Charm seems a highly appropriate name for this restaurant, as, from the staff and its decor to the food, it describes the place perfectly. Thai restaurants seem to have proliferated in recent years; however, generally they seem to be rather stuck in a slightly predictable rut, but not in the case of Charm, as it has created somewhere far more upmarket in style and variety of dishes, without being commensurately more expensive.

One glance at the menu suffices to demonstrate how very different it is, where else have you ever come across braised pot roast ox cheek with pickled lettuce, coriander and spring onions or braised pork hock stew with boiled egg, star anise, cinnamon and coriander? It was our first experience there so we played it reasonably safe, maybe on our next visit, as there will be one, the excellence of what we enjoyed will persuade us to be more adventurous.

Dim sum have always been a favourite of ours and we weren't let down by steamed selection of har gau (shrimp), gu chai (Chinese chive and shrimp), shu mai (pork and prawn), they must have an artist at work in the kitchen as they were beautifully presented and tasted as good as they looked.

Other starters encompassed baby squid fritters with wasabi mayonnaise dip, soups and an intriguing range of salads, we tried the giant tiger prawn papaya salad with long bean, peanuts, cherry tomato and chilli, but they all sounded interesting and quite delicious, like the seared sirloin salad with mint, cherry tomato, cucumber, spring onion, coriander, chilli and lime or glass noodle salad with cloud ear mushroom, carrot, red and spring onion for vegetarians.

If you want to go slightly up the culinary scale in terms of cost, you could go for the wok fried whole lobster with a galangal, lemongrass and red onion sauce, but they have lots of fish and seafood, such as grilled black cod in a mirin, sake and miso marinade with onion rings or mild red tiger prawn 'choo-chee', seared curry sauce, chilli, lime leaves and coconut milk.

However, with most main courses at £9 to £12, you can afford to splash out without fear of getting a huge bill at the end. Finally a mention of their wine list, which is far more ambitious than you would expect to find in a Thai restaurant, another pleasant surprise in this place that genuinely breaks the mould.