Saba

It’s mid July and we are in the throes of what I’ve come to call ‘The Award Season’. Jacob’s Creek’s have come and gone. Food & Wine’s are almost upon us. These, for the restaurant industry, are the biggies; the best organised, the most ballyhooed, probably the fairest judged and certainly the most prestigious. In between, there are a host of lesser awards. I’m not sure if there’s a Welder & Chicken Sexer Weekly Award for the Best Eatery Beyond the Pale but there probably will be soon.

In a mad moment I thought of starting an anti-award – like some of those Oscar piss-takes you read about. Sponsored by www.forkncork.com, my website, with a gong-giving ceremony and gala breakfast at a truck stop in County Longford. I scrapped the idea because of its potential to attract libel suits.

Given the time of year, it seemed to make good sense to visit a restaurant that’s enjoyed more than just the odd award and try and assess whether the rash of plaques, parchment scrolls and vile cut crystal statuettes is justified. After a deal of deliberation, Sibella and I ended up, on a drizzly Tuesday night in Saba.

For those not in the know, Saba is a Thai/Vietnamese restaurant in Clarendon Street. Only open a few short years, it’s garnered awards of all kinds – for ethnicity, for service, for ambience and for general excellence. The premises were formerly occupied by an Indian restaurant, Rajdoot, Dublin branch of a chain chiefly memorable for the front-of-house staff who were tricked out in military gear, army surplus from the late Raj. Come to think of it, when the restaurant packed up these guys might have been the last British soldiers to leave Ireland. Well, it’s fame of a sort.

Wonder of wonders! Staff actually took our dripping coats. Seems a long time since that happened to me. Our table wasn’t quite ready – in point of fact we were early – so we sat up in the bar and had cocktails, Harvey Wallbanger for her, Mojito for me, at €8 good value, especially when you consider they were fettled by the best mixologist in the business, Paul Lambert whom I’ve known since I was editing ‘Glutton & Dipso’.

Sibella’s face was soon glowing with pleasure and it wasn’t just the HW. The lass does love ‘atmosphere’. Saba was heaving, the noise I associate with happy dining was coming over in quadrophonic and when we perused the menu it wasn’t hard to suss why. The carte is very much a mix’n'match affair. Though nominally divided into starters, noodle dishes, mains, etc., there was no compunction to plod rigidly through from A-Z. Some people were in there on an ‘eat and go’ basis – a quick plate or maybe a few starters, glass of wine and off to the flicks. Others, in groups of fours, fives and sixes, had organised enough food to withstand a small siege and were dug in for the night.

We were offered a choice of tables, one by the window, the other, up against the wall on the kitchen side. We opted for the window one. Before we had a chance to slide off the bar stools the maitre d’ popped up again to advise that the adjacent table to the one we had ordered had just been occupied by a couple with ‘a small child’ – his voice pregnant with emphasis. We took the alternative. It struck me that this was front-of-housery of the highest order, worthy of an award in itself. We kept a sharp eye out all night and ascertained that the awareness of proprietor, maitre d’ and waiting staff never wavered. Empty dishes were cleared away promptly but not brusquely and falling forks intercepted almost before they’d hit the deck.

I was told that Saba’s executive chef, Taweesak Trakoolwattana, has apparently cooked for the King and Queen of Thailand. Many will be impressed by this but I took the news with a generous pinch of sea salt. I knew personally a chef who had cooked for 3 generations of English royalty. You shouldn’t speak ill of the dead but I’ve eaten his food and frankly I wouldn’t have trusted him to make the yorkies for a mammy Sunday dinner. Luckily ‘TT’ is not cut from the same cloth and the food we received was divine and, better still, utterly authentic. Two of the starters, the smoked trout Mieng Kam with ginger, shallots, lime and peanuts served on betel nut leaves and the soft shell crabs stir fried with curry powder, chilli paste, peppers, celery and spring onions were exceptional, as was my red duck curry main despite the curious substitution of grapes for the advertised lychees. Sibs had the Phad Thai, which she loved. I scammed a forkful. It was the best example of this benchmark dish that I’ve had in Dublin (and good value at €12.95). We washed down all the above and more with a bottle of Zenato’s stylish Lugana, a white wine I’d commend to anyone to drink with Thai food. We closed with a plate of sorbets and ice creams, all excellent and a very good espresso indeed.
It’s easy to see why Saba succeeds, especially on a dismal midweek night when so many other Dublin restaurants are struggling to put bums on seats. Caring, pleasant staff; professional organisation; authentic cooking; flexible price structure; thoughtful wine list… all the ingredients for a great night are there. Chuck in the fun elements like the cocktails galore and Saba does have something rather special going for it.
The damage: €117 for 4 starters, 2 mains, 2 sides, 1 dessert, bottle of wine, 1 coffee
Ambience: ****1/2
Service *****
Quality ****1/2
Value ****1/2
Overall ****1/2
Saba, 26-28 Clarendon Street, Dublin 2 Tel: 01 679 2000