With about as many rice noodle joints in the GTA as there are hot dog stands, it takes a certain confidence to open a Thai fine dining restaurant. But that confidence is well-placed in Soontorn Smarnpharb, whose elegant new room near Oakville’s lakeshore, called Soontorn Bahn Thai, offers uncommonly sophisticated cooking and an ambience that will take the plastic-flowers-and-peanut-sauce set by surprise. While the food—gorgeous squid salad, perhaps, or delicate fish curry—is unfailingly authentic, the decor forgoes the usual smoking Buddhas for clean, modern lines, high-style banquettes, wall-to-wall exotic hardwood and open shelves showcasing an inspired selection of wines.

Soontorn Bahn Thai, 210 Lakeshore Rd. E., Oakville, 905-815-8488.