Sabai Sabai Restaurant

On the day of that heavy snowfall a week ago last Friday, I finally ventured to Sabai Sabai, a newly opened, Lao-owned Thai restaurant located in the heart of downtown Toronto. I had initially heard about this restaurant from a friend on LinkedIn.

My purpose for visiting the restaurant that day was two-fold. First, it was to sample some of their cuisine. Second, I wanted to talk with one or both of the owners about Adopt a Village in Laos.

I began my trek from home. After twenty minutes of walking through the snow strewn streets, I arrived at my destination.

Because of the weather conditions, the restaurant was not that busy. Behind the bar was one of the owners, whom I immediately greeted in Lao by simply saying, "Sabaidee". I added that a Lao acquaintance by the name of Anne had recommended the restaurant. Filled with enthusiasm, he immediately introduced himself as Jason, whom I later discovered was born in Laos. I, in turn, introduced myself and briefly explained that I would like to chat with him for a short while. He was thrilled and said that he would be with me shortly.

After sitting down it didn't take me long to place my order. I started with a BeerLao. For my appetizer, I ordered the Green Papaya Salad. This was followed by the Green Curry Chicken with Rice Noodle for my main course. I must confess that both of these dishes were absolutely delicious.

Within minutes of finishing my lunch, Jason sat down at my table and we began to talk. I opened the black binder I had pulled out from my backpack earlier. As I talked, I went through the binder's contents, which is essentially a collection of information related to Adopt a Village in Laos, which includes published articles, a sample water filter donation email with recipient photo, and posters, newsletters and a water filter brochure which I had created. On my HP TouchPad I showed him a couple of short videos which I had captured in one of the villages I had visited in December 2012.

He was very moved and inspired about doing some sort of collaboration to help raise awareness for Adopt a Village in Laos. We briefly touched on a couple of scenarios to help do that. It will be most interesting to see how this association unfolds.

Before parting company I gave Jason a hard copy of 'The lure of Laos' article, which had appeared online at Xtra.ca. I wrote my contact information on the back of this copy. I also gave him two of the posters I had created to advertise the upcoming Toronto Twilight Rotary club 'Get LAO'd for Laos' fundraiser for Adopt a Village in Laos. He promised that he would post them in his restaurant.

After paying my bill at the cash and almost as an afterthought, I pulled out one of the Adopt a Village in Laos T-shirts I had stowed in my backpack and presented it to him. He accepted it graciously and we said our good-byes.

The next day I sent an email to Jason to say thank you.