I like Asian cooking well enough. Sometimes, though, I have a sharp yen for great Chinese food, the best of which in this country is only available in New York or San Francisco. I’ve yet to find a place worth traveling to in Boston’s Chinatown.

Several months ago I was invited to someone’s house for dinner in Portland, an American woman who has studied Chinese cookery for years. She prepared an authentic feast that was a revelation. I can’t wait to go there again.

Other than that, we’re steeped in a wasteland of banal Asian cookery, from the plethora of Thai restaurants that are as common as hotdog stands to lackluster Chinese food mishandled as marauding finery in strip malls around town.

What I don’t understand is how so many Thai restaurants have found their way to Maine. From Millinocket to Kittery, they’re everywhere-- good, bad or indifferent.

Recently I went to Thai Taste in Cape Elizabeth on Cottage Road and that was better than most. I could be led blind folded, though, into any of our other Thai restaurants in Portland and feel that I’ve been to them all in one sitting.

Just by chance we went last night to Siam on Fore Street for dinner. I’ve gone several times over the years and always liked it. Usually the place has been empty. But last night, dreary and weather weary as it’s been, it was packed—truly a nonstop lineup of diners arriving by the minute. When we left at 9 pm, the place was still full. In my opinion, it should be full every evening.

Last night there was only one waiter to handle the crowd. But he managed it perfectly: Mixing drinks, serving the food graciously, tending to every diner’s need. He was a true marvel of efficiency--a rare trait amongst a general wait staff populated by those who often don’t give a damn.

Alas the kitchen was slow. It took a good twenty minutes for our first courses to arrive. But when they did each morsel was a burst of well tended flavors and surprises.

While the other Thai joints around town--those gaudy mockeries of what an Americanized Asian restaurant is supposed to look like--fill the bill to resemble Thai cooking, Siam certainly rings the ramparts of style and authenticity.

Well, I’m no expert on the cuisine, but it seems to me that Siam is as close as we can get to the real thing in Portland. Other places merely ply the plates with too much garlic, sugar and sweet sauces, which may satisfy somewhat but ultimately only offer indigestion.

I may not have ordered smartly last night, but I loved what I had. I started off with a vegetable dumpling soup. The broth was crystal clear, glistening with an amber hue that was well spiced yet delicate. The vegetable dumplings were as fragile as stardust. The broth also held strips of scallion and snow peas that were tantalizingly fresh.

Look at this restaurant’s website for a bio on the chef. Then you’ll begin to understand why the food can be so good here.

My dinner companion began with a simple salad, which turned out not to be so simple. It was comprised of organic greens, in ginger lime miso vinaigrette. It was light, refreshing and a good way to begin a meal that would follow with rich fare.

I then suggested that we share an appetizer in addition to our starters. I just had to have some fried dumplings, if only to double up on one of my favorite preparations.

They were sensational. The casings were lightly sautéed and emerged as airy bundles filled with marinated pork, accompanied by a dipping sauce that was not the usual sweet and sour glue. Here it was a sparkling mixture of very good vinegar and ginger.

Sitting next to us were two-out-of Towner’s who I heard proclaim that this was the best Thai food they’d ever had. I didn't really disagree.

For my main course I ordered the Nam Pik Pao Chicken. Don’t ask me to explain what the name of the dish means because I can’t. But I can describe what I had. It was tender, succulent sautéed pieces of white meat served with wide rice noodles, in a marinade of Thai chili, egg, onion, pepper, tomato and Thai basil leaves, a very strong and assertive tasting type of cilantro. I loved the dish. Our waiter said it was his favorite.

My friend had Pad Thai Seafood. It was overloaded with shrimp, lobster and crab claws sautéed and served over rice stick noodles, tossed with pad Thai sauce, egg, bean sprouts, scallions and roasted ground peanuts. I managed to try it and marveled over its intricacy of flavors. I’m not really a pad Thai fan—too much noodle for me—but I would break tradition for this version.

The roster of desserts that are generally offered in Asian restaurants often reek of a dead zone of sweets. I always think, why bother? Does anyone really like green tea ice cream or melon balls in spicy syrup?

We shared a dish of the aforementioned ice cream, if only as a palate cleanser. Other choices included the nightly special of a Foley’s bakery confection. Last night was marble cake. Marble cake after pad Thai? It seems a bit foolish to me.

We had a couple of Thai beers with our food, though there’s a full bar. The tab set us sweetly back $54, a sum that could not possibly buy as good a meal anywhere else.

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