First let's talk about appetizer. You really can't go wrong ordering any appetizer but I would suggest stepping out of the usual ,egg rolls or spring rolls (the traditional appetizers at any Asian restaurants) and try their summer rolls. It's healthier for you compared to other rolls because it's not fried and made of lettuce, cucumber, carrot, bean sprout, cilantro, mint and vermicelli noodle and wrapped with rice paper skin, served with house plum sauce and ground peanut with your choice of regular (with pork and shrimp) or veggie (with tofu). I actually prefer their house sauce with ground peanut because its sweetness balances out the zesty of the cilantro and add a pleasing flavor to the rice paper, also the peanut help give it a little crunch. Another appetizer I recommend is the lettuce wrap, called the Mieng Sabai . It's ingredients are shrimp, chicken, vermicelli noodle, fresh ginger, peanut, onion, lime, wrapped with green leaf lettuce. The way you eat requires you to get a little messy. You have to make sure all the ingredients stay wrapped inside as you dip it into their house sauce; this usually requires two hands. And finally, an appetizer I would consider as something everyone has to try is the Shrimp Purse. This consists of ground shrimp and chicken, carrot, cilantro, water chestnut, wrapped with spring roll skin and is served with their house sauce. The Shrimp Purse has a very different presentation, it is made up of round shrimp and chicken, carrot, cilantro, water chestnut, wrapped with spring roll skin in a shape of a money bag and again, served with their delicious house sauce.
Next comes the entree. From their noodles selection, I would recommend their famous Pad Thai which is prepared with small rice noodles stir fried with bean sprouts, green onion, shredded cabbage, radish, ground peanut, egg, yellow tofu with your choice of of chicken, pork, beef, tofu, or shrimp. This dish would satisfy those who prefer sweet over salty and enjoy variety of texture with the soft rice noodles, crunchy peanut and bean sprouts, etc. From the Sa-Bai speciality I would recommend any dishes with duck or the Lime Chicken which is served with chicken, cashew nut, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, onion, lime juice, dried red chili and light brown sauce. Don't let the name fool you though, the lime juice adds a perfect balance to their brown sauce and stays consistent with the traditional Thai sweetness flavor. And my new most favoritest dish is the Tom Yum Talay Hang. This ultimate seafood dish is created with salmon, shrimp, scallop, calamari, mussel, straw mushroom, white mushroom, galanga, lemon grass, lime leaves, basil, lime juice and chili paste served with a bowl of rice. The key ingredients here that makes this dish authentic is the lemon grass, lime leaves, and galanga root. With all these ingredients, this dish will satisfy all your tastebuds. You'll have a little bit of sour and zesty, some harshnes and sweet, and spicy if you please. All entrees can be made spicy from a scale of one star (being less spicy) to four stars (most spicy). I like my dishes spicy and appreciate that they have this option, I am typically at the 3-4 stars. And remember all spiciness levels are different, 3 stars at one restaurant can be more or less spicy for another.
As for desert, nothing here is boring though I like to keep the tradition and go for the sticky rice. Most commonly it is made with coconut, though if you get the chance to try thier seasonal sticky rice with mango please, take advantage of the different scale of sweet, sweet desert.
So check out one of Madison's Favorites and get a taste of Southeast Asia at Sa-Bai Thong on Odana Road or University Ave.
http://www.sabaithong.com/
6802 Odana Road
Madison, WI 53719
608-828-9565
2840 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53705
608-238-3100
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