She came to the United States from Bangkok, Thailand in 1990 and decided to open her own Thai restaurant when she discovered many of the Thai dishes served in San Jose were different from the traditional meals prepared in her native land.

"My family owned a restaurant in Thailand. They prepared and served only traditional Thai food, and the customers liked it very much," she says.

Soon after opening her restaurant in Willow Glen, Tiffany met and married her husband, Somsak, who is also a native of Thailand and the head Thai chef at Siam Square.

"We prepare our food in the ways I was taught by my parents. Most of our dishes are sautéed and prepared without very much oil. Too much oil is bad for you and makes some foods too greasy," Tiffany says.

In keeping with Thai cooking traditions, dishes prepared at Siam Square are cooked in a wok, an Asian cooking pan.

One of the more popular dishes served at Siam Square is the chicken and coconut soup.

"It is a very traditional soup in Thailand and India, served mainly for dinner because it is so rich," Tiffany says.

The soup is a combination of sautéed chicken, coconut milk, mushrooms and a little lemon.

While most Thai dishes are known to be spicy, at Siam Square there is a mild version of each dish available. But for the adventurous guest, food can be ordered "hot" and "very hot."

"What makes the food very hot is a Panang sauce," Tiffany says. "That's a red curry sauce, and even though it is used a lot in Thailand, we only serve it if it has been requested in our restaurant."

The restaurant also serves a chicken in yellow curry sauce, which is prepared with potatoes and peanuts.

"We serve a lot of chicken and meat dishes, but we also have a few vegetarian dishes that are very good," Tiffany says.

One such dish is the eggplant basil dish. Eggplant is sautéed in a basil, chili and garlic sauce.

Pad thai is considered the house specialty at Siam Square. The dish has rice noodles with chicken and shrimp, bean sprouts and tofu served in a special sauce prepared by the chef.

"All of our food is fresh," Tiffany says. "We don't serve frozen or pre-made food in our restaurant. We make things from scratch."

Seafood dishes are also popular at Siam Square and are cooked in the same tradition as most fish dishes prepared in Thailand.

Pompano is a whole, deep-fried fish—one of the few dishes in which a lot of oil is used—and is served with a chili and garlic sauce.

The shrimp with garlic sauce is another popular seafood item. The restaurant also makes a deep-fried sea bass dish that is cooked in a homemade ginger sauce.

"Our customers enjoy it very much," Tiffany says.

The entire Siam Square menu is available for take-out, and catering services are also available on request.

"We have catered lunches and dinners for different companies in the area. It's a nice change from the usual office food," Tiffany says.

Located at 1040 Willow St., Siam Square is open for lunch Monday through Friday, 11 a.m.­2:30 p.m. and for dinner, Monday through Thursday, 5­9:30 p.m., and Friday, 5­10 p.m. On weekends, Siam Square is open Saturday, 11:30 a.m.­10 p.m., and Sunday, 4 p.m.­9:30 p.m. Call 408.293.2268 for reservations or take-out orders. Orders can be faxed to 408.293.5599.