Recently, Manayunk’s MangoMoon celebrated their induction into the LDEI-Philadelphia Chapter (Les Dames d’Escoffier, an international philanthropic society of professional women leaders in the fields of food, fine beverage and hospitality) hosting an honorable ceremony on Monday, Sept. 13 paired with a champagne toast and dim sum buffet of Chef/Dame Nongyao Moon Krapugthong’s imaginative Thai and Pan-Asian food.
Owner/chef Krapugthong reveals that she is “completely honored to be a member,” suggesting such an induction, as well as a request to act as host for the Philadelphia Chapter’s 2010 business meeting at her MangoMoon, has lifted her creative spirit allowing her to showcase herself as a chef.
Nongyao “Moon” Krapugthong is notorious for her interpretations of Thai favorites, straying away from cutting corners, to offer magical masterpieces celebrating healthful ingredients aside exotic beverage concoctions. From spicy basil frog legs, to banana left-wrapped Chili Sea Bass plopped with mango sauce and Northern-styled pork meat sausage with a shrimp paste and red curry, MangoMoon’s bold flavors prove that they are well-worth the trip to Manayunk, as a “serious food destination.”
Krapugthong also wished to note, in conjunction with her membership into the LDEI, that she’d love to soon help “underprivileged girls learn how to cook (help fund a cooking school in Thailand or elsewhere),” as well as “mold and change the perception of Thai food.”
MangoMoon is the chef/owner’s second restaurant in her repertoire (first is another Manayunk eatery, Chabaa Thai), and is found in Manayunk at 4161 Main Street, or online at www.mymangomoon.com.
