Some restaurants boast of their Zagat listings or four-star ratings. Siam Bistro in West Kendall proudly displays its Thai Select Seal of Approval from Thailand's Ministry of Commerce.

Owner Samai ``Sam'' Mouthapong is from the Thai city of Lampang in the northern region sandwiched between Myanmar and Laos. He graduated from law school in Ramkom near Bangkok, but in 1987 decided to join his older brother Ongart in Miami, working in Thai restaurants. On a visit home six years ago, he met and married his wife, Warunee, who had gone to cooking school in Bangkok.

They opened the bistro two years ago, with Sam running the front of the house and his brother and wife sharing the cooking, using fresh herbs and aromatics they grow themselves. Though the brothers are from northern Thailand, food is in the familiar Bangkok style of the south. There are also Vietnamese dishes Ongart learned to make while living with a Vietnamese family in Miami.

Larb is an appetizer salad with origins in Laos, made here with mildly spiced ground chicken on a bed of butter lettuce. Ask for the more pungent northern version with crushed Szechuan pepper berries, galangal root, Thai basil, fish sauce and lime juice with roasted rice powder binding the mixture. Fresh mint and phak phai (laksa leaf), add a peppery bite. Using your fingers is OK: Tear off some lettuce, stuff with a pinch of chicken, add fresh herbs and eat.

Each table is set with four condiments: Sriacha sauce; tiny, fiery Thai chiles in fish sauce; pickled green chile slices and roasted red chile powder. Each adds a different heat dimension -- fruity, salty, tangy, smoky. Use them to customize tom kha (coconut milk soup, with a choice of chicken, tofu or shrimp) or spooned over pad Thai and other pan-fried noodles including woon sen (glass noodles in oyster sauce with bits of egg, chicken, and wood-ear mushrooms).

Duck in a red curry-coconut milk base with green peas and pineapple chunks needs no extra heat. Khao mun gai is a special worth asking for: ginger-steamed boneless chicken served with rice and thick mushroom soy and vinegar dip.

End with seasonal fruit like guava or jackfruit, which tastes like pineapple crossed with banana. Chaiyo! (Bon appetite!)

Linda Bladholm's latest book is Latin and Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified.

Place: Siam Bistro.

Address: 7348 SW 117th Ave., Miami (in TJ Maxx Plaza off Sunset Drive).

Contact: 305-274-7423.

Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 1-10 p.m. Sunday.

Prices: Appetizers $5.25-$8.95, soups and salads $3.95-$9.99, curries $11.99-$17.99, rice and noodle dishes $7.95-$17.99.

FYI: Lunch portions are slightly smaller and cost $6.95-$9.95.

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