Serving the Beast Within at Thai Sabye Sabye, Old Klang Road

The Man is essentially an animal, his primary and greatest stake invested in his (or her) own survival. And when that survival is threatened, all the additional complex emotions as well as the ability to rationalise or apply logic become entirely expendable.

Case in point: One night, a desperate craving for Thai surfaced out of the blue. And with all things tinged with desperation, the advanced thinking, feeling human approach goes out the window when it came to the need to assuage that craving. Like a stiff drink. Or sex. No rest until you crack the code. Need it NOW.

I consulted the usual suspects in the blogosphere for guidance and found plenty of good things said about several Thai joints - a few were closed on Mondays and a few others were simply too far away in the horrendous rain-addled traffic. And then, just as I was on the brink of self-detonation in despair, I stumbled upon this lone post on Thai Sabye Sabye located on Old Klang Road, a stone's throw away from home for now.

The old unassuming outlet, located within Lucky Plaza (which houses Pasaraya Central, right before OUG turn-off) facing Old Klang Road, was a mere 5-minute drive away. I was giddy with excitement at the prospect of placating that incensed animal within.

The place was nicely filled up with families who looked like they had returned again and again to order the same items on the menu every single time. The worn-out furniture was reassuring, as was the wearied, yet comforted disposition of the other patrons.

We started with the Four-angle Bean Salad. Scrumptious with both dried and fresh shrimps providing a nice contrasted punch, coated with generous dousing of nam pla and citrus. Very refreshing stuff.

We couldn't possibly do without tomyam, especially on this chilly wet KL evening. Sabye Sabye served their tomyam soups in single serves (RM6 per serve) which allowed us to try two different types. He had the Tom Yam Chicken with Coconut Milk. It was creamy and comforting but it wasn't entirely mind-blowing.

I went with the Clear Soup Tomyam with Seafood. Again, despite my enthusiasm for this place, I felt the tomyam fell a wee bit short on the crazy spicy & sour front. The abundance of sliced bird's eye chillies brought on a coughing fit at one point but I saw that as just bad swallowing action on my part, not entirely great tomyam preparation on theirs.

Otak-Otak was a radiant serving of seafood coated in egg, coconut milk and turmeric. Went down too easily with white rice.

Deep fried Squid with Salted Egg dispensed the kind of joy one couldn't shy from when met with one's kindred soul. You want to get right under the skin and discover what you can't possibly know from muted appearances.

The soul of the evening had to be the Petai Fried Rice which arrived looking as placid as frozen peas but once we stuck our fork in to release the aroma, we were done for. I dare say I've not had petai marriage with carbs as zesty as this!

If you want to pay for only things you order, refuse the towel, the appetizer and jelly they serve as soon as you're seated, as they'll all pop up on the bill later. It's a token amount extra but still... you know what I mean. Meal rounded up to RM70 for two of us, which we were only too happy to fork over. The human in me laid comatose while the animal licked its paws and exhaled with gusto.

Thai Sabye Sabye

G62, Ground Floor, Lucky Plaza
Old Klang Road, KL
Tel: 03-7981 2887