Amuse bouche is an old French trick, a little appetizer meant to awaken a diner's senses and quicken cravings for the courses to follow.

At Essensia, it's a well-chosen bite: vegetables in a crispy wonton pocket served with chili sauce. The combination throws several textures on a collision course and jabs the parts of your palate sensitive to hot, sour, sweet, musty — everything but bitter. It also sets the right expectations.

Despite the restaurant's ritzy digs inside the Mandarin Oriental hotel, this is not elaborate high-end cuisine. The menu splits time between classic Asian and European dishes, prepared in contemporary style without sacrificing the recipe's soul. Thus a starter of tod man pla, listed tritely as Thai fish cakes, veers from the basic street vendor snack mostly in a subtle but welcome herbal character, along with a vague smoky drift. The only real surprise from a pair of stuffed tomatoes making up another appetizer is the treatment of couscous filling one (scorched under the broiler so a coarse, jagged crust develops) and very fresh mozzarella in the other.

Ingenuity is reserved for the later courses, and expressed in the most recondite, intricate form. The cod fillet starts with a pronounced bittersweet scar of caramelized teriyaki, redolent of burnt molasses, advancing almost — almost — to the point where it overwhelms the fish before giving way. The meat itself is cooked through, but only just, so each bite descends from the firm and flaky texture of well-heated fish to the silky consistency of one lightly seared. Little touches on the side, such as two leaves of steamed greens sprinkled ever so lightly with toasted sesame, flirt with the flavors and textures of the cod. It's a cerebral construction that, if you really don't care to ponder the revelation of sensations, is simply a good-eatin' meal.

Better yet, try the Thai red-curry prawns. My dinner companion asked to hold back on the seasoning — not too hot, please — and our waiter returned with something profound. The broth starts with a beguiling sweetness, an uplifting aria of coconut milk and shellfish; then follows a low gust of pepper, a barely noticeable ripple of heat that eventually swells into an intensely flavorful vortex. If, to borrow from a bombastic TV chef, it were "kicked up a notch," 'twould be a vicious, unrestrained beast.

So, you will have a good experience at Essensia. Wait staff guide you through the evening with what could best be described as semiformal decorum. Perhaps because their efforts at deference seem forced, they instinctively fall back to a position of unstuffy professionalism that works nicely. The ambience speaks of romance but adapts to conviviality — a well-considered space.

Of course, you should also be prepared to pay. Although starters and entrees are reasonable for this sort of restaurant, water will set you back 80 Kč ($3.69), house Moravian white wine 220 Kč and a small Pilsner Urquell 80 Kč — quite a markup from typical prices.