Hidden away on the 2nd floor of the Holiday Inn Express in Sheung Wan lies Moon Thai, a new Thai restaurant run by Chef Lek, who has spent 35 years of his career in Bangkok at the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok and cooking for the Royal Family. To promote their new opening, they launched a new happy hour to attract customers to its somewhat obscure location.
Despite the high number of Thai restaurants in Hong Kong, it’s rare to find a spot that will offer more obscure dishes, like the one seen here, Miang Kham.
Photo Credit: Rachelcooksthai.com
Miang kham, in Thai means, “eating many things in one bite”, and is one of our favourite drinking snack-type appetizers that we discovered while living in Bangkok. A traditional plate is served with dried shrimp, raw shallots, chilis, chopped ginger, roasted peanuts, small lime wedges, toasted coconut, and a sticky, sweet, and syrupy brown palm sugar/ginger-based sauce.
The large green leaves you see accompanying the plate are the leaves of the betel nut tree. Yes, that’s right, this is the leaf from the same betel nut that is popular in Malaysia, Taiwan, and China as a stimulant that many truck drivers use to drive long distances. Although the “pop” from the leaf isn’t quite as strong as chewing on the nut, we’ve definitely noticed that we’ve got a bit more spring in our step after eating a few of these.
To construct of this pouch of deliciousness, you simply take a leaf and start adding a bit of each condiment to the center of the leaf, top it with some of the sweet sauce, wrap it up, and pop it in your mouth. One may find it strange to eat all of those pungent ingredients together (yes, the lime has the peel on it, and you’re eating raw shallots and ginger), but the combination of flavours melds together surprisingly well and becomes a complex, aromatic bite.
Constructing Your Own Miang KhamPhoto Credit: Rachelcooksthai.com
We were surprised to find this at the Moon Thai Happy Hour and wanted to share this spot with all of you. If the prospect of checking out just this delicious snack isn’t enticing enough, they also have a full happy hour buffet spread, and have incorporated a small game to determine the price you pay for all this food.
The Full Happy Hour Buffet Spread
As you arrive, you’ll be asked to draw a ticket from a box; the number on the ticket ranges from $8 to $48, and denotes the price of your snacks for the evening. As for drinks, the price of happy hour menu drinks (beer, wine, and cocktails) at the first 7 minutes of each hour drops to a cool $7 HKD. If you miss the first 7 minutes promotion, don’t fret, they still have a buy-one-get-one-free promotion. For those of you on a budget, this $15 find could be where you’re spending many a weeknight of your future; if they decide to extend this promotion which we desperately hope they do.
Moon Thai
Website or Tel: 2851-1288
Hours: 6:30am – 11pm
Happy Hour: 4pm-7pm daily
This particular promotion only lasts until the end of the month.