In an era of constant change and fly-by-night trends, fashionable today and gone tomorrow, it's comforting to visit an old favorite restaurant and find all you loved about it intact -- plus some wonderful additions.

Family owned and run for more than 16 years, the Thai Café on Main Street in Miami Lakes, which now includes a small sushi bar, is looking better than ever after a simple but visually pleasing makeover.

Quaint, matching curtains and tablecloths, accented by needlepoint and embroidery, round out the feeling that dining here is like stepping into an authentic hub of Asian culture in a city better known for its traditional Miami Americana, such as the Don Shula Hotel right across the street.

Wood trim in an intricate Thai design envelops the small dining room, where dishes are served in royal blue and white china. A stunning altar-like table at the end of the room sits before a wall-to-wall mirror that seems to expand the 74-seat eatery. Paper mobiles of orange, yellow and white fish hang from the ceiling like lanterns.

Stay true to the atmosphere, skip the California wines and start with an Asian beer ($3) -- Singha from Thailand, Tsingtao from China or Sapporo and Kirin from Japan. Then, mix your starter dishes from the Thai appetizers and soups menu with the extensive offerings from the sushi bar, which may look tiny but can turn out practically any sushi or sashimi combination you've ever sampled in larger restaurants.

Try the cone-shaped temaki rolls ($3 and $3.50) in the eel and shrimp tempura varieties. Or indulge in humorously named special rolls like Beauty and the Beast ($8.95), half tuna, half eel, asparagus, avocado and masago.

But don't neglect the Thai soups, the authentic strength of the Thai Café. The tom ka-gai ($4.95 bowl, $9.95 hot pot), a chicken soup with coconut milk, galanga and lime juice, is the best in the area. The slight kick in the broth is optimal, not overwhelming, and the chicken chunks are plentiful.

Another delightful soup is the tom yum pu ($3.95 bowl, $8.95 hot pot), a clear broth with crab meat, mushrooms seasoned with lemon grass, lime juice and pepper. Savory but never overdone by an overload of ingredients.

Skip the Thai spring rolls ($3.95), a large order of three egg rolls with a vegetable and pork stuffing that look and taste more Chinese than Thai and leave an aftertaste. Instead, order the pad thai ($8.95). These most famous noodles of Thai cuisine are exquisitely prepared here with plentiful, clean shrimp, and just the right touch of minced pork, ground peanuts and bean sprouts. There won't be any left to take home.

Another dish worth sampling, especially for those avoiding meats, is the seafood fried rice ($7.95), a meal in itself with the generous chunks of crab meat and all that shrimp. But best of all, the fluffy rice is so tasty there's no need to sprinkle any additional sauce.

The Thai Café specialty entrees include mildly seasoned crispy duck ($13.95) and crispy frog legs ($11.95), but it's tough to persuade people to go there. The rest of the specialties -- sautéed chicken and shrimp ($11.95), a seafood combination marinated in white wine and wrapped in foil ($14.95) -- are listed as hot and spicy dishes, but the kitchen is willing to alter to taste.

All main entrees are served with steamed white rice, scooped onto your plate from a gorgeous silver bowl. But make sure you get plenty on your plate the first go around. This eatery gets packed and busy frequently, and although friendly and polite, the service is not always up to speed. It may take you a while to get your waiter back to your table.

To sweeten the experience, make sure to leave room for a touch of dessert.

The lycheé fruit cup ($2) offers an alternative with its tart touch. But who's counting calories at this point? End the meal with the Thai Café version of the Thai doughnut ($2) -- the mini confections look like small American ones until you taste the difference. More sugar. Lots more sugar. One order easily feeds a table of four, and then some.

Add a scoop of coconut ice cream ($2) to contrast the sweet, warm taste of the donuts and their creamy dip, and there's no other recourse but to cap the evening with a lo-o-o-ng stroll up and down Main Street, several times over.