Sabaidee Thai Restaurant
If there's one dish I crave periodically (well, apart from a good dose of chocolate), its Tom Yum soup from an authentic Thai restaurant. In fact, during our trip to Thailand this year, it is pretty much all we ate!
We used to go up to Oriental in the City whenever we wanted some good Thai food, but you know how disorientated I get on those city streets! A few years ago we discovered this little hole in the wall, gem of a restaurant in Salmiya called Sabaidee and let me tell you, they have an amazing Tom Yum soup! Spicy and sour and served piping hot with fragrant herbs, there is seriously nothing more satisfying. Went to Sabaidee again this week and I was surprised that a few of my friends didn't know that such a restaurant existed so close to home! (hence this post)
The restaurant is tiny with just a handful of tables inside, six to be exact and then a sort of bar counter minus the bar, so there can be a considerable wait for a table in the evenings. Service can also be slow if the restaurant is busy. The husband and I however went for lunch on a weekday and there was just one other table occupied, which was great.
They've digitized their menu and we were presented with an iPad to choose our dishes. Call me old school, but I actually prefer things to be done the old fashioned route and missed the regular menu card. The iPad contained amazing pictures of each dish though!
We went straight to the Soups section and selected the Tom Yum soup with shrimp. We were asked how we'd like it and of course ordered it spicy as there really is no other way to have Tom Yum (be adventurous!). But if you have a not so resilient stomach, its great that you're asked this. I don't think I really need to say much about the soup except for that it was delicious. We ordered the small bowl which can easily feed 2-3 people.
The Red Curry looked amazing on the menu and we ordered that with beef. It however arrived looking a lot less red though and had a paste like taste to it, as if the ingredients in the curry paste hadn't been cooked out enough. It was good, but I think I prefer the green curry over this.
And finally the Fried Rice. I'm not all that into noddle dishes and so the rice was a safe option for me. We ordered it with chicken and though I would've preferred the grains to be a little more separated, not a bad dish at all.
They unfortunately did not have any desserts which was a shame as I was hoping they'd have some sticky mango rice. I'm not sure if that was just because it was lunch time or if they've stopped serving desserts all together.
Along with our soft drinks, our meal for two came up to just 6.5 KD. A total bargain if you ask me!
According to their website (here) they have branches in Mangaf, Mahboula, Fintas and two branches in Salmiya. I did not know that! I've always dined at the branch near Baghdad Street (map here) but definitely need to check out their branch at the Al Bustan Mall as that would be even closer to home.
For great food at a fraction of the cost, give Sabaidee a try!
where is the second branch in salmiya?
ReplyDeleteHey! The second branch is in the Al Bustan Mall which is in between Al Fanar and the Laila Gallery on Salem Al Mubarak St. (Here's the map: http://www.sabaideegroup.com/albustan-branch.html)
DeleteOk I'm starving now!!
ReplyDeleteMakeup Monster | The Irish beauty blog</a
Haha, I know exactly what you mean. A good Tom Yum soup just makes my day
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