Wang Hinghoi (CLOSED)

  • Restaurants
  • Huai Khwang
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
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Time Out says

4 out of 5 stars

A modern Thai restaurant with a room where you can watch illuminated fireflies

The ideal romantic dinner usually entails a candlelit ambiance, string quartet classics playing in the background and glasses of Champagne. But one restaurant takes romantic clichés to a whole new level. Hidden on Kampangpetch 7 road, Wanghinghoi offers pitch-dark dining rooms lit up by countless lightning bugs—an ideal spot if you want to impress your date with romance done differently.

The Wanghinghoi experience begins right at the entrance. Diners pass through a small garden studded with yellow cat’s claw creepers, and a narrow wooden tunnel with a sloped ceiling before finding themselves in a dreamy, dimly lit space with sleek dining tables surrounded by verdant greenery. Diffusers emit a scent that emulates damp soil and mysterious New Age sounds filter throughout the space. Another enclosed smaller garden houses the fireflies, which provide nightly illumination that can be viewed from one of the restaurant’s two dining chambers.

Then there’s the food. Dishes epitomizing modern Thai cuisine take turns enticing your palate. The menu will change every four months and is themed around each of the four astrological elements—earth, air, water and fire—although it’s the food’s flavor and playful presentation that are the real highlights. When we came, the menu was focused on the Earth theme, which meant tom yum kung with perfectly cooked lobster and tender sous-vide satay-style pork spare ribs for starters, and a choice of fall-off-the-bone duck confit with a spicy kaeng phed ped yang-style sauce, sea-bass with aromatic chu chee sauce, or grilled wagyu steak with jaew sauce for the mains. The meal ends on a high note with a dessert that tweaks khanom piak poon, a gooey Thai treat that boasts the mellow flavors of palm sugar and pandan. Here, the dessert is encased in white chocolate and served with sesame crumble. The food pairs well with the restaurant’s selection of Thai-flavoredcocktails, which includes the foamy Passion Coconut (rum, passionfruit and coconut, B280) and tangy Farmer’s Delight that’s served with pickled green mango (B280).

In accordance with the lifespan of the firefly, the restaurant will only remain open for 18 months. While getting to the restaurant is quite an effort (you need to brave the nightmarish evening traffic on Petchaburi road), Wanghinghoi’s exotic ambiance, palatable bites and breathtaking fireflies altogether make the visit worthwhile.

Phavitch Theeraphong
Written by
Phavitch Theeraphong

Details

Address:
Kampangpetch 7 Road
Petchaburi Road
Bangkok
Opening hours:
Daily 18:30-23:30
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