Having never sampled Thai cuisine before, I went along to the Blue Orchid in Amersham with high hopes.  

My hopes were even higher because the Blue Orchid has bagged an impressive amount of awards including a gold ‘eat out, eat well’ commendation and since 1 June, can now call itself the best restaurant in Bucks after  taking home the accolade from the Bucks Food and Drinks Awards 2015.

After my visit on a sunny Thursday evening, it’s not hard to see why people love the Thai restaurant, which is nestled in a corner of Sycamore Road.

The staff are incredibly welcoming, with someone waiting to open the door for my boyfriend Stephen and I as we approached the restaurant and another ready to lead us to our table, right by the window.

The restaurant itself was very clean and decorated nicely, with gold and purple walls, mirrors adorning the walls and carved statues and plants. As you walk in, there’s a small area of comfy sofas with was perfect for sitting with a drink.

After sitting down at our table and perusing the drinks menu, which has a fabulous array of alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails, I chose a Zombie (£6.50) – a fruity, refreshing mixture of rum, apricot, grenadine, pineapple and lime.  It was incredibly tasty and easy to drink.  

The menu is very extensive, which was nice to see. I sometimes struggle to find something I like on a menu but this had plenty of options, so to begin with, Stephen and I shared a plate of mixed starters, consisting of a healthy portion of satay chicken, vegetable spring rolls, fried lemon grass chicken wings, grilled tiger prawns and sesame prawn on toast (£13.90).

The satay chicken was soft with a lovely peanut sauce on the side – I think some places can get satay sauce wrong, but this one was just right and not too thick.

The spring rolls were crispy and filled with tasty, crunchy vegetables, the tangy sweet chilli sauce was a perfect accompaniment and the prawns were fresh and delicious.

But my favourite aspect of the dish was definitely the lemon grass chicken wings – the chicken was tender, the batter was light and the lemon grass was a subtle and very pleasant addition.

Onto mains and we decided to share a plate of weeping tiger beef (£14.50), chicken Panang curry (£8.50), a portion of Jasmine rice (£2.95) and chicken phad mee noodles (£7.95).

The weeping tiger beef was grilled marinated sirloin in Thai fresh herbs and spices, served with chef’s own sauce. I was very impressed with how well marinated it was – the meat was soft and full of flavour. I have no idea what was in the chef’s special sauce, but it was the ideal mix of sweet and tangy.

The Panang curry was delicious; fairly spicy but very creamy and full of vegetables and paired perfectly with the fragrant and sticky jasmine rice and the chicken phad mee egg noodles, made with soya sauce and garlic and a variety of vegetables, were mouth-wateringly tasty.

We managed to squeeze in a dessert afterwards; Stephen went for the quirky green Thai coconut pancakes with palm sugar syrup. The pancakes were soft and the creamy coconut, along with the smooth vanilla ice cream was balanced out by the sharp taste of the palm sugar.

I went for a frozen chocolate and vanilla ice cream dessert, with was decorated nicely with shards of chocolate and a crumbly biscuit layer. The desserts were a great size after a big meal and finished it off nicely.

Overall, each dish was presented beautifully and the portions were more than adequate. The time and effort spent on making each meal as good as it possibly can be shines through and it was reflected in how bustling the restaurant was for a Thursday evening. The service was quick and the waiting staff were very attentive.

This was my first foray into Thai food and I will definitely be going back for more after my wonderful meal at the Blue Orchid.

Visit www.blueorchidamersham.co.uk to view the menu or reserve a table.