Over the past several years, building and restaurant activity in Cary has been popping! This affluent bedroom community next to Raleigh has developed a reputation of its own as a dining and beverage destination. While Cary always had family-friendly chain restaurants, its increasingly being seen as a desirable location for independent, chef-driven concepts. One recent addition exemplifies that evolution, SAAP over on Walker Street (opened in mid-November 2023). Brought to you by Chef Lon Bounsanga of Bida Manda fame, SAAP offers more rustic Laotian (Southeast Asian) cuisine in a modern setting. Curious to learn more about SAAP? Then read on, adventurous diners!
SAAP Laotian in Cary – Location, Interior
First things first when you head over to SAAP, parking! Located in the new Walker building which abuts the newly renovated Downtown Cary Park, parking is limited out front. One option is to use the huge Cary Library parking deck (which can get busy) Fairview Street (across they way) or further south down on Walker Street (a block or two walk). Depending on the day you visit and what’s happening at the park, you may need to adjust your parking plans.
Heading into SAAP, you’ll open the front door to an entry area and the hostess kiosk. Given the glass-box type construction of this new space, SAAP is light, bright and airy, very different from Bida Manda’s dark and sultry ambiance. The interior design here is modern and organic, showcasing browns, light greens, and blacks, a nice color palate that’s pleasing and easy on the eyes. The large bar in back has a lovely green tile face and large open shelving rising behind it. The dining room is mostly 2 and 4-tops on a polished concrete floor with plenty of space between tables for civilized conversation. The design touches continue on with the top-notch silverware, serving ware, and plates that are used for diners at SAAP.
SAAP Laotian in Cary – Menu, Food
Pull open SAAP’s menu (physical menu or QR code online) and you’ll find a nice selection of appetizers (15+ choices in $15 range), entrees (15+ choices in mid-$20s), and desserts. You’ll see some similar dishes to what you might find at Bida Manda and their cocktail list is excellent. Given how big the main bar is, I wouldn’t have expected any less from their talented bartenders!
Start off with the Mekong Rush, a potential drink featuring mezcal, cointreau, and lime to get the evening started. It’s got a lot of tang and citrus paving the way for your dinner. The moo ping (pork skewer appetizer) showcases nicely charred pork loin in a marinade of coconut cream and fish sauce, tasty! And SAAP’s sticky-honey stung chicken wings are plump and meaty, a good option if not too memorable or unique. And of course the classic Laotian rice wraps are here on the SAAP menu (a fave at Bida Manda), I will definitely try them during my next visit.
Moving on to the entrees, I definitely recommend the pad lao (khua mee) which is offered with four different proteins (shrimp, chicken, pork belly, tofu). This dish is a heaping mound of stir-fried rice noodles with peanuts, shallots, garlic, soy sauce, bean sprouts, cilantro, and sliced egg crepe on top. It reminds me a bit of Thai pad see eew but with a thinner rice noodle. This version is wonderfully prepared with toothsome noodles and plenty of savory pork belly, a happy thumbs up from me!
And the classic pork belly soup is a bit different than the version at Bida Manda, it’s done egg drop style with a thicker broth and some texture. Definitely give it a try, it’s a filling bowl with a delicious coconut curry-based soup and amped up with lime and fresh aromatics. Perfect in colder weather, diving into this bowl feels like a wonderful melange of flavors and textures, quite different. I haven’t made it to SAAP’s dessert menu yet but the matcha cream puffs and purple sticky rice with mango both look pretty intriguing.
SAAP Laotian in Cary – Service, Conclusion
Service at SAAP is on point from the hostess to the bar and wait staff. My guess is that a lot of the people here are experienced hospitality pros that came over from the uber popular Bida Manda so they are well-trained and course/clear plates well. SAAP is also now open for lunch and a quick look at the menu shows that lunch appetizers are about the same price while entrees are about $4 less per item which is a great deal if the portion size is about the same. Definitely recommend doing lunch here if you’re trying SAAP for the first time to save a bit of money.
So after two visits, I’d have to say I’m pretty happy with my visits to SAAP! While at the beginning, I wanted to compare it to the estimable Bida Manda in Raleigh given its chef-owner origins and its similar menu, that’s probably not entirely fair. Taken it its entirety, SAAP is doing a lot of things right with an interesting, broad menu, decent prices, good portion size, and clean, modern ambiance. It’s a sophisticated take on Southeast Asian cuisine that’s probably better for smaller parties given its dining room and seating. So if you’re willing to make the effort to get to SAAP, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at this great dining experience. And I am curious to see where Chef Lon takes the menu over time, so here’s to more and better from SAAP in Cary.
