IF you have a fondness for Thai food I would highly recommend the Great Missenden restaurant, Sukhothai.

There is a great menu of authentic dishes, tasteful décor and friendly, discreet staff.

When I arrived with my friend, Lucy, on a busy Saturday night as soon as we were seated she said, 'It's really nice here.'

And this is because there is a good feel to the place- the space is not particularly large but it's cosy with bright Thai décor from golden statues to floral detail.

And thankfully the food lived up to the look.

The menu has a lot of choice, and it took us quite a while to choose.

For starters we went for the Sukho Thai Mixed Starters, which is £12 for two people.

The vegetable spring rolls had a thin, crispy shell, which was not greasy at all, and inside it was packed with fresh vegetables.

The chicken satay was well grilled and the peanut sauce was rich, thick and had the perfect amount of peanuts.

Steamed tiger prawns were served in the middle with a green chilli and coriander sauce, which definitely had a kick to it. This was a fresh aside to the other dishes on offer.

The Thai fish cakes were small circles of densely packed fried discs, with a very delicate fish flavour.

The only slight disappointment to this excellent starter was the prawn on toast as it was deep fried and a little bit too greasy. However the prawn filling was well done.

This was all served with a separate aside of sweet chilli sauce and the satay sauce, so you could choose just how much you wanted to add to your dish.

For the main course I went for the jumbo king prawn chu chi curry (£14.95).

There were four huge prawns served split in half with the shells on. They were so well cooked you could simply scoop the soft, tender flesh out of the shell. It was meaty and delicious.

This was served with a very tasty sauce, which reminded me a bit of red curry, and had that lovely coconut taste which I associate with Thai food.

Lucy went for the beef Thai red curry with lychees and pineapple (£8.95).

The exotic fruits were a great addition to this well known spicy, coconut curry. They added that extra sweetness and went very well with the beef.

We shared a steamed coconut rice, which had just a hint of coconut and was a moreish added extra.

For dessert we were quite naughty and went for the only homemade dessert- deep fried icecream (£4.95).

Two balls of vanilla icecream were served in a batter with chocolate sauce drizzled on top.

I liked the idea of this dish but in reality it wasn't spectacular and not really worth the extra calories as the batter was too thick and didn't marry well with the icecream.

However, the rest of the meal was excellent and I left feeling satisfied and happy with the quality and choice of the food on offer.

Go to www.sukho-thai-restaurant.com for more details.