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Sunday Business Post, Ross Golden-Bannon

22 October 2006

Thai adventure is a happy experience

The possessive adjective 'my' adds an important layer of sophistication to many quite ordinary things and also adds a frisson of old world style. For example, I'm popping out to 'my' jeweller or 'my' tailor suggests a bottomless pit of old money which the diminutive indefinite article 'a' just can't muster.

I was having dinner with my nutritionist (impressed?) at the latest addition to the Irish ethnic dining scene. The old Rajdoot on Clarendon Street, where many had their first taste of foreign food, has now been taken over by a Thai and Vietnamese eatery called Saba - 'happy meeting place' in Thai.

The decor is black, modern and sophisticated but, as the staff are also dressed in black, it can feel like you're in an avant garde theatre set. They're much friendlier than any avant garde artistes though; after all it's supposed to be a happy meeting place. Saba has an interesting list of smoothies and mocktails, so I had a Hanoi honey of wild berries, honey and orange (€4). It sounds like an exotic wartime poison, but tasted a little less pugnacious; maybe it's just not the same without alcohol or, perhaps, extra frozen fruit would work better than ice cubes.

In the end I went for a glass of Gran Hacienda Riesling 2004 from Chile (€5.25) and my nutritionist ordered the Teresa Rizzi Pinto Grigio Gargenega, Italy 2005 (€4.70).

These were also available in a half carafe, as was an impressive list of 16 other wines. To start I had the smoked trout mieng kam (€9.25) with ginger, shallots, lime and peanuts served on betel nut leaves. Sensibly marked with a C to indicate the dish was safe for coeliacs, it was a highly flavoured little number.

This is interactive food, too, as staff helpfully explained. You roll the mix of fish and spices into a cigar shape using the betel leaves. There's plenty of culinary adventure here and many recognisable flavours are matched with the interesting and unusual. A superb starter. My companion ordered the tempura vegetables (€7.95) served with a mustard and lime mayonnaise. This was a good selection of whole baby carrots, broccoli, asparagus and aubergine with a gentle sheet of crispy batter, well matched with the high tone of the citrus sauce.

For the main course I had the cua lot (€17.75), soft shell crab with birds eye chilli, galangal root and kaffir lime leaf. I hadn't spotted the three-star warning that it was hot but, again, this was an exciting gathering of flavours. You can fish out a single crab and munch on the sweet and crunchy high flavours or mix it with a cornucopia of flavours and textures from the rest of the dish. At times, the cua lot is strong and sweet and at others rich and deep. It's an unusual but interesting main course and, curiously, the many flavours sit together like a complex symphony, though each element is also easily distinguished. Top marks.

As I munched on the cua lot I realised that the first person possessive adjective also plays a subtle role in guarding your food at dinner: ''Would you like to try my cua lot?" Yes, you're being generous, but also sending an important signal that any more than a taste and they could lose a limb.

My fully limbed companion had the grilled lobster tail (€28.50) with spinach, yellow beans and brown and red rice. She reliably informed me that the high price was matched by low fat, which can't be a bad thing for such a punchy dish. No shrinking violets at Saba; the sweet, white meat was given a spicy crust, which worked well, though the timbale of brown and red rice fell a little short of the high flavours elsewhere in the dish. There are old favourites here too, such as phad Thai and green chicken curry as well as classic Thai soups.

The soups can be pretty healthy as they generally have tons of vegetables, though I was told to beware of the high content of saturated fat in coconut milk. The noodle soups are great for runners on high carb diets. The tuk tuk soup looked great: spicy egg noodles, Vietnamese parsley and all important protein from chicken and peanuts. For dessert we settled on a simple but generous plate of sorbet including mango, lychee and strawberry.

I feel this is really the only way to end a highly spiced meal, that and a cup of mint tea. The mint tea itself was a nice touch as it was made with fresh mint leaves. The bill came to €107.75, not an inconsiderable amount considering we only had three glasses of wine. The €28.50 for the lobster brought the bill up a bit, so you could probably get away with a lot less.

There are now plenty of other places to get authentic cheap and cheerful Vietnamese and Thai food, but this is the smart version and worth a visit for the culinary adventurous. Saba: my new happy eating place.

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