Chai's Garden Thai Restaurant, Telegraph Hill

To the west of Telegraph Hill Park, Chai's Garden Thai Restaurant and Café sits behind Skehans pub, in a converted stable block, with its own entrance round the side of the pub on Gellatly road.

The presentation of this place can't be faulted. We went expecting a fairly standard Thai-in-a-pub type affair, but the restaurant really stands on its own, taking up virtually all the pub garden, which is also well presented with some nice planters. The acres of glazing make it feel like dining alfresco, even in March! We'd imagine it could be great to sit outside on a warm summer night.

There is a large range of drinks available, including Thai beers, wines, or drinks on draft direct from the pub next door. Prices are reasonable, and this place must hold the record for the cheapest pint of Hoegaarden we'd ever seen, at £3.80.

We opted for two mixed platters to start with, at £7 a piece, and although tasty, worked out quite expensive for the amount of food that arrived. The mains arrived in good time, all beautifully presented, and decent portions. The Thai curries were as good as any we've tasted in this price bracket (we had a Roast Duck curry, and a Penang Chicken), and our fellow diner's Pad Thai was reassuringly good – a test of any Thai.

Service was relaxed throughout (though some could take that as being a tad slow), and the atmosphere was very chilled, with oriental music tinkling away. The bill was no doubt a bit more than it would have been at somewhere like Smiles, but it felt like it was worth it. In all, despite Brockley and New Cross' abundance of decent Thai restaurants, we'd still recommended a trip to this one.

Afterwards, we washed down our fantastic food with a few pints of Old Speckled Hen at the Montague Arms - an adventure in its own right, and one that we'll have to tell you about another time.