The backstreets of Thong Lor are inundated with little alcoves concealing bars and restaurants; one leafy facade gives way to Moon Glass, an indoor-outdoor restaurant and bar with a modern European menu and the odd Thai twist thrown in.
It’s a slick, modern interior – the ubiquitous dark woods and metals offset by a classy, custom-built bar and baroque light fixtures. Speaking of the bar, Thai-run restaurants can sometimes be guilty of cutting corners on the cocktails. The culture of mixing drinks is relatively new to Thailand and has been driven mostly by expats –
it’s all too common for Thai restaurateurs to pay lip service to this trend with a few sugary, brightly coloured monstrosities without thinking about balance and variety.
Moon Glass, fortunately, doesn’t fall into this category. Clearly, a great deal of thought has gone into the cocktail design – if anything, some of the drinks try to pack in one too many ingredients.
There are some stand-out signatures (all B280); the Harvest Moon is a refreshing combination of pear vodka, gin, elderflower and apple juice, while the Flip Man Walking offers a tart variation on the Rusty Nail, blending Johnnie Walker Gold, Drambuie and Campari and roasted coffee beans. The Captain John mixes gin, dark rum, lime and elderflower, garnished with a skewer of lychee, chilli and cucumber. All very promising.
And the food doesn’t suffer by comparison. The Tom Yum Khung Caesar Salad (B290) takes a straightforward starter and adds hints of chilli and Thai flavours, while the foie gras with pomegranate and passion fruit sauce (B590) echoes the fashionable use of citrus flavours and lends the dish an interesting offset of flavors.
The pan-seared Hokkaido scallops with white truffle oil sauce (B390) make a gorgeous appetiser, pairing the velvety seafood texture with rich, flavourful tastes. The impressive produce is again on show in the black ink tagliatelle with seafood (B350), a mixed bag of mussels and shrimp heightened beautifully by the slightly tangy sauce.
Moving on to the mains, the duck confit (B490) comes with red wine sauce, caramelised onion and truffle risotto. The duck itself is moist and artfully presented but again it is the sauce that carries the day, reinforcing the notion that while the owner-chef at Moon Glass certainly knows his produce, it’s his command of flavours that makes his menu work so well.
Moon Glass
31 Sukhumvit Soi 53 | 02-259-8531
moonglassbangkok.com | 5pm-midnight
