Ryerson Eats

Just steps from the touristy Dundas Square near Ryerson campus, former owners of Khao San Road has opened up a chi-chi Thai restaurant called Sabai Sabai. On Saturday, I went for lunch to check out their latest offering.

From the outside, this restaurant didn't look much different from the tired businesses in the area. But inside, it was warm and cozy with padded booths and dark wood. Eschewing wooden statues and other traditional Thai decorations, they covered the walls with reproductions of vintage Thai posters extolling an auto race in 1939, Thai beer, or kitschy cartoon icons. An ice-cream/milk-shake neon sign blinked next to the kitchen.

Although the dinner menu was tapas-style dishes, the lunch options had simpler meal-in-a-dish. I ordered 2 appetizers: Papaya salad ($5) and Tom Yum Goong soup ($6.00). The soup had a good spicy kick, with plump shrimps and cherry tomatoes, and spiced with lemon grass and kaffir leaves. The papaya was thinly sliced and crunchy, with some raw green beans, soaking in a tamarind sauce. Both dishes were tasty but were also too tart; after 2-3 bites, they weren't too enjoyable.

The main, however, a rice dish with beef and potatoes in a massaman curry sauce, was delicious from start to finish. Both meat and potatoes were soft, just on the edge of falling apart. The curry was meaty, made even creamier with dollops of coconut milk. If you wanted more kick, a side dish of house-made chili oil should do the trick. It also came with a selection of crunchy pickled condiments.

The dinner menu also looks intriguing. For a large party, you can get a custom menu catering to your taste or diet restrictions if you book ahead. But you may need to have an in with the owners or chefs.