Right along the corner of Lorong Ah Soo, lies this quaint little Thai restaurant, Moona Thai Kitchen, in the middle of a block of HDBs. Looking quite unassuming, you’d think that it is just a simple neighbourhood eatery, but you’d be surprised to find that it is usually quite packed.
Especially crowded during dinner time, Moona Thai is located just beside a car park with many other food options around the vicinity if you prefer not to queue. (Licker’s Cafe, Tai Seng Turtle Soup, 一日三餐 and many other cafes/restaurants are all within walking distance.)
Mango Salad ($6)
We started out our order with a thai mango salad which was lightly tossed with a hint of sourness and yet mixed with peanuts, onions and chillies to make a nicely balanced dish. It was light and helped to make us more eager for the other dishes to arrive.
Deep Fried Pork with Garlic ($8)
We ordered an array of dishes, deep fried pork with garlic being one of the many. This dish was quite oily, but it had a nice crunch to it and was lightly chewy with a great texture. If it was less oily it would have been perfect, but it’s hard to expect less oil from a dish that’s deep fried.
Stir Fried Kang Kong Thai Style ($7)
The stir fried kang kong thai style was lightly fried and still retained its fresh taste whilst also containing the flavours and spiciness of the sauce. With crispy fried onions as garnish to top it off, it does a great job cleansing away the oily taste from the other dishes as thai food tend to be quite oily.
Crispy Pork Belly ($8)
This was the dish of the day, the crispy pork belly was thoroughly cooked yet still retaining the tenderness at the same time! The taste of it envelopes your mouth as you bite into it with the juiciness of the pork belly coming out whilst retaining the crispy texture on the outer layer. Dipping it into the sauce adds a different flavour profile to it as the hint of spiciness and sauce softens the outer layer and adds more depth to the taste.
Omelette Prawn ($9)
The omelette prawn was a simple dish that didn’t have much to give notice to. It was nicely fried and crispy especially around the edges. It was a tad bit oily and could have been better if the spring onions were to have been fried in the omelette as well to add to the fragrance of the omelette rather than act as a garnish.
Green Curry Chicken ($8)
The green curry chicken was delectable, filled with lots of ingredients, though there were more vegetables compared to chicken. The curry was only slightly spicy even though large chillies can be spotted within. It was also light to taste and fragrant on the tongue, leaving hints of the coconut milk used in the dish and stimulating our taste buds to want more of it.
Phad Thai Noodle ($6)
The phad thai was close to perfect! With the noodles being cooked but still retaining its moisture, the portions of ingredients given were decent, with there being prawns, tofu and a large serving of bean sprouts. When mixed together, each ingredient could be tasted individually and yet still came together to meld as a cohesive whole, to excite our taste buds and leave us wanting more. We even finished off this plate and ordered a second! The chilli powder was placed at the side to allow you to mix it in and tune it to your perfect spice level.
Seafood Tom Yum Soup ($7)
The tom yum soup was filled with a decent amount of seafood for the price. The amount of soup given was enough for 1-2 pax to share. Being Singaporean, our preference of tom yum is slightly different from the version that Thais prefer and this version suits the Singaporean tastebuds perfectly. With it being just the right amount of sourness to satiate our appetite without masking the taste of the seafood.
Steamed Seabass with Lemon Sauce ($24)
As the big finale, the seabass was really awesome and had a large amount of meat. It does contain a lot of bones so do be careful when consuming it. It was spicy, but not to the level where it was not bearable even though it looked like it was filled with chillies and would be really spicy. I would not recommend this dish for people who cannot take spice as it does contain quite a bit of spice. The seabass can probably be shared amongst 3-4 pax with a few side dishes if you’re looking at dining here and are not sure how much to order.
Moona Thai Kitchen
Moona Thai sells inexpensive Thai food, with most dishes ranging between $5-$15. If you’re here to order individual portions or sets you’ll probably spend under $10 per pax. But if you’re sharing dishes to share, you might spend up to $15-$25 per pax depending on how much you order. The portion size for their carbs like noodles and rice are of decent size and can probably be shared amongst 1-2 pax. But the portion size for their meat and vegetables are of a standard size for the price. Do just order 1 of each first if you’re not sure about the portion size and you can always order more if you really like it!
For us, the dishes that really stood out were the Crispy Pork Belly, the Phad Thai Noodle and the Seafood Tom Yum Soup. Overall, the dishes here tend to fit in well with the other dishes ordered so that no specific dish overpowers the other and it provides a nicely balanced meal when you order a few dishes together to share. If you wish to skip the dinner crowd, do drop by a bit earlier or expect to wait for other tables to finish up as they are quite a small restaurant.
