Someone else said it best.....(although I havenÕt tried the larb....)THERE ARE a lot of reasons to like Sinee's Thai Bistro on Laurel Street in San Carlos. The furnishings are comfortably casual, with tile-covered tables and carved wooden chairs that look like something out of a cozy, country breakfast spot. The menu is a comprehensive list of favorite Thai dishes, with a few that aren't given wide exposure in this area. And there's Sinee herself, a gracious and helpful hostess.My introduction to Sinee's came through Sally Richards, a former restaurant reviewer for the Mercury News and who also lived in Thailand several years ago. Richards mentioned that the dishes at Sinee's were the closest to those she enjoyed during her stay in Thailand, so we met for lunch and enjoyed a good selection of Sally's favorites, including larb ($4.95). Larb was just rightLarb is a tricky recipe that involves marinating pork, chicken, or beef in the right ingredients at the proper time and temperature. ... more

Someone else said it best.....(although I havenÕt tried the larb....)THERE ARE a lot of reasons to like Sinee's Thai Bistro on Laurel Street in San Carlos. The furnishings are comfortably casual, with tile-covered tables and carved wooden chairs that look like something out of a cozy, country breakfast spot. The menu is a comprehensive list of favorite Thai dishes, with a few that aren't given wide exposure in this area. And there's Sinee herself, a gracious and helpful hostess.My introduction to Sinee's came through Sally Richards, a former restaurant reviewer for the Mercury News and who also lived in Thailand several years ago. Richards mentioned that the dishes at Sinee's were the closest to those she enjoyed during her stay in Thailand, so we met for lunch and enjoyed a good selection of Sally's favorites, including larb ($4.95). Larb was just rightLarb is a tricky recipe that involves marinating pork, chicken, or beef in the right ingredients at the proper time and temperature. Sinee gets it just right: The minced pork in our larb salad was tender, delicately seasoned, and mixed with a tart and pungent combination of chiles, basil and minced red onion.We also tried a green seafood curry ($6.95). The mixed seafood included sweet New Zealand mussels, chunks of squid and pieces of tender fish in addition to prawns. The fish stock flavor had permeated the otherwise unremarkable pale green coconut milk-based sauce, and cubes of eggplant and zucchini added texture and sweetness to the dish.We closed with a dessert of mango and sticky rice ($3.50), a wonderfully refreshing combination.But I had to come back for dinner to get a wider sample of Sinee's meals. Kim and I started with roasted eggplant salad ($5.50) and were rewarded with a beautifully arranged version of this dish. Here, the eggplant is still firm, warmed through from the roasting that blisters off the skin and leaves it with a slightly smoky flavor; the beautifully curled shrimp tails arranged in a row down the top of the salad add their pale coral color to the white-green eggplant. Chunks of brilliant green chiles indicate that the lime dressing will be hot - and it is.Next came plik khing chicken ($5.50) - ''the only curry I make without coconut sauce,'' Sinee told us later. That's a good way to envision it: The thick, red-orange sauce is thick, heavily scented with garlic and very hot indeed. In addition to tender pieces of chicken, this dish uses green (snap) beans sauteed quickly to stay crisp and sweet under the almost luminous red curry. Be sure to spoon the sauce over your rice and scoop it up with fork and spoon, Thai style.The last two dishes we had at dinner were mild enough for the children: pad thai ($6.25) and hoa-mok ($6.95). Pad thai is the traditional rice noodle dish of Thailand, and Sinee's is as good as everything else here. Fried tofu, chicken and prawns mix with the orange sauce and strips of rice noodle; chopped peanuts are garnish and wedges of lime let you make it tart and tangy to taste. Seafood sealed, steamedBut it may have been the hoa-mok that we enjoyed most. This starts with the same seafood mix as used in the green curry I'd eaten at lunch - mussels, prawns, squid and fish - but they're seasoned with Thai basil and coconut milk before being wrapped in a lettuce leaf, then sealed in a banana leaf and steamed. (Outside the banana leaf is a layer of aluminum foil.) The package looks festive and unusual, and when Sinee cuts it open the aroma of the seafood and the coconut milk is quite strong. But the flavor of the dish is mild and delicate.The children tried fried ice cream ($2) for dessert. The balls of ice cream are wrapped in a light batter and quickly deep fried, then topped with a light sugar syrup and toasted sesame seeds.INFOBOX: Sinee's*Thai*Bistro* Where: 637 Laurel St., San Carlos Hours: Monday-Saturday lunch 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Dinner 5-10 p.m.; Sunday dinner only 5-10 p.m. Reservations: (415) 592-9211 Parking: Public lot at rear Et cetera: Visa/MasterCard accepted less