RESTAURANTS / Max Jacobson : At Mongkut, You’ll Get Service With a Smile--and Some Good Food

Land of Smiles. That’s the name the Thai Tourist Board has dreamed up to promote tourism in Thailand, and after dining recently at Mongkut Thai Restaurant, I couldn’t let go of that image. The waiters kept smiling at us in a maddeningly intransigent way every time we asked a question that required an answer. And they didn’t give us answers, even though their English appeared quite fluent.

You know the kind of questions: “What seafood is fresh today?” Smile. “How hot is this dish?” Smile. “What do you recommend?” Smile. Smile. My advice? Don’t ask. Smile.

Someone with a background in promotion must have written the menu too. The names of the dishes on it are as flowery as a Browning sonnet. Raging Pacific Pearl. Dazzling Green Crystal. Icarus’ Burning Wing. Garnet Ocean Field. Glittering Coastal Onyx.

Glittering Coastal Onyx?

That, for your information, is “calamari prepared with an exuberant blend of spicy sauce.” Well, surprise. The dish is terrific, and the sauce, I hate to admit, is exuberant.

And actually, exuberant is a good word to describe this restaurant or--I should say--restaurants. There are two Mongkuts--in San Clemente and in South Laguna, and the menus are identical. The San Clemente Mongkut is a classic hole-in-the-wall, an unembellished storefront ethnic place with nothing more than tables and chairs for atmosphere. The South Laguna version is fancier (as expected), with artwork hanging about, woodcarvings, napkin rings and a lengthy wine list. The food, as far as I can tell (because I ordered different dishes each time I visited), tastes about the same in both restaurants, which is to say authentic and fine.

Larb, the ground pork dish eaten with chili, onions and lime sauce, is as hot a version as you’ll find in Thai Town Los Angeles. It burns your tongue and sears your throat. Crispy Opal ( goong pla in Thai) is one of the more unusual appetizers I’ve eaten: crispy concave rice cracker shells (fresh from the pan) served with a dip made from coconut milk, dried tofu, ground chicken, peanuts and abundant chili.

Thai spring rolls (the menu writers must have missed this one) might get cheated in the name department, but that doesn’t mean the rolls lack imagination. Instead of the usual stuffing made from glass noodles, minced pork and garlic, there is a dense forcemeat that adds a satisfying heaviness to them. Dip them in the sweet, sticky sauce and eat them with the cucumber relish. They’re habit forming.

Mongkut doesn’t mess with soups much, however. The Tom kha kai is wonderful, a creamy version of the coconut milk-based classic with chicken, cabbage and a touch of galanga root. At first, I wondered why it came in such a little bowl; usually Thai restaurants serve it in great, steaming chafing dishes. Here, the portion makes sense. This is the richest soup I’ve had in a Thai restaurant.

The warm salads, which Thai chefs were doing generations before there was California cuisine, have, naturally, sparkling names such as Dazzling Green Crystal ( som tam in Thai). I’ve had many variants of this dish, which is based on raw papaya. Here, it’s made with chayote squash in a sharp vinaigrette with crushed peanuts. I found it very seductive--it has a crunchy texture that is far more appealing than the slither of papaya would have been.

If salad strikes you as too exotic, try the Thai beef salad; Mongkut’s version is hot and sweet, the beef on the tough side. Or try Raging Pacific Pearl, which is marinated grilled shrimps in a lime sauce with celery, onions, lemon grass and wilted mint leaves.

I didn’t care for Mongkut’s traditional Thai curries; they were oily and left a strong aftertaste. The most common, called massamun , is a beef curry with potatoes and peanuts in a red chili paste. When you eat this dish in the Thai countryside, it’s heavy, filling and peasantlike. Mongkut’s massamun sits in a pool of oil, and the beef is tough. The chicken curry is a little better: The chicken is tender and subtly spiced, but it, too, suffers from an overabundance of red oil.

Mongkut also prepares interesting alternatives to white rice, many of which remind me of rice dishes I have had in Asia. Divine Vision Rice is composed of shrimp, chicken, Chinese sausage and an odd bit of pineapple, with a grainy curry powder on top. It is very un-Western. Garnet Ocean Field is great--probably the best thing I tasted at the restaurant. It is sauteed rice full of crab onions and egg, exactly like a dish you’d find on a Thai beach. It’s almost enough to make a grown man smile.

Mongkut Thai is inexpensive to moderate. There are complete lunches for less than $5, including appetizer, main dish and rice. At dinner, there is an extensive a la carte menu with a wide range of dishes from $3.50 to $12.95.

MONGKUT THAI

212 Avenida del Mar, San Clemente. (714) 492-3871

31976 S. Coast Highway, South Laguna. (714) 499-2100

Open for lunch Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Open nightly for dinner, 5 to 10 p.m.

American Express, MasterCard and Visa accepted.