THAI WILL BE DONE WONTON LUST, AND MORE, IN NORTHRIDGE.

You'll find it difficult to spend much money for a meal at little Montien Thai in Northridge.

The single-dining-room, storefront eating place charges less than $10 for any and all of its plates, many of them in the $6 range.

And lunchers looking for a bargain will discover 11 multi-item meal specials between $4 and $5 that include an appetizer, soup or salad, steamed rice and a main dish.

It's a cutesy kind of place, certainly not elaborate, but sporting a blue carpet, blue-toned flowered tablecloths, blond wood and a mantled glass brick set-up that looks like it covers what once was a fireplace.

The menu has a sprinkling of colorfully titled dishes like all-star or sweetheart tofu, love boat shrimp and scallops, sweet mermaid fish, heat wave shrimp, and a shrimp and crab meat dish called ocean view.

The mermaid plate ($9.95) certainly is sweet, as are many of the kitchen's efforts here.

But it's also ``sour'' in the familiar, fruity, Chinese-style, sweet-and-sour way.

Red snapper filets coated in a light batter, then quickly deep-fried, provide a relatively good-tasting dish that's portioned large enough for sharing. And that applies to the majority of items at Montien, even the appetizers.

As for the slightly gloppy sweet-and-sour saucing, it shows up in a batter-coated shrimp dish ($6.95), and with deep-fried tofu ($6.25) paired with a melange of pineapple, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and onions.

Soups in funneled hot pots include all the familiar lemongrass- and/or coconut-flavored Thai offerings plus a couple of Chinese-accented chicken broth recipes such as the nonintrusive vegetable and tofu creation ($5.25) that appeals to anti-shrimp, anti-spicy types.

An assortment of appetizers called ``four season'' ($7.25) brings forth a quartet of nibbling, dipping goodies, all available separately, that include the house egg roll stuffed with several vegetables and glass noodles, and an excellent rendition of the Thai angel wing, this a scrumptious, swollen, stuffed chicken wing filled with a tasty mixture of seasoned, ground chicken and glass noodles.

Also on the platter are a couple of wonton skin-wrapped, deep-fried tasties, at least two of each, one triangular-shaped and filled with a curry powder-flavored paste made with potato and ground chicken, the other tubular, the wonton skin firmly encompassing a crunchy marinated shrimp.

A plum dipping sauce and a sweet-and-spicy chili pepper dip accompany the appetizers.

The same spicy-sweet dip comes with Montien's nicely executed Thai-style barbecued chicken ($6.25). The chicken comes up moist under a slightly crunchy skin following a seasoned coconut milk soaking and coating of Thai spices and herbs.

Smoky, dark pork ribs with a hint of honeyed sweetness ($6.25) possess enough meat on them to satisfy rib fanciers. And a coconut creamy, soupy, yellow chicken curry ($5.95), as spicy hot as you wish, rife with potatoes and small chunks of moist chicken, provides a gratifying companion dish.

There's no question that Montien's chef knows how to handle shellfish. In the combo seafood plate ($8.95) - a house specialty - mussels, clams, crab claws, squid and scallops arrive floating in a peppery, milky liquid, perfectly textured, cooked just long enough to retain individual flavor characteristics.

Noodle dishes tend to be overly sweet, though, especially the popular pad thai ($5.95) made with angel-hair-thin rice noodles.

Preferable are Montien's spicy mint rice noodles - the flatter, wider kind - though when prepared with beef, they lose some of their palate friendliness because of chewy pieces of meat.

Perched on lettuce leaves, the heaping of chili, mint and tomato-boosted noodles gives substance to any meal here.

An ending of icy, refreshing, Thai coconut ice cream ($1.50) studded with finely diced tropical fruit - jackfruit was one spotted - is a true palate pamperer in a parfait glass.

Especially if you've ventured into Montien's more fiery delights as I did one day.

And anyway, at these prices you could easily rationalize that dessert moves from luxury to necessity.

MONTIEN THAI

Where: 8920 Reseda Blvd., Northridge.

When: Open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, for dinner from 3 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Monday.

Recommended items: Angel wings, paper-wrapped shrimp, soups, honey pork spareribs, Thai barbecued chicken, yellow curried chicken, combination seafood plate, spicy mint noodles, mixed fruit coconut ice cream.

How much: Starters from $4.25 to $7.25, entrees from $5.50 to $9.95, dessert $1.50. No alcohol. MC, V, Discover.

Reservations: Taken. Call [phone].

Our rating: Three stars for food; three stars for service; three stars for value.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) Penny, left, and Sombat Pinitsak, owners of Montien Thai in Northridge, with daughter Alyssah, display some of their restaurant's offerings.

(2) A featured item on the Montien Thai menu is this elaborately presented pineapple fried rice.

(3) The Moon Light Shrimp is garnished with vegetables cut into heart and star shapes.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer