{"id":286067,"date":"2026-05-27T12:01:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T12:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/286067\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T12:01:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T12:01:38","slug":"south-orlandos-sabai-thai-street-food-takes-guests-on-an-invigorating-culinary-excursion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/286067\/","title":{"rendered":"South Orlando\u2019s Sabai Thai Street Food takes guests on an invigorating culinary excursion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SabaiCredit: Matt Keller Lehman<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s pause a moment and give thanks to all the neighborhood Thai restaurants of the \u201990s and early aughts that gave rise to the swell of ridiculous (as in awesome) Siamese hotspots now in our midst. In recent years, Tuun and Isan Zaap, with their unabashedly bold and invigorating dishes, blazed a new trail for a string of newcomers spotlighting regional variants and street fare like Talay, Lim Ros, Thai Super Bowl, Budsaba and Lert, just to name a few.<\/p>\n

In SoDo, Sabai Thai Street Food presents cookery from Phuket to Isan \u2014 Phuket because that\u2019s where Sabai chef-owner Viradee Pissara ran her restaurant, and Isan because that\u2019s where she\u2019s from. She and her son, Alex, a wok maestro with experience cooking at, coincidentally, Lim Ros and Isan Zaap, form the rock-solid foundation of Sabai\u2019s scratch kitchen, from which a tight and tidy list of items are fired. Or not fired, as in the case of the racy papaya salad ($11) with its julienned shreds mortar-and-pestled with tomatoes, long beans, carrots, peanuts and chilies splashed with fish sauce and lime. As perfect as the salad is on its own, it also makes an ideal side bite when indulging in, say, panang ($14) with jasmine rice. That homemade curry paste is fried in a wok with coconut cream until it \u201csplits,\u201d bringing out all those rich scents and flavors. Aromatics and vegetables are then added, followed by meat \u2014 soft, velvety slivers of chicken in our case. Not only was the curry \u201cso well incorporated,\u201d as my dining comrade said, but the lemongrass, lemon leaf and Thai basil gave off such an intoxicating fragrance.<\/p>\n

We couldn\u2019t help but save some of that papaya to have in between bites of house-made Isan sausages (three for $10). Garlic provided the powerful bite in these porky tubes filled with glass noodles, cilantro, rice and the well-kept secrets of a multigenerational family recipe. The outstandingly alliaceous numbers weren\u2019t enough to quell the vampiric desires we had toward the beef jerky ($12), also house-made and served with a sweet and spicy nam jim jaew. Funnily enough, I got a pain in the neck from hunching over a bowl of veg-filled tom yum soup ($16) with surprisingly sweet and expectedly sour notes. The stock is composed of a chicken-bone base simmered for hours with lemongrass, makrut lime leaf and galangal. Its characteristic sweetness comes not from palm sugar but a combination of several ingredients they\u2019re closely guarding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SabaiCredit: Matt Keller Lehman<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you like that, you need to try the tom yum noodle soup,\u201d said my accommodating server. Indeed, no other restaurant in the city is making this most signature of Sabai\u2019s slurps. One sip of the singular broth reveals the four S\u2019s of Thai cooking \u2014 sweet, sour, salty and spicy. A very specific ratio of pork bone to chicken bone to beef bone forms the stock that simmers for 48 hours with daikon, onions, crispy garlic, peanuts and a proprietary blend of herbs and spices. It\u2019s what made Viradee\u2019s stall in Phuket a culinary destination, and it\u2019ll do the same for Sabai. In that broth is roasted pork, ground pork, bean sprouts, peanuts, garlic, pickled radishes and a choice of either rice or egg noodles (we opted for rice). Oh, and red-hot chilies. There\u2019s always red-hot chilies. But fear not, all you capsaicin-phobes \u2014 heat levels can be adjusted to all tastes. For the chicken larb ($14), I went balls-out \u201cThai hot\u201d; for the fried rice, I tempered it down to \u201cmedium\u201d so that I could savor the liberal amount of crab ($17) set atop the glistening kernels.<\/p>\n

When co-owner Bill Spradlin, a soft-spoken chap who happens to be Viradee\u2019s husband and Alex\u2019s pop, came by to ask us how everything was, \u201cGreat!\u201d was our collective response. \u201cWell, all credit goes to my wife and son,\u201d he proudly half-whispered. As a testament to their kitchen acumen, a takeout order of pad thai ($14) from one lunchtime visit yielded a \u201cWow, that tastes so fresh!\u201d from my better half, and that was a good 45 minutes after I picked up the order.<\/p>\n

\u201cSabai\u201d is Thai for \u201crelax,\u201d and everything about the place \u2014 its cozy quarters, family photos, chill music and, yeah, Bill\u2019s voice, leans into that vibe. I relaxed my mouth onto a beautifully presented serving of mango sticky rice ($12) and damn near fell asleep right afterwards. Word of advice: Get that decadent dessert now. If you didn\u2019t know, mango season is upon us, and those tropical treasures will peak over the next couple of months.<\/p>\n

At Sabai, it pays to show your street smarts.<\/p>\n

Sabai Thai Street Food, 3333 S. Orange Ave., 689-336-3384, sabaithaistreetfood.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"SabaiCredit: Matt Keller Lehman<\/p>\n

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This article appears in May 27-June 2, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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