Sabai Thai (It Rhymes with Ennui)

After a long (but well-deserved) break, I'm finally returning with a post on Thai food. I reckon that my handful (literally) of "followers" would have stopped following this blog by now, but I'll remain optimistic and steadfastly continue posting for the fun of it anyway! Nevertheless, I'll be keeping it terse for today, for this protracted hiatus has quite seriously incapacitated my ability to indulge in verbose verbiage. Anyway, here we go:

Having heard about this place from colleagues and friends, we decided to give Sabai Fine Thai on the Bay a shot. Located within close proximity to the Fullerton Bay hotel, the restaurant has both indoor and al fresco sections. However, due to the stifling humidity, we opted for indoor dining, which wasn't a bad choice either due to the cosy decor and comfortable seating.

For starters, we had the Khao Dtang Nar Dtang ($16), an all-time-favourite of mine consisting of crispy rice crackers served with simmered minced chicken and minced prawns in coconut milk. While the rice crackers were passable, they lacked brilliance and could have been warmer and crispier. In addition, the minced mix was alright, though it veered on the sweet side and could not rival the one at Lemongrass. 

Khao Dtang Nar Dtang

Next up was the mixed seafood Tom Yum Goong ($21.5/pot), which was pretty good. The biggest plus point would have to be the generous serving of squid and fish, although the fish was overcooked and tasted rubbery.

Tom Yum Goong

Other than soup and starters, we also opted for the Som Tum ($15.50), otherwise known as papaya salad. The papaya tasted a little raw - leaving it to ripen for a tad longer might have resulted in the papaya strips being less chewy. In addition, the gravy tasted rather flat and lacked the subtle peaks and troughs that one might relish in a well-balanced sauce.

Som Tum

For mains, we had a fried fish fillet dish, though I shall not include the specific name of the dish for I am unable to recall the exact details. While the fish was decent, the batter could have been crispier and the gravy could have been layered with more complexity, for the drizzling tasted as though it had been carelessly made with the bulk of it consisting of thai chilli sauce that can easily be found at any supermarket (in fact, I have a bottle of it at home). 

Grumpy over the gravy

Lastly, the server recommended the Gang Bpet Yang Pollamai ($22.50), and we opted for the red curry (which was purportedly less creamy and heavy on the palate than the green curry) served with roast duck. This was quite an interesting twist to the usual chicken or beef green curry that one might order at Thai restaurants, for the choice of meat is not often seen at such establishments. In addition, I enjoyed this dish as the amount of coconut cream was finely balanced - kudos to Sabai Thai on this point. 

Gang Bpet Yang Pollamai

All in all, dinner was decent, though the quality of food is questionable for a so-called "fine thai" restaurant. Should one wish to give Thai fine dining a shot, he might want to consider patronising Jim Thompson at Minden Road instead. While the food at JT has some distance to go in comparison to the other gastronomic experiences I've had, it definitely surpasses Sabai Thai in terms of culinary creativity and ambience, though prices are also understandably higher (about $80-100 per pax). 

Alright, that's all for now. Here are the links to restaurants mentioned in this post:

Sabai Fine Thai - http://www.sabaifinethai.com.sg/

Jim Thompson Restaurant - http://www.jimthompson.com/index.asp

*Please note that prices may have changed.