Nothing hidden at Sally's restaurant

She even lets you know the precise number of calories in each dish.

And, she says, her unique "spa menu" is good for the soul as well as the body.

The fact that customers flock to Shipley for the food plus a top award in Sally's first year since the opening testify to the success of the formula.

As with any new venture, those first 12 months have been crucial - and gruelling. She has spent six or seven days a week building up the 90-cover Thai Fever restaurant in Saltaire Road.

It has been a six or seven day a week slog building up a regular clientele, establishing culinary credentials and striving to cement a reputation for unrivalled quality. It hasn't been easy. But it has been rewarding.

Regular customers come from across the county to sample the sort of Thai food you get in Thailand rather than some dubious British hybrid.

Chinese born Sally, whose grandmother was Thai, came to Britain six-and-a-half years ago. On a trip to Singapore she met five-star Thai chef Pairuay Suksuwan. With long-standing ambitions to run a restaurant she spent a month sampling his food and decided he was the man for the job.

As well as ensuring full Thai authenticity Sally, aware of ballooning British waistlines, wanted to make sure the food was healthy with a capital H.

The restaurant's special spa menu, for example, tells you exactly how much nutrition is in each dish. A steamed fillet of sea bass with lemongrass, limejuice, coriander, garlic, galangal and thai parsley leaves, for example, ranks as 356 calories.

"No one else in England has this spa menu to help purify the body and the soul," she said. "Most women in England watch their weight. Our menu shows all the calories but we don't use a lot of oil, sugar or monosodium glutamate.

"We wanted to bring something different to England. The majority of Thai restaurants here are run by Englishmen who've been to Thailand and married a local girl."

Her expression suggests that this is not always a successful combination.

After studying for a master's degree in Leeds, Sally went into an import-export business but the catering ambitions remained.

Three years ago she started up the Magic Wok Chinese-Thai takeaway in Cottingley, which she still helps run along with Thai Fever.

"At first I didn't want to take a big risk because if you fail it's difficult to get back up again," she added.

Last October, the former motorcycle showroom opened its doors. A year on the business has reached critical mass.

"We're really busy every day," she said. "I think we've been doing very well. We're trying to create a little Thailand here. We play music. The bar and all the ornaments are from Thailand. Some Thai people who come here say they feel as if they're back in Thailand."

Other subtle details have been added. The ancient Chinese art of feng shui has been harnessed to create harmony. An aquarium with eight red fish and a single black one, symbolises luck and helps relax customers as they arrive.

Thai Fever, winner of the prestigious Quality Food Online award this year, is open six days a week in the evenings and is trying to develop corporate hospitality during the day. Next week it celebrates that key first anniversary.

"We want to do something different," she said. "Many customers have never experienced Thai desserts so we're doing a free buffet."

Sally believes two other key factors have underpinned the success so far - her personal touch and a determination to use only the freshest and best quality meat, fish, fruit and vegetables prepared on the day and never surreptitiously recycled into tomorrow's meals.

"One customer said he had the best sea bass he'd ever had anywhere in the world. Our chef is fantastic. He has the personality, the skill and the hard work."

Some customers have suggested that Thai Fever would be a goldmine in somewhere like Leeds or London. But Sally has no appetite for the big city. Now Shipley is home and she is determined to stay. Discerning diners need have no fear of travelling any further for a taste of Thailand.