Moon Thai Kitchen
“All you get here is trauma.”
Moon Thai Kitchen is known as a go-to place for Thai food in Gothenburg. They have been around for quite a while and are often cited for their great environment. Located right next to Avenyn on a rather quiet side-street, they are sure to attract a lot of customers. How does their vegan-side hold on though?
The atmosphere when entering is amazing. Everything is nicely decorated, there are even vehicles such as a Tuk Tuk right at the entrance. It surely feels like a little escape from the Swedish reality.
However, Swedish reality kicks in quite fast again once trying to get a table.
Usually, Moon Thai Kitchen requires bookings and spontaneous visits are a problem. But even with a booking, service is slow and often stressed out. Nowhere near the famous Thai hospitality.
I have tried Moon Thai Kitchen for three times now and it has always been rather mixed in this regard. Sometimes you wait for 5 minutes until someone appears at the door to greet you, sometimes you have a bunch of families in front of you waiting to get seated. All that is missing is taking a number for the true Swedish administration experience.
Once seated, the charming and good looking tables show their ugly faces. You are pressed into your seat and almost feel the breath of the stranger on the table behind you on your neck. Nowhere to hang your jacket either near the table, so in winter you will have to figure that out as well.
The menu itself shows its contents divided by type of animal. There is a vegetarian/vegan section, but all it does is tell you that most dishes can be made vegetarian/vegan. Yeah, thanks for that.
You can ask the staff about recommendations, but they are usually not knowledgeable enough to understand what dishes work well in a vegan version, so better try to figure it out yourself. Once I received dry deep-fried tofu on sticks. As recommended by the staff. No veggies, no sauce. Yeah, thanks.
Depending on the mood of the staff, some dishes can be vegan on some days, and not on others. Difficult to really make out what to eat in this way, as the recommendations are useless and you are bound to a guessing game which dish can be made vegan. But once you figured out all this, the food itself comes in a rather massive portion with a decent amount of rice. Great! However, the taste is often rather bland and a curry tastes only faintly like you expect it. My guess is, they are simply uneducated in working with vegan options and what is needed for a rich profile without the umami from meat. In the end, you will be treated without much hospitality, eat something average and make friends with a stranger.
Price:
Main dish: 175 - 195 SEK
Drinks: 35 - 55 SEK
The Verdict
Slow service, uneducated staff and quality below the random Thai place next to a Swedish highway. The ambience is nice, but in the end all you will get from Moon Thai Kitchen is trauma. That’s memorable in it’s own way, but I’d say, save the money and spend it somewhere else.
2/5 Leaves
Pro
Nice decor and atmosphere
Basically most dishes on the menu can be made vegan
Con
Slow service
Mismanaged staff (not knowledgeable about their food)
Bland food
Location
Kristinelundsgatan 9
Opening Hours
Su-Th: 16:00 - 23:00
Fr: 16:00 - 01:00
Sa: 15:00 - 01:00
