Welcome to a new series here on CheapEats.ie, where our friend Maria Crispy will be writing from the perspective of someone who doesn’t really cook. Maria will be teaching herself to cook and blogging about how it goes, and also recommending takeaways and other options for the kitchen-phobic.
Jean
Here on Cheapeats.ie, I am an anomoly of Star Trek proportions because, even if I were comfortable cooking, I work 12 hours a day so don’t have the time or the energy. I can cook – at least two dishes! – but it takes days and days of planning and anxiety and then in a throwing-money-at-the-problem fit of hysteria I end up spending way too much doing it. The usual solution? Frozen vegetables and soup.
Sometimes though, if it’s the weekend and I have someone over or I’m not in the mood either for the usual solution or to go out and my wonderful housemate’s not around to feed me, that leaves the normally miserable prospect of takeaway…and that’s where Saba in Rathmines comes in.
It’s not that it’s the cheapest takeaway in the world – probably it’s a little over the odds – but the quality is so good it’s like eating in a restaurant. Fabulous value I say, fabulous. Also they deliver wine and good desserts and to my house so in effect are also my dealer.
They do Thai and Vietnamese food: the last time I ordered I got the Gaeng Karee Fuktong, described as “aromatic yellow butternut squash curry with onions and potatoes” and it was nothing short of loveliness at €11.95. Incidentally, they also have another butternut squash side dish which, for some reason, is not listed on their online menu, and it’s possibly the nicest thing I have ever had from a take-out. It’s also sizable enough to work as a main course if you’re not feeling particularly ravenous.
On previous, more gluttonous, occasions, I’ve shared the hoisin duck and black pepper squid starters (€6.95 and €6.50 so a little steep but really good and obviously a lot more cost-effective when shared) and I’ve tried a couple of the wok dishes (these range from €11.50 vegetarian to €13.75 for prawn and, from my experience, are of predictably high quality). Best of all though is the Saba brown and red rice, which I strongly recommend with pretty much anything, even though it will make your dinner 80 cent more expensive.
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