From the bayside Tsin Shui Wan district in Hong Kong to the beachside Walk at JBR in Dubai, the Sip Song brand continues to channel Bangkok night markets with authentic dishes and animated vibes.
The Thai restaurant at Rixos Premium Dubai JBR, brought to the UAE by Sunset Hospitality, had its soft launch in October and officially opened in December.
First impressions
Entering Sip Song is a purely sensory experience. Little do you step away from the snarl of supercars on JBR Walk than you walk into a space dominated by dopamine decor.
A bedecked tuk-tuk at the entrance. Flickering, neon-lit signage hanging from the ceiling. Walls crammed with overlapping imagery of Lakhon dancers, cup noodles, elephants and other Thai motifs – there is not a single solid colour or empty space to be spotted here. Even the laminated tables and melamine plates bear large floral prints.
It works without proving to be an eyesore, though. At least for this Thailand enthusiast.
At a cosy 300 square metres, the indoor, licensed restaurant seats about 100, and offers seating options ranging from plush booths to bar stools.
The menu
Translating as “twelve”, Sip Song celebrates the 12 essential ingredients that define Thai cuisine: fish sauce, garlic, lemongrass, galangal, tamarind, coconut milk, palm sugar, coriander, lime, Thai basil, shallots and chillies.
The excellent pomelo salad (Dh82), for instance, comes with a sweet and sour tamarind dressing, fried garlic, caramelised onions and cashews rather than peanuts, in line with the appetiser’s more authentic preparation, says chef Nutta Laokom.
Nutta’s fish cake (Dh40 for four), named after the chef’s family recipe, benefits from lashings of lemongrass that offset the rather dense king fish patties.
The OG crab cups (Dh42 for four) meld juicy chunks of the seafood with tart green mango salad; and the steamy seabass (Dh122) is veritably swimming in citrus, thanks to a simple but succulent lime-garlic dressing, plus crisp Thai celery and cabbage.
Even the striploin (Dh230), for those who prefer meat over seafood, comes with a trio of dipping sauces. The sweet tamarind and toasted chilli go down a treat; the gingery galangal I’d advise you to approach gingerly.
The same goes for the tom yum soup (Dh85). While coconut milk is a game-changer in Thai dishes, this could have done with much, much more of it. As it stands, this is strictly one for spice savants. Fortunately, the Bangkok green curry (Dh72 with chicken) more than makes up for the soup sweats.
Of a slightly thicker consistency than most Thai curries I’ve tasted, this exudes freshness, flavour and balance – and makes me never want to cook store-bought, preservative-laced Thai curry paste ever again.
The sauce also pairs beautifully with pan-fried roti (“an influence Thai cuisine has adopted from generations of Indians living in the country,” notes chef Laokom). The only downside is my dining partner and I feel so stuffed after the buttery paratha that we forego the pad Thai noodles (from Dh62) and Patpong pineapple rice (from Dh42) that are a cornerstone of the cuisine. Just another reason, then, to brave the JBR jam once again.
Standout dish
A tie between the pomelo salad and crab cups. The former is ideal if you’re in the mood for a refreshing but still substantial dish, given the fruit is bursting with juice and layered with crunch and tartness. It’s easily enough to share between two or even among three.
Each crab cup, meanwhile, is sheer delight in a bite – and once again shows the chef’s mastery of balancing multiple flavours in one crisp canape, perfectly in line with Sip Song’s 12-ingredient focus.
Spend or splurge
A three-course meal at Sip Song can cost between Dh144 and Dh392.
On the high end of the price spectrum lie beef skewers with massaman sauce (Dh96), grilled striploin (Dh230) and chocolate hazelnut praline crunch (Dh66).
The three most reasonable dishes across starter, main and dessert are: tom yum peanuts (Dh20); Thai-marinated chicken thigh with tamarind sauce (Dh82); and coconut ice cream with sweet sticky rice, red bean paste, jackfruit and toddy palm seeds (Dh42).
A chat with the chef
Head chef Nutta Laokom, a culinary arts graduate of Dusit Thani College of Thailand, worked her way up from kitchens in Pattaya to Emirates Flight Catering. “It took me many years to go from chef’s assistant to head chef, slowly with a lot of hard work and patience, learning a lot along the way including English,” she says with a rare candour.
For Sip Song, the chef and her team spent more than four months travelling and tasting food across Thailand and abroad to maximise authenticity. As such, other than the dishes we tried, her recommendations include: vegetable spring rolls (Dh45), which come with pumpkin and vermicelli, and mango sticky rice (Dh62), served here more on the salty side than most Thai restaurants in Dubai.
Contact details
Sip Song at Rixos Premium JBR Dubai is open from 5pm to 1am on weekdays, and 5am to 2am on weekends. Reservations can be made by contacting 04 566 2448.
This review was conducted at the invitation of the restaurant
