Mango madness in London's Soho

Based on his obsession with mangoes and a grant from his Thai banker parents, he decided to launch this dessert bar -with a name made up of a combination of the words mango and addiction - serving only mango-related puddings.

If you've been to a SNOG yoghurt bar, you'll understand the vibe: white walls covered with funky graphics, garish menus offering all number of mango treats, from mousses, crumbles and sweetish salads to panna cotta and pavlova. There is free wi-fi, Connect 4 and Jenga puzzles and a board for customers who want to leave comments or draw pictures. It has that über-friendly thing going on and its slogan, emblazoned across the website, the menus and just about everything else, is: "Insanely addictive snacks and desserts, intended to blow your mind but not your waistline".

It's a pretty big statement and certainly brave for someone who has only been in London since 2007 and graduated from Imperial College just last year. But, then again, Monthienvichienchai will only have himself to blame if his mango madness goes pear-shaped. "My parents wanted me to do a PhD but I told them to put that idea on hold... This is entirely my thing. Well, me and my friends," he chirps.

His friends include his customers, whom he tweets and talks to on an hourly basis. "I want this to be somewhere for everyone. It's very important to keep in touch with your customers and every one is a friend to me - I just love talking to people. And I was never meant to sit in a lab (his masters was in international health management). I'm very fidgety," he adds.

There are lots of mango puddings on display, and I try to see if his idea of "food in its purest form but with a variety of different spins" is worth the hype. After bolting an intensely refreshing but sweet mango and passion fruit smoothie, I dip into a mango mousse with a biscuit base, which is good but too much for one person. "Siam" is Thai-inspired and consists of mango pieces accompanied by sticky rice. It's an odd one for a Western palette but it goes down a treat, especially when followed by mango panna cotta, my favourite of all.

Each treat (and they are, even though they are made with low-fat cream and not much sugar) costs around £6.

By now, the brace of tourists has wandered off carrying MADD menus. Like me, I think they'll be back for a snack after dinner.
wearemadd.com