It's Thai! It's sushi! It's delicious!

There are several generally accepted red flags when it comes to restaurants. Two big, bright ones were thrown my way before I'd even ordered at ThaiOishi. The first was that dreaded culinary genre, Asian fusion: overdone, uninspired and an insult to the regions' diverse and unique cuisines. While ThaiOshi doesn't "fuse" its dishes - the cuisines are divided into two distinct menus - it does call itself a "Thai & Sushi" restaurant, two very broad and complex umbrellas for one kitchen to take on successfully.

One flag dubiously noted; another reared its head when I opened the menu and discovered an enormous list of 72 Thai items and 74 Japanese items. And that's not counting drinks.

But, as I was reminded, red flags are based on generalizations and leave plenty of room for happy surprises. Yes, the menu is epic, the humble dining room sparse and the location a hike to the hinterlands of Karlín, within spitting distance of the Palmovka metro station. On cold winter nights, the distance alone would be enough to discourage a trip to ThaiOishi. But bundle up, gather what reserve you have and make what turned out to be a very worthy trip.

The food arrived at a leisurely pace, just at the edge of reasonable but justified by the clearly fresh and to-order preparation of each item. If the kitchen has heat lamps and chafing dishes, it doesn't seem to be using them. Shrimp cakes were piping hot out of the fryer, and had a spot-on ratio of plenty of juicy shrimp bites to minimal breading. The sauce was unfortunately the ubiquitous sweet chili dip, but the cakes were great without it. Three pieces of nigiri, one tuna, one crab stick and one squid, were each generous in their cuts and tasted fresh, firm and sweet. Tom yum kai soup was intensely fragrant with fresh lemongrass, ginger and chilis. I had to carefully dodge whole slices of each while spooning up plump chicken and mushrooms.

A tempura platter of vegetables didn't take the cheap way out, offering a pleasing diversity of delicately fried veggies; eggplant, sweet potato, shredded carrots, mushrooms, peppers and cauliflower.

The kitchen - and servers - are eager to please, a sentiment that may explain why the pad thai with chicken was leaning toward bland. The dish avoided being greasy, and had plenty of perfectly cooked chicken, bean sprouts, peanuts and scallions. But there was no punch; no cilantro, basil, chilis or lime to elevate it from adequate to perfect. Still, that's not uncommon in Prague. Many kitchens are cautious about serving dishes their customers may find too spicy, a line that's quickly crossed in this country.

On a second visit, spring rolls were long and thin with a rice noodle and pork filling that was perfumed with an anise flavor. A California roll was ample, coated with toasted sesame seeds and filled with a perfect balance of crabstick, ripe avocado and diced cucumber held together with the lightest dressing of mayonnaise. The pickled ginger that came with the sushi order on my first visit was absent. But, instead of simply dropping what it had apparently run out of, the kitchen sent the roll out with several slices of pickled daikon radish, a more expensive substitute that did the job nicely.

I requested an extra-spicy order of Thai red curry with chicken, to compensate for the kitchen's caution with heat. What came out was just perfect, with extra-spicy translating to what would be a moderate level of heat in other parts of the world. The curry was smooth with coconut milk and balanced with tart lemongrass, lime juice and chilis. The portion itself was significant, with plenty of juicy white-meat chicken, silky cubes of eggplant and bamboo shoots.

Gyuu don was a homey rice bowl topped with tender cuts of beef and sautéed onions. Scrambled eggs were laced throughout, and had a custard-like consistency that lent creaminess to the meal. As a bonus, the Gyuu don came with a big bowl of miso soup that was rich with big cubes of fresh tofu and tender seaweed.

At this point, I was beyond sated, but duty required I sample a dessert. As it turned out, black sesame ice cream is the way forward: nutty, crunchy, black-speckled ice cream garnished with bright red strawberry slices. I ordered with the intention of just tasting it but had to finish the whole big scoop, as I would have felt guilty letting something so delicious just sit there, melting, going to waste.

Given the size of ThaiOishi's menu, what I sampled was relatively small. But 100 percent of what I was able to taste was delicious and carefully prepared. Chances are you're going to have the same experience.

Claire Compton can be reached at
ccompton@praguepost.com