Scott Wilson tries out the Lotus Lounge, at Yarm, to discover if Pan-Asian cuisine can maintain its popular appeal THERE are two ways to view Pan-Asian cuisine, the food trend that is gradually moving from a niche product to a staple of the mass restaurant market. At its best, it takes the key themes from Thai, Malaysian, Japanese and southern Indian cooking and fuses them together to create a range of dishes that are greater than the sum of their parts.

At its worst, it is a bit of everything and a lot of nothing, a lowest-common denominator stab at Asian cuisine that irons out the idiosyncrasies of each national dish in order to appeal to as many different diners as possible.

Thankfully, the Lotus Lounge, the latest addition to the North-East’s Pan- Asian panoply veers more towards the former than the latter. Not quite perfect, but adventurous enough to dispel any accusations of being safety-first, the newly-opened eatery successfully draws inspiration from a range of Asian sources in order to serve up some carefully- crafted dishes.

Located in the heart of Yarm, the Lotus Lounge was a bar-cum-restaurant called Hide before undergoing a facelift a couple of months ago.

ON a Friday and Saturday night, it remains a popular part of Yarm’s lively drinking scene, but when we visited earlier in the week, it was free of drinkers and turned over exclusively to dining.

As you would expect from a newly-refurbished establishment, it is impeccably turned out, with beaming bronze Buddhas competing for attention with the chrome fittings and swirling light effects.

So far, so trademark Oriental.

The decor just about stops short of veering into parody, and while the menu contains much that would you expect from a standard Thai restaurant – for all it’s Pan-Asian credentials, the Lotus Lounge’s Thai influence is undoubtedly its strongest – there are some hidden gems that are slightly more unexpected.

The starter selection is probably the least appealing, and I reckon you’d need a pretty loose definition of Pan-Asian cuisine to let nachos make it on to your list, but the shared platter containing beef and chicken skewers, fishcakes and tempura king prawns was perfectly presentable.

In fact, it was rather better than that, thanks largely to the presence of a tamarind and prune dip that was wonderfully indulgent. Given that the tamarind tree is indigenous to tropical Africa, again it’s stretching the Pan- Asian remit somewhat, but the strength of the taste meant this was an oversight that was worthwhile.

The mains were much more recognisably Asian, and were split into two sections.

The first contained five different curry dishes which would all have been perfectly at home in a Thai restaurant, while the second offered a more varied selection of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes.

MY wife chose a green king prawn curry from the first section and was more than satisfied with her lot. The prawns were succulent, the curry flavoursome and delicate. That said though, the leap in popularity of Thai cuisine in the past eight or ten years means you shouldn’t really be able to get a green curry wrong.

The same couldn’t be said of my Vietnamese lamb shank, a much more complex dish that featured a bed of saffron rice, courgettes, shiitake mushrooms, red curry paste and a chickpea stew.

It was excellent, with the lamb wellcooked and tender and the sauce boasting sufficient depth to make an impression of its own, but not too many flavours to overpower the meat. A shared side dish of tempura vegetables soon disappeared, even if the batter was too thick.

Dessert was equally triumphant, and again benefited from straying from the predictable. My ginger panacotta with pineapple, mango and mint boasted an unexpected blend of flavours, but it undoubtedly hung together as a thoroughly successful whole, while my wife’s caramelised orange and treacle tart was equally tasty.

With a glass of wine, two bottles of Tiger beer, a tea and a coffee included, the final bill was less than £70, with most main courses priced in the £10-£14 bracket.

It’s still early days, but the Lotus Lounge looks like being a decent addition to a Yarm restaurant scene that already boasts a number of well-established options.

And if, for some reason, things don’t go to plan, there’s still plenty of other Asian influences to embrace.

Food facts

Lotus Lounge, Fairfax Court, 32-34 High Street, Yarm. TS15 9AE lotus-lounge.co.uk Tel: 01642 355558 Email: info@lotus-lounge.co.uk Opening Hours: Breakfast 9am-Midday, Lunch Midday-6pm, Dinner 6-9pm. Seven days a week

Food: 4/5

Ambience: 3/5

Service: 4/5

Value for money: 4/5