Typically you can approach a Thai restaurant in either of two ways: You can dine strictly on a budget, selecting a curry or saute for $8 or $9, or pick an elaborate seafood dish or chef's special for $13 or $15. That pricing scheme is the rule at Tani's Thai, but no matter what you order, you'll feel like you're participating in fine dining.

Orchids rest on each table. Stark white walls support beautiful carvings of wood, tastefully enhanced by track lights aimed from above. Platters are decorated with fresh greens, plus turnips and carrots lovingly carved into intricate, bright flowers. The young staff is unfailingly efficient and polite, the music classy.

And the food is good. Soups are bright and refreshing, sauces are flavorful if underspiced, appetizers are interesting, and they provoke the appetite without killing it.

Shrimp in the basket ($6.95) are a fried yet delicate starter. Large shrimp are packaged with spiced crab meat and ground pork, wrapped in a crispy shell sizzled in oil; the end product resembles a little golden brown kite. You get a half- dozen, hot and savory, and ready to dip into the lagoon of sweet plum sauce in the center of the plate.

The more familiar appetizer is satay of chicken or beef ($6.95), five precooked strips on wooden skewers that you sizzle yourself on a mini-hibachi brought to the table (don't stick your nose too close to the fire). Our chicken was tender, marinated in garlic and curry. Provided as dip were an excellent peanut sauce and a sweet one made with cucumber.

Of five soups, we tried three. Tom ka gai ($3), the traditional chicken soup with coconut milk, was among the zestier we've tried. If you like your tom ka gai with lots of galanga, lemongrass and lime, hurry down here. If you like it heartier, with more coconut milk and more heft, skip this. It's good, with plenty of chicken breast and white mushrooms, but maybe a bit out of balance.

King's seafood soup ($3.95) has a royal supply of shrimp, squid and crab meat, floating in an excellent broth, tart from lemongrass. The menu calls it spicy, but like much of the fare at Tani Thai, including its sister shrimp soup, Tom Yum Goong, it is not. If you want it properly tongue-searing hot, you need to look your server in the eye and say, "I WANT IT HOT." You likely will then get what you deserve.

For entrees, choose from among majestic seafood dishes, most priced at $14; chef's specials, at $10 to $14; plenty of sautes and curries at $10 and $11; and noodle and vegetarian dishes at $7 to $9. Being cheap by nature, we selected two sautes, a vegetarian dish and a pricey one, a chef's special, basil duck ($13.95). The duck turned out to be the fourth-place finisher. We got plenty of duck, all right, half a boneless bird, crisp and hot, coated with a dark, sweet glaze tinged, but not meaningfully so, with basil.

Cocky Bob ($10.95) might sound like Dole before the vote in New Hampshire, but actually it's fried bits of chicken breast glazed with garlic and honey. This is a good thing, hot and fresh-tasting, both sweet and savory, if you can take your eyes off the stunning carved turnip flower that comes with it on the plate.

Those who like tofu will enjoy Tani Thai's braised version, Three Flavors Tofu ($8.95). The little pillows of tofu, flavored sweet, sour and spicy, come pleasingly burnished from the deep fryer, soft and warm inside, browned crisp outside. Served with mixed fresh vegetables, they almost look real.

Top dish of the visit was Pad Ga Pow with pork ($9.95). You can choose beef or chicken for any of the eight sautes. Our pork was lean, white, if a bit overdone, but that was compensated for by a wonderfully savory brown sauce dotted with lots of basil and pepper, plus red and green peppers. Not hot pepper, mind you -- we weren't emphatic enough in ordering this spicy, apparently -- but the flavor was there.

Those of you accustomed to the drive-through doughnut emporium are in for an eye-opener here. Thai doughnut ($4) is not to be missed. The dozen little pillows look like hush puppies, not coffee dunkers, but they're fabulous here, the best we've tried. Flash-fried in super-hot oil, they're salty and mildly sweet, but when you dip them into sweetened condensed milk, provided on the side, you'll smile.

Smile like the staff at Tani's Thai, a classy place with some classy food.