LIKE many Wiltshire restaurants, the Thai Barn in Bradford on Avon, has boosted its takeaway services during the Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown to survive the crisis.

My wife Feona and I had tried two other local hostelries for eating out takeaways during the pandemic and turned to the town's premier Thai restaurant for our latest meal for this feature.

Ordering was easy, just pick up the phone and dial. The Thai Barn is open from Tuesday to Sunday for takeaways, which can be ordered from 2pm onwards.

Alternatively, customers can order via a Facebook direct message until 4pm on the day.

We decided to share our starter, so Feona ordered a selection from the menu, including the Por Pia vegetable spring roll (£6.95), the Gai Geow deep fried strips of chicken breast (£7.95), and the TOD Man Plaa, spicy Thai fish cakes (£7.95).

For the main course, we chose a TOD Gratiam Prik Thai Pork (£9.95) and a Panang King Prawn Curry (£10.95) with two portions of Egg Fried Rice (£3.95 each).

The total bill came to £51.65 and I arranged to collect at 7.30pm while my wife poured drinks at home to go with the meals.

The crispy spring rolls were filled with mixed vegetables and rice vermicelli, served with sweet chill sauce, while the Gai Geow was coated in Asian breadcrumbs and sesame seeds, and was also served with a sweet chilli sauce.

My own particular favourite from the starters were the TOD Man Plaa Thai fish cakes, which were blended with red curry paste, green beans and kaffir lime leaves, deep fried and served with a sweet chilli sauce topped with red onion, cucumber and crushed peanuts.

These were absolutely delicious and, if I were to order again, I'd order more of these.

The TOD Gratiam Prik Thai Pork main course was stir fried with fresh garlic and black pepper, sprinkled with crispy garlic and coriander, served on a bed of lettuce.

This, too, was delicious, with the pork very tasty, succulent and beautifully cooked.

My wife had chosen the Panang King Prawn Curry, a slightly thicker aromatic red curry, cooked with coconut milk, beans, red and green peppers and sweet basil.

This was also delicious, with absolutely no difference in quality and taste to eating a meal in the restaurant.

Feona thought the egg fried rice was also one of the highlights of the meal, saying "I don't know what they do to their rice, but it's absolutely to die for. I could just eat the rice on its own, it's that delicious."

The Thai Barn has long been in the top five of our 'go to' restaurants for evenings out and special occasions, and thoroughly deserves its reputation as one of the South West's most acclaimed restaurants for serving fine Thai cuisine.

Like many people, my wife and I will be pleased to see the lockdown restrictions eased on the local hospitality sector so that Wiltshire's cafes, coffee bars, pubs and restaurants can get back to serving quality food to their customers.

But, in the meantime, a takeaway from the Thai Barn is just the ticket.

John Baker