Dining like royalty

At Royal Thai Cuisine, you’ll be treated like a king or queen, no matter who you are. Owner and chef Sam Tila has cooked for members of the royal family of Thailand, and he’s eager to please us regular customers. Tila is an energetic and busy restaurateur and chef.

A lunch or dinner at Royal Thai in Newport Beach is an affordable, authentic and satisfying experience. Some of the exotic ingredients that go into its delicate dishes include green papaya, ripe mangoes, coconut milk, lemon grass, Thai basil and aromatic galangal root (Thai ginger).

Take advantage of Royal Thai’s value lunches and sunset dinners served from 5 to 7 p.m. daily. Lunch specials are priced from $6.95 to $8.95 and include soup of the day, tossed green salad, Thai spring roll, steamed white rice and a choice of 17 entrees.

Another lunch special costs $8.95 and includes choice of pad Thai noodles or fried rice with a grilled beef or chicken salad with spicy lime dressing and choice of six entrees, including barbecue Thai chicken in herbs and spices; glistening strips of chicken or beef with peanut sauce; and marinated pork spare ribs in Royal Thai sauce.

Sunset dinners are four courses for just $14.95. Each dinner includes an appetizer, soup, an entree and your choice of homemade ice cream.

On the regular dinner menu, Royal Thai serves a delectable starter dish, the Siam forest salad -- a green salad with peanut dressing, bean cake, cucumbers and tomatoes ($3.95 or $6.95 serves two) -- and the som tom salad, a spicy raw green papaya salad with crushed peanuts ($3.95 or $6.95 serves two). Favorite dishes include the crying tiger, medallions of spicy prime-cut beef broiled and served with fresh greens ($11.95); and royal duckling, marinated in garlic, wine, cilantro, galangal root and deep fried ($12.95).

All entrees are prepared with a choice of vegetarian meat, tofu chicken, oyster mushrooms, pork, beef, shrimp, calamari, roast duck, scallops or mixed seafood ($9.95 to $12.95). They’re served with aromatic jasmine rice. The cashew nut entree is perfect with chicken; it’s prepared with roasted chili, carrots and green onions ($10.95). For an excellent seafood dish, try the red sea, a combination of shrimp, calamari, mussels and zucchini, stir fried in a garlic paste sauce ($14.95). Another favorite is the kang kari with beef, a yellow curry sauce with potato and onion ($10.95).

Most dishes can be prepared for vegetarians, and many of the spicy dishes can be toned down or made even spicier.

At Royal Thai, save room for the homemade ice creams. Fresh coconut, mango and green tea ice creams are sweet, creamy and delicious ($3.95).

The Royal Thai Newport Beach opened 21 years ago, and it now it has three other locations down the coast -- in Laguna Beach, La Jolla and downtown San Diego.

If you want to know Tila’s culinary secrets, you’re in luck. He offers private and group Thai cooking classes.

Reserve a space for a holiday cooking class at 6:30 p.m. Monday or at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 14. Tila offers secret cooking techniques for preparing Thai dishes at home. The class includes a four-course dinner with champagne. A few dishes prepared include drunken noodles with chicken, pork, shrimp, squid and vegetables, as well as tom kae kai, a spicy soup with coconut milk, chicken cabbage and Lao’s root. Classes cost $52 each.

Tila also has a big heart. He helped raise more than $10,000 for tsunami victims in South Asia earlier this year by donating sales from lunch and dinners. And Royal Thai participated in the Taste of Newport, which helped raise funds for local causes and for Hurricane Katrina victims.

IF YOU GO

* WHAT: Royal Thai Cuisine

* WHERE: 4001 W. Coast Hwy. Newport Beach

* WHEN: Open for lunch daily from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; open for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday; 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday

* INFO: (949) 645-THAI

* BEST BITES runs every Friday. Greer Wylder can be reached at [email protected]; at 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626; or by fax at (714) 966-4679.

20051104ipevzskn(LA)Royal Thai Cuisine’s elephant stands at the entrance of the Newport Beach restaurant.