A Review of Ploy Siam Thai Cuisine, in Robbinsville It's rare that ambience challenges food in my memory of a restaurant, but such is the case with Ploy Siam Thai Cuisine. Along with the deep-fried red snapper and other beautifully presented Thai treats, I recall sunshine pouring through a huge skylight, bouncing off a fountain and pool of water below and, from there, dancing into the far corners of the dining room. On my first visit, I admired the view from a darkish corner, but on the second, I requested and was given a table next to the fountain. There, we had a sense of dining almost alfresco - and without the heat rising from concrete and asphalt, or the sounds and sights of traffic. Bill Hurley, the owner of Ploy Siam, opened it in summer 2010; his wife, Kannika, grew up in Thailand. Ploy, the middle name of their 6-year-old daughter, means gemstone, he said on the phone after my visits. The menu is small, as Thai menus go, and thus more accessible than some. Standout appetizers from Worawut Chantomuk, the head chef, included a platter of seven mussels topped with a confetti of cucumber and red bell pepper and, surprisingly, a generous sprinkling of sweet, nutty, browned shallot bits. Two more table favorites were a pretty, spicy and sour shrimp and chicken soup - tom yum num pik pow - that was loaded with vegetables, and tender fried fish cakes of salmon sparked with lime leaves and pieces of green bean and flavored with coconut milk. Lime juice, fish sauce and dried rice enlivened Mr. Chantomuk's grilled beef salad, which is also flavored by red onion, scallion and cilantro, though the tender meat was oddly grayish. Chicken satay, also tender, was a juicy example of this marinated and grilled classic, and was nicely accompanied by peanut sauce and a relish of cucumber, red pepper and red onion, with julienned sweet carrots alongside. Vegetable rolls were far better than I've had elsewhere. These are slimmer than usual, closer to the size of fat cigars than fat egg rolls, and filled with a mix of onion, carrot, cabbage, black and shiitake mushrooms, taro and sweet potato. Golden bags, filled with a ground mixture of crab, shrimp, water chestnuts and mushrooms, were bland despite the plum sauce alongside. Steamed dumplings, with those same ingredients plus green peas and carrots, suffered the same fate. And the tom kha kai, usually a rich and creamy soup with coconut milk, galangal and straw mushrooms, was thin and unsatisfying. Apart from a humdrum pad Thai with chicken, the main courses matched the attractiveness and general appeal of appetizers. Duck salad, listed logically in the salads, but at $19 more of a main dish, was a table favorite, with slices of succulent meat fanned out beneath a beautiful blend of julienned vegetables and mint. Duck with basil was also well prepared, though, as a hot dish, it did not sparkle as much. Green curry with beef was refreshingly light compared with others I've tried; Mr. Chantomuk said in a phone conversation that he achieved this with coconut milk and a bounty of vegetables: broccoli, green beans, red and green peppers, zucchini and bamboo shoots. Grilled shrimp with garlic sauce was a study in contrasts and complements: butterflied shrimp, carrots with ruffled edges, crunchy fried garlic, broccoli florets. The mango with sticky rice (molded into a heart) and the green tea crème brûlée were perfectly acceptable, but two treats far surpassed them. The first was the sweet, creamy and almost malted iced coffee, so luscious that I sipped long past satiety. It is made by grinding coffee beans with rice roasted to a very dark brown. The second was a glorious slice of pumpkin filled with an egg-based coconut milk custard and steamed to melting tenderness. Both will change your ideas of what dessert can be; each is worth the trip to Ploy Siam. Ploy Siam Thai Cuisine 1041 Washington Boulevard (Foxmoor Shopping Center) Robbinsville (609) 371-9600 ploysiamthaicuisine.com THE SPACE Beautiful 122-seat dining room with skylight. Ample space between tables. THE CROWD Sedate and nicely dressed; some children on my visits. Servers are friendly and efficient. THE BILL Lunch special includes soup or salad and a main dish for $10. At dinner, main dishes are $11 to $19, with some seafood at market price. Red snapper was $29. MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover and Diners Club accepted. WHAT WE LIKED Mussels, spicy and sour shrimp and chicken soup, fish cakes, beef salad, chicken satay, vegetable roll, deep-fried red snapper, duck salad, duck with basil, green curry, grilled shrimp with garlic sauce, steamed custard in pumpkin, Thai iced coffee. IF YOU GO Lunch: Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dinner: Daily, 5 to 10 p.m., plus Saturday and Sunday, 12:30 to 3 p.m. Plenty of parking in the lot in front. Reservations are generally not needed.