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Stan Higgins

Thai cuisine is renowned for its visual and culinary treats and, for many people, it’s the most appealing of the many international styles that are now presented across the world to thrill the palates of diners.

Harare is fortunate to host three Thai restaurants and one dedicated takeaway operation, so diners in the capital have become accustomed to this cuisine with its variety of spicy and colourful content and flavours.

It was to one of these that my guest and I had lunch on a delightfully warm winter afternoon, when we had the pleasure of visiting Sabai Thai in Rolfe Valley, close to St John’s College.

Sabai is operated by Russell and Ning Macdonald and is situated in the cosy setting of a small suburban complex with a pleasing garden ambience.

It was originally created in the Msasa area, but has been on this site for several years, now well-established in the heart of the northern suburbs.

The word Sabai means relax in Thai and I was told by Ning some time ago that one frequently hears people in Thailand mentioning ‘sabai, sabai’ to visitors.

The restaurant is spread out across the garden complex and has over the years been given facelifts or additions, the most recent being a banqueting and conference room that can host up to 40 people.

On the night following our visit there was to be a wine and food pairing in this new venue, with wines from La Distra Brut paired to a range of Thai dishes. We were fortunate to have Russell show us the venue, pictured here at the pairing event, and I’m certain it will be a very popular choice for conferences or celebratory events.

For lunch my guest and I shared a starter platter that included tasty chicken nuggets, prawns, spring rolls and chicken on a skewer with a satay sauce.

For main course my guest had what she described as an ‘amazing’ crispy duck, while I selected a really enjoyable Panang curry, choosing prawns as the meat content.

We shared a generous bowl of rice to accompany these flavoursome and excellent main dishes. We even had dessert: banana fritters with ice cream for my guest and sticky rice and mango for me; both were hugely satisfying.

As always, one can choose the “heat’”of the curry and I went for mild, thoroughly enjoying the range of spicy flavours and ingredients.

Portion sizes at Sabai are very generous and we had takeaways of our main courses, enjoyed as a second meal later in the day. We had great service from our waiter, Sebastian Chitambwe, and the manager, Trent New.

We also had the fortune to be able to chat to Russell before he headed off to an appointment and we shared concerns about rising prices and the substantial costs facing restaurants from various regulatory authorities, which levy massive burdens on restaurants just to open and run.

Prices at Sabai are reasonable by any standard and I often wonder just how local restaurateurs can still manage to offer specials and attractive pricing in the face of the current inflationary spiral, which is so unpleasantly reminiscent of the 2006 to 2009 period.

Sabai Thai restaurant offers an exciting range of genuine Thai cuisine for all diners and is to be found on the corner of Rolfe Avenue and Stokesay Close in Rolfe Valley,

It’s open daily for lunch and supper but closed on Mondays. The new events venue can be booked when available. Enquiries and reservations, call (0242) 852695 or 0776 743775.

Feedback is welcome, especially comments on recent dining experiences, and can be sent to [email protected] .