Sunday, May 22, 2016

Thai Food in the City - Dinner and Drinks at Saap Ver

Saap Ver - Menu designMijo and I have recently been to a newly opened Thai restaurant in the SOMA neighborhood of the city.  Saap Ver is on Division St. and serves great authentic country style Thai food.

Good cocktails, great food and a bonus live entertainment after the dinner rush hour. We loved it. We will definitely go back.



Mijo and I were meeting our good friend Robert and his friend Apple at this newly opened Thai restaurant located on Division St. in the SoMA neighborhood of the city.  The restaurant is in a shopping area. We've driven past this area before but I've never been to this part of SoMA to have dinner. I always feel excited whenever I set foot in a section of the city for the first time.

Saap Ver - Restaurant


We got to the restaurant half an hour early on purpose. Mijo and I heard that the restaurant has a full bar and we wanted to sample a couple of their drinks before meeting our friends. I don't think I've been to a lot of Thai restaurants with a full bar. Does Osha Thai count?

Saap Ver - Bar

The place looks good. Not your usual Thai restaurants with Buddha and spa-like atmosphere. The place reminds of theatres and cinemas. Judging from their menu, I was right!
Saap Ver - Kitchen

Their cocktails are based on Thai drama. The drink that I ordered is called Saap Ver which means "darn good" in English. It has vodka, lychee, lemongrass, kafir and plum. The kafir flavors sets it apart from vodka and lychee based drinks I've had. Explotion of flavors in each sip!
Saap Ver - Saap Ver

Mijo decided to get another Thai Drama cocktail called Thai Girl. It has rye, mango, rosemary and lime. It was equally delicious and definitely tropical. It brought back memories of my trips to Thailand.
Saap Ver - Thai Girl

We decided to pair the cocktails with an order of Tod Man Pla or Fish cakes with sweet chili sauce and slices of cucumber.
Saap Ver - Tod Man Pla

When our friends arrived half an hour later, we transfered to a table. Apple is Thai and Robert has lived in Thailand for several years so I would say they are the experts. Mijo and I just left it to them to order what they think is good.

First is this very tasty Tom Kha which is coconut based soup.
Saap Ver - Tom Kha

And then we were faced with the daunting challenge of eating what looks like a huge dinner. I don't know how they fit all the plates on our table. Everything was amazing.

Here's the Pad Thai.
Saap Ver - Pad Thai

Here's a salad called Larb with minced chicken, mint leaves, onions and lime dressing. The first time I had larb was at Lers Ros, another good Thai place in the city. Anyway, this one is huge and can fill me up easily and my mouth is watering while typing this.
Saap Ver - Larb

This is called Larb Fish salad. My first time trying this dish. It is fried fish cube mixed with mint, onions and  with It was amazingly tasty! 
Saap Ver - Larb Fish Salad

Great food kept coming to our table. This one is called Som Tum Thai with grilled chicken, sticky rice and papaya salad.  Another great dish.
Saap Ver - Som Tum Thai Chicken

Apple ordered this cocktail called Mistress #1 from the Thai Drama cocktails. It has vodka, peach, pineapple and anchan flower. So tasty!
Saap Ver - Mistress #1

We stayed at the restaurant for a long time. I noticed that batches of guests kepts coming in. After 10pm, I noticed the crowd became predominantly Asian. I was told they were Thai. I've never seen so many Thai people in one place. I thought to myself, if Thai people come here it must be really good.

That evening, there was a live performer singing a mix of Thai pop and English pop music.
Saap Ver - Live Entertainment

We will go back to try more of their cocktails and sample more of their dish. Thanks Apple and Roberto for the delicious dinner and great company!

~rl

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