The Oberoi in New Delhi has acknowledged this need for a quick, tasty, impressive meal by offering a rather special buffet for the busy businessman at its speciality restaurant, Baan Thai.

Baan Thai is known for its superlative Thai food, and the buffet spread is aimed specifically at the on-the-run executive. It promises to have you fed and nourished in exactly 40 minutes from soup to dessert.

The menu changes every day. A typical day's menu would read thus:A choice of Salads from Bamboo Shoot Salad, Assorted Vegetable Salad, Corn Cakes, Chicken Sausage Salad and Grilled Tenderloin Salad. You're lucky if you hit the restaurant on a day when they're serving their Green Papaya Salad (Som Tum).This is an extremely interesting mix, juliennes of green papaya, mildly seasoned with Nam Yam chilli, garlic, lemon juice, sugar, white soya sauce and fish sauce, to yield an incredible sweet and sour flavour. Otherwise, just ask for it by name. It is priced at Rs 220 plus taxes, and you won't be disappointed.

Two Soups are on offer each day, one vegetarian, the other non-vegetarian. Tom Yam Soup features high on this list, whether of the vegetable or the seafood kind.

Then there is a selection of Curries and Stirfrieds: Lamb Red Curry, Chicken with Basil Leaves, Vegetable Green Curry, Vegetables in Garlic Sauce, Ham Stirfried with Cauliflower and Beancurd Songkrueng, all accompanied with steamed rice or noodles in assorted preparations.

There are others, too. For example, there's a fine selection of seafood dishes from which to choose: Prawn Curry Paste (Phat Phet Koong), Chinese Cabbage with Prawns, Fish Celery (Pla Phad Khim Chai), Squid Chilly Paste, Prawns with Cashew Nuts, etc. Similarly withVegetables and Meats. But you get to choose from six dishes--three vegetarian and three non-vegetarian-each day.)

The Lamb Red Curry was very good, but do remember to carry a handkerchief with you, for it is really hot. It lives up to its name, and is true-blue Thai curry. It should appeal to the most hardened critic. Not so with the Vegetable Green Curry, which takes a bit of getting used to, and even then is not as satisfying to the palate as the Red Curry.

The Beancurd Songkrueng, too, was a bit insipid. Beancurd is not the most inspiring of ingredients with which to work, but in these days of faddish health consciousness, it is making its presence felt in menus all over.You can choose from an assortment of rice and noodles to eat with these dishes. These include Chicken Rice (Khao Man Kai), Noodles Stir-Fried with Soy Sauce (Phat Si You) and Rice Stir-Fried with Shrimp Paste, Chicken and Egg (Khao Khuk Kapi), to name the more exotic.

Wash it all down with a Chandol Ice (Rs 130 plus taxes), atraditional coconut milk drink, which is absolutely sinful, and the perfect complement for the Lamb Red Curry.

And then indulge your sweet tooth, for Thai Desserts are unlike anything you will ever have tasted. The buffet offers a daily variation on a select list of desserts, which includes such temptations as Jellied Water Chestnuts and Jackfruit in Jasmine Syrup topped with Crushed Ice (Thab Thim Crob), Pandanus Flavoured Thick Noodles served with Coconut Milk and Crushed Ice (Lotchong), Coconut Ice Cream (Aisa Khrim Maphraw), Pandanus Ice Cream (Bai Toey) and Mango with Glutinous Rice.

I can personally vouch for the Jellied Jackfruit and the Glutinous Rice, both of which give your meal just the right finis. Jackfruit is not a fruit that is easy to work with, it has so strong a flavour, but even those who would rather give the fruit a go-by, would like what the Baan Thai chefs have done with it. The Pandanus (a special Thai herb) dishes are also highly recommended.

The buffet at Baan Thai, costs Rs465 plus taxes per person, and for a busy executive, it can well be something to look forward to, in a long and stressful day.