The birthday boy chose Thai for dinner and picked an old favourite, but one we haven’t been to in ages –  Zab Thai at Upper Riccarton, just near St Peter’s Church.  Takeaway only, no dine in here.

He picked Chilli and Garlic (mild) & Peanut Sauce both with Tofu (and vegetables).  I placed the order on the phone and also ordered a Pad Thai, again with Tofu.  The girl on the phone said about 10-15 minutes.

So off I went to pick it up.  I walked in and they were just putting my order together.  There were a long string of orders on the board so I was pleased to beat the rush on a cold, wet, Monday night.  The phone was ringing hot with orders and its well advised to ring through, as this place gets busy and waits of 30-40 minutes are not unusual.

The girl who places the orders and takes payments is super organised and runs the orders through to the chef’s like a finely oiled machine.  She’s not Thai, and I guess she’s a local university student, but she is a huge asset to this place, keeping the orders going and is a friendly, polite and very efficient at keeping things ticking along.

I paid up – $37.50 for the three dishes ($12.50 each).

Back home I went.  Wow, what a huge amount of food.  We ate like kings pigs.  Two massive servings, plus lunch for tomorrow and likely another dinner later in the week.

Verdict – YUM.  Peanut sauce was sweet and peanuty without being too thick and creamy.  The Chilli and Garlic was SPICY.  I said mild but even so, I had tears running down my face and my nose was streaming (nice image huh? 🙂 ) and the Pad Thai was delicious!

The only complaint was the tofu was a little tough and chewy for my liking but it was perfectly edible.

It wasn’t greasy or oily at all and the vegetables were cooked perfectly.

Would we come back here again? Yes definitely

Would we order the same dishes again?  Yes

Would we try something else? I’d like to try something else, we often go with these ones or similar when ordering Thai so really need to branch out.

Would we recommend Zab Thai Takeaways? Definitely

Is it better than Welcome Vegetarian Cafe (our baseline restaurant)?  I prefer Welcome, it’s not so “heavy” as these dishes.