One of my offices is in Eastham, on the outer part of Cape Cod, MA. In the winter months it can get a little desolate there, quiet in the extreme, and the number of eating places in the off season diminishes greatly. As one would expect under such circumstances, ethnic restaurants are hard to come by during this time other than Chinese. I like Chinese food, but for anything other than that, or seafood or a steak, one has to travel to Hyannis.

    Well, lo and behold, a new player has entered the mix, and in North Eastham, of all places. Just down the street from my office, an ambitious and ever pleasant group from Bangkok has opened the Royal Thai Cuisine just off Route 6 north of Bracket Road. I made it in for lunch five days after they opened and had a terrific pad thai noodles with tofu and vegetables. In the following two weeks I returned for lunch twice and dinner once, and will probably maintain a similar pace in the future.

    A good indicator of a talented kitchen is the quality of its soups. It's fairly easy to tell if they are house-made even with some excellent commercial products available. One of the world's great soups is tom yum kung, the Thai hot and sour shrimp soup, spiced with chile, lemon grass, mushrooms, tomato and lime juice. The hot and explosively flavorful broth is poured over fresh mushroom quarters and tomato wedges, which in turn heat through themselves. The Royal Thai Cuisine's version speaks extremely well of the kitchen, and this is a soup you really should try.

    I suspect I will write a full-blown review of the Royal Thai Cuisine sometime in the next few months. In the meantime, I promise to be conducting a great deal of research into this place for you.