REVIEW | Sabai Sabai Kitchen and Bar - Tasty Thai tapas & cocktails

Ordering an individual meal and only having one dish is slowly becoming a thing of the past as more restaurants in Toronto are beginning to offer more tapas style dishes on their menu. Sabai Sabai Kitchen and Bar is no exception offering an assortment of Thai inspired drinks and dishes. 

Unlike popular Thai style restaurants that are currently hot spots in Toronto, Sabai Sabai offers reservations making it much easier to coordinate and not have to have dinner at 5 pm or 11 pm to avoid ridiculous waiting times. 

Its menu is fairly simplistic and organized into sides, curries, fish & seafood, meats and vegetables. It’s recommended that each person orders 2-3 dishes keeping in mind that this is tapas style dining. Some of the dishes had 4-5 pieces so any groups larger than that may have to consider ordering two of each to ensure everyone gets a fair share. 

From right ro left, Thai Mojito, Midnight Monsoon, and Lychee Slushie . The lychee slushie definitely lived up to our expectations and it was very refreshing with strong lychee flavours. The taste of the alcohol was not very prominent in the slushie as compared the Thai Mojito and Midnight Monsoon.

Freshly Grated Squash Fritters – deep fried, tamarind dip, peanut. This was one of the dishes that was recommended by others, which definitely lived up to the rave reviews. The sauce was extremely flavourful.

Holy Basil Stir Fried Shrimp – Thai basil, chilli, Thai ‘slaw. The flavour from the basil complimented the shrimp really well and did not overpower the dish at all. The shrimp was cooked so that it was still crisp.

Khao Sol – coconut milk, egg noodles with chicken

Green Curry – green chili, steamed bamboo, coconut cream with chicken

Panang Curry – red chili, lime leaf, coconut cream with shrimp

Our favourite dishes of the night were definitely the flavourful and aromatic curries. The Panang curry and Khao Sol had hints of sweetness while the green curry had a bit more kick to it. We would definitely recommend ordering rice with the curries.

Lao Minced Pork Salad – lettuce wrapped “laap lao moo”, fresh herbs. This was recommended by many and although we found the lettuce wraps to be quite refreshing with a crunch, we would have preferred the meat not to be minced. The flavours from the fresh herbs were very prominent in this dish.

Grilled Pork Salad & Grilled Certified Angus Beef Salad – fresh herbs, Thai slaw, and roasted ground rice. Both salads had the same base and taste so the only difference was the meat that accompanied the salad. Monica preferred the texture of the Angus beef while I preferred the grilled pork. As the salad tastes the same, it’s really based on preference as to which one you should order.

Grilled Satay Chicken – peanut Satay Sauce, cucumber vinaigrette. The satay chicken was nothing out of this world. The peanut satay sauce was delicious but there was nothing extraordinary with the seasoning or the grilling of the chicken. 

While we enjoyed the drinks and dishes we had that night, the only caveat of Sabai Sabai was its pricing and portions.  Dishes range from $6-10 and can probably feed 3-4 people with very small portions. While we were comfortably full at the end of the meal, it was a little bit pricey for what it was.