This Tom Yum UFO from Sansab Restaurant has been making waves in Bangkok, and it is one of the more commonly photographed food dish on Instagram these days,
In case you are wondering what it is, it really is a simple steamboat of sorts, with additional ingredients on the side. Is it really that worth the hype though?
We made a trip to the restaurant during our recent trip to Bangkok, and here’s our take.
San Sab is a pretty comfortable restaurant that sits on level 4 of Siam Paragon. It is spacious, brightly lit, and has booth seats for big groups.
Its regular menu is unassuming – your regular Thai dishes, occasional inserts of random Western dishes, and a whole menu of sweet and colourful drinks that you would typically see in Bangkok. Nothing too out of the norm.
But the recent introduction of this Tom Yum UFO got everyone going gaga over. More than just a steamboat, it has four separate pockets on the circumference of the pot, and in its pocket are complements to the steamboat.
The UFO comes in three variations – all meat (THB499), regular seafood (THB579) and premium seafood (THB799). Whichever variation you are going to order, they all come with the extra ingredients on the outside – cheese, corn, quail eggs and seaweed soup.
San Sab probably got this inspiration from famous K-bbq Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong, which is famous for the addition of cheese, corn and steamed eggs on the outer pockets of their grills.
Unfortunately, the whole pot didn’t taste as good as it looked in pictures. We went for the premium seafood version, but it was not worth THB799 at all. The big prawns as pictured were far from fresh, and while the tom yum soup tasted decent, it was nothing much to shout about. But we made ours a tad better by adding the cheese to the soup, and the melted goodness added a nice sweetness to the soup.
Stick to the regular version and don’t bother “splurging” on the expensive version. It still makes a fun meal with pals, and its location makes it a convenient spot for a quick dinner.