A Thai Restaurant
eighteen minutes from Thorne

Thorne sits about nine miles northeast of our kitchen on Copley Road. The clean route in is the M18 from junction 6 down to junction 4, then a few minutes through into Doncaster town centre via the A630. The drive takes around eighteen to twenty-two minutes depending on traffic. Park at the Trafford Way multi-storey - two minutes walk from us. The motorway run means the drive is mostly steady and predictable, less stop-start than the cross-country roads.

Whether you set off from the streets around Thorne Memorial Park and the South Parade conservation area, the homes on King Edward Road heading toward Moorends, the canal-side properties along the Stainforth and Keadby Navigation, or the newer estates spreading toward the M18 junction itself, the motorway is the obvious east-west route. From the Thorne South station side and the streets near Peel Hill - the medieval motte-and-bailey castle earthworks - the A614 down to J6 takes minutes. We see a steady run of Thorne customers, particularly on Friday and Saturday evenings when the motorway is quiet.

• Five tables, intimate by design
• BYO with no corkage, no service charge
• Every dish cooked to order
• Authentic Thai pastes from Thailand
• Eighteen to twenty-two minutes from Thorne via the M18

Thorne is a small market town on the eastern edge of South Yorkshire, on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, with a population of around eighteen thousand counting nearby Moorends. The town has its own distinct character - canal heritage from the eighteenth century when it was an active inland port, the medieval motte-and-bailey at Peel Hill from the twelfth century, and the wider Thorne Moors National Nature Reserve on its doorstep, which is one of the largest lowland raised mires in Britain.

Modern Thorne has its market days, the conservation area around South Parade and St Nicholas Church, and two railway stations - Thorne North and Thorne South - linking it to Doncaster, Hull and beyond. The Thorne Memorial Park sits at the centre of town. For specialist food, the town has a reasonable casual scene but most people looking for proper Thai cooking will make the short M18 run into Doncaster.

We are about eighteen minutes southwest down the M18, in the town centre near the Wool Market. The motorway run is clean and the parking is straightforward.

Charm Thai Cafe is small and deliberate. Five tables in a room with chalkboard specials, decent wine glasses if you bring your own bottle, and time for Rin to taste and balance each dish before it leaves the kitchen. There is no service charge added to the bill - the menu price is what you pay.

The kitchen runs the full menu - curries with imported authentic Thai pastes, freshly mixed Pad Thai sauce per order, handmade starters, the dark noodle soup that has built most of our regulars. Halal chicken and beef are available across the mains; the full vegan menu runs alongside the standard one, using proper vegan oyster sauce for stir fries.

Booking ahead is wise on Friday and Saturday evenings. Book a table online or phone 01302 210408 - midweek you can usually walk in.