Chabaa Thai Cuisine, San Francisco, California Restaurant Details

Food:

We stopped at Chabaa Thai on our way to find Marnee Thai. For dinner, we shared the Tom Sua (Papaya salad with vermicelli noodle, crispy fish and pork rind) and the Pad Si-Yu (stir-fried flat rice noodles with egg, Chinese broccoli, and soy sauce), which were both delicious. Beware that some of the long green bits in the Tom Sua are green beans while others are green Thai chilies. I made that mistake and had a burning mouth, sweat dripping the rest of my dinner. Their Thai Ice Tea is good, though too much sugar for my personal taste.

Street parking is available, though may be hard in the evenings.

Food:

Conveniently a block and a half from Union Square. Small restaurant, but they have really delicious and filling food at good prices. Tom Yum is definitely the move, but I recommend getting the Tom Yum noodle bowl (not the one in the soup section). Much more filling and comes with a variety of meats.

Food:

Several years ago, during my first visit, my initial reaction to Chabaa was negative. At best it was mediocre Chinese food and not worth a re-visit. However when I read SF Weekly’s piece on Chabaa’s secret menu I decided to give it another shot.

I ordered the much raved pork neck and I haven’t looked back since. The fatty meat is described as “bouncy” by Jonathan Kauffman and I have not found a better word to explain the texture of the meat. Bouncy is a strange word to attribute to meat, but the well marbled and firm meat definitely have bounce. Kauffman succinctly states that “its texture is more the midpoint between hanger steak and a grapefruit segment, releasing a cascade of juices with each bite.”

It’s accompanied by a mouth watering fermented fish based dip called jaew that kicks this dish up a notch. It’s gotten spicier over the years, but it’s still very pungent and delicious.

I now consider most items on the regular menu to be decent, but if you crave for something flavorful, explore the secret menu!

Food:

I've only done delivery from here. The pad thai is subar, but I love the coconut rice so much that I'll order from here just to get that.

Food:

It's not the best Thai in the city, but it's solid on food and good service! We were trying to go to Underdogs on a Friday night, but that place was packed, so we took our talents to Chabaa and were not disappointed! If you like Thai and you're in the neighborhood, try it out!