Maggie Tang

AMONG the diversity of cuisines in Shenzhen, Thai food is popular with Eastern and Western tastes. Local diners can now taste authentic Thai food at Fusion Café, The Pavilion Century Tower, where a Southeast Asian food feast is running until June 30.

Chocolate brown tables combine well with comfortable red and brown sofas. Soft music filters through the spacious restaurant which is lit with orange lamps adding a romantic touch to the cozy atmosphere.

Orchids, stone and bronze statues of elephants and a statue of Buddha, which were purchased from various sources, are placed throughout the restaurant. Waitresses wear purple Thai costumes, creating an exotic ambience.

To enjoy a feast of Thai food, you should try the buffet. At 108 yuan per adult and 58 yuan per child under 1.2 meters for lunch, or 158 yuan per adult and 78 yuan per child under 1.2 meters for dinner, the restaurant offers dozens of Thai dishes, soups, and cuisine of other Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. There is also fresh seafood, Chinese dim sum, dessert and fruit.

The ideal Thai meal is a blend of the spicy, the subtle, the sweet and sour, and is meant to be equally satisfying to eye, nose and palate.

You can start with the hot salad, comprising beef slices on a bed of lettuce, onions, chilies, mint and lemon juice. Also recommended are the seafood and vermicelli salad, Thai-style hot and sour boneless chicken feet, spicy pineapple with mussel salad and spicy Thai dried shrimp and pomelo salad. All of these cold dishes are typically Thai with seafood, vegetables and herbs as ingredients, with slices of meat instead of big chunks.

For the soup, you shouldn't miss the famous Tom Yum Kung, or Thai prawn soup with lemongrass. Being both hot and sour, the soup is a signature dish that defines Thai flavor. For those who avoid taking too much chilly, the Cantonese shark fin soup is a good selection.

Then come the hot dishes. Many dishes follow the traditional Thai cooking methods of stewing, baking or grilling. Other dishes represent many international cuisines, including the use of coconut oil, coconut milk, and toned-down Thai curries. Some well-received dishes are fried crab with curry sauce, stewed Salmon with red curry, grilled cod fish with Thai sauce and fried rice with seafood in pineapple shell.

To provide genuine Thai food, The Pavilion has invited Bunruam Naraphan as guest chef for the three-month food festival. The Thai chef will be joined by chefs from Singapore and Malaysia two months later. Diners can meet and talk with Naraphan at Fusion Café when he presents a cooking demonstration. Naraphan chef spent four years working at another Shenzhen hotel.

Time: 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., 6 - 10 p.m., until June 30

Add: Fusion Café, 1/F, The Pavilion Century Tower, 4014 Huaqiang Road North, Futian District

（华强北路4002号圣廷苑酒店世纪楼一楼菲苑咖啡厅）

Tel: 8207-8888 ext. 8288