Billed as ‘Winchester’s Thai Restaurant’, the Bangkok Brasserie suggests there is a lack of competition in the city.

While this might not be strictly true – there are other fusion Asian restaurants albeit not entirely Thai – it is most definitely a huge asset to the city’s up-and-coming eating quarter in Jewry Street, alongside other established and highly successful eateries such as Rimjhim and Brasserie Blanc.

The restaurant is the brainchild of Miff Kayum, who successfully ran The Tiffin Club Indian restaurant in Southampton’s Oxford Street for several years before selling up and moving on to his next venture.

Taking his vision to serve locally sourced produce at the highest standard, Miff decided Winchester would be a better fit for his business model and, inspired by his wife Sopida’s homeland – Surat Thani, a region on the south coast of Thailand famed for its oysters and spicy recipes – Bangkok Brasserie began its journey.

Starting out in small but cosy premises in St Georges Street the restaurant moved a few months ago to its new – and frankly better suited – location in Jewry Street, seizing the opportunity to turn the old premises into an Indian restaurant The Bengal Sage – but that’s another story.

Bangkok Brasserie has a warm and inviting atmosphere. The space is cosy but tables aren’t too intrusively close and there was a real buzz about the place – a queue was even forming out of the door.

It’s easy to see why – the unfussy décor has a subtle and contemporary nod to Sopida’s homeland.

Impressionist paintings of Thai scenes and palaces adorn the walls, bamboo lamp shades provide low key lighting, while comfy high backed chairs in dark brown leather contrast nicely against the warm, walnut wood flooring.

A well considered menu covers national dishes like Pad Thai noodles laced with tamarind and crushed peanuts alongside more individual dishes such as house special ‘Colin Firth’s Thai Mango Chicken’ – a vibrant yellow curry where sweet meets hot and sour. The actor and local resident agreed to lend his name to the dish allowing donations from sales to be made to a charity close to their hearts (the Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group – a charity supporting refugees and asylum seekers).

But the best way to get a feel for the food is to try a selection. Very much a sharing experience, the mixed platter for two featured vegetable spring rolls which were crispy, light and delicately spiced, chicken satay, (impossibly moist meat ready to dunk in the rich peanut sauce), surprisingly sweet and delicious sweetcorn fritters and thick, juicy prawn toast.

If all this sounds too deep fried, try the spicy chicken salad instead – soft chicken bites marinated in a fragrant lime, lemongrass and coriander dressing interspersed with little explosive hits of chilli.

I nearly always pick red or green Thai curry for main but this time I was pointed towards the beef basil stir fry. A hot dish made with thinly sliced strips of beef, it has a simple soy, ginger and chilli sauce all brought to life with some fragrant Thai basil leaves and stir fried peppers.

A good dollop of sticky aromatic rice is the best accompaniment but we wanted to try some other flavours. Going off-piste we ordered the sea bass, served whole with a thin, crisp coating and shreds of spiced apple. It was light and moist with a delicate freshness, the perfect contrast to our third dish – slices of duck with crisp, golden skin, smothered in a sticky tamarind sauce.

The deep flavours worked well but didn’t mask the delicate flavours of the fish dish.

Everything tasted so authentic with plenty of zing. And judging by the second place that Bangkok Brasserie scooped recently in the national finals of the Newby Teas Tiffin Cup 2010 the judges agreed. Nominated by Winchester MP Steve Brine they battled it out against 74 other restaurants at a cookoff event at the Houses of Parliament, judged by guest celebrities Ainsley Harriott, Ching he Huang, Nina Wadia, Hardeep Singh Kohli, Sue Harrison, Dhruv Baker, Lisa Faulkner, Sanjay Anand MBE and Amin Ali.

Miff said: “The Bangkok Brasserie was the only restaurant in the South East region to get to the final which was a great achievement in itself – and the only Thai restaurant ever to make it so far!

“We only opened in August 2009 and so to get national recognition so soon is a tremendous achievement for the whole team.”

With so many other tempting dishes to try we will certainly be returning – just to make sure those standards haven’t slipped!