WHEN my partner and I decide to eat out we normally end up falling back on favourite curry houses, predictable Italian restaurants or old-fashioned pub grub.

But on this particular Friday night we fancied trying something a little different.

We booked into the Siam Cottage Thai restaurant in Moulsham Street, Chelmsford, with few expectations but hoped to be impressed.

When we arrived on the Friday night the restaurant was buzzing, with a lively level of chat and music and was busy but not crowded.

Our drinks arrived swiftly, accompanied by a bowl of crunchy crackers which wetted our appetites while we looked through the lengthy menu.

It was great that there was so much choice but, with several pages to look through we had to ask our waitress a few times to hang fire while we went through everything.

We opted for the Pearl Siam sharing platter to start as that had several tempting sounding dishes, including chicken satay, spring rolls, prawns on toast and bags of gold, which were minced chicken and prawn flavoured with garlic and wrapped in rice paper before being fried.

Everything on the platter came out piping hot which was perfect as it took us a while to work through the platter; I would definitely recommend it if you like a little bit of everything!

There was a decent amount of each item to share and a selection of dipping sauces to accompany it as well - and I add the bags of gold were delicious, hot and packed with flavour and a lot of crunch.

While we waited for our main course we had a look around the restaurant; the front and back are both lovely settings, all done up in an oriental design with wooden wall hangings, small statues, plants and tapestries which really added to the authentic feel.

The waiters and waitresses also all wear oriental style uniforms which is a nice touch.

For mains I had opted for the chicken massaman curry - a mild coconut curry with potatoes - for someone who doesn'yt like spice but enjoys rich flavours this was the perfect choice as it was spiced but not spicy.

There was what appeared to be galleons of thick creamy sauce, which meant there was enough for my partner to try too - he also said it was delicious.

He had chosen the black pepper king river prawns - and soon declared them the best prawns he has ever eaten.

They were absolutely enourmous - he described them as little lobsters - and were accompanied by crunchy vegetables.

They came with skin on so if you don't like having to pull apart your food at the table maybe don't opt for this but if you don't mind it is a definite winner.

We also chose two side orders - we definitely over ordered! We couldn't decide so chose a rice dish and a noodle dish, not realising quite how big they would come.

Both the Siam rice and the Pad Thai were packed with meat and vegetables, which more than filled a whole but there would have been enough for at least one more person.

That's not to say we complained - we ate as much as we could and enjoyed every mouthful.

After letting our mains go down a little with jasmine tea and coffee we managed to squeeze in some of the mango sorbet - it was sweet and fresh accompanied by slices of the fruit itself and rounded off what was a fantastic meal.

We enjoyed every second of our meal at the restaurant - in fact we loved it so much we took my partners parents there the following week.

if you are looking for something a little different, quirky and delicious we couldn't recommend it more.

Atmosphere 4/5

Food 5/5

Service 5/5

Decor 5/5

Value 4/5

Pearl Siam Platter - £12.90

Chicken massaman curry £8.95

Black peppers and King River Prawns - £15.45

Pad Thai noodles with pork £7.95

Siam rice with prawns - £7.95

Mango sorbet £4.25 Americano £2.10

Jasmine tea £1.95

One large Singha beer £6.65

Bottle of Malbec £21.95 £90.10