Tasty tom yum and Thai green curry for under US$10 at busy Baan Mai in Central, Hong Kong
- Baan Mai offers lunch deals, rice and noodle sets and a variety of tom yum
- Service at this busy restaurant is efficient, if impatient, and a few dishes didn’t hit the mark
Baan Mai is a busy Thai restaurant hidden above the bustling streets of Hong Kong’s Central district.
We got a rather impatient welcome of sawasdee ka (“hello”, in Thai). The servers are efficient, walking quickly, and practically dropping the dishes on the tables, instead of placing them down quietly.
Baan Mai offers special lunch deals, including noodle and rice sets, and listed at the top of the menu are variations on tom yum kung.
We ordered tom yum kung with noodles (HK$78), green curry chicken with rice with soup (HK$78), and a signature appetiser platter (HK$128).
First to arrive was the tom yum kung. The spicy soup was topped with large shrimp, split in half, which was fresh and bouncy, as well as mushrooms, fried tofu skin and lettuce. The thin rice noodles absorbed the flavour of the soup, which was sour, spicy, salty and hot, although could have used more lemongrass.
The green chicken curry was rich and creamy with coconut, and had a mild taste of green chillies.
The chicken was tender, and the mushrooms absorbed the flavours of the sauce, which wasn’t spicy.
It went well with the steamed rice, and a small bowl of chicken and white gourd soup balanced the flavours of the curry.
The signature appetiser platter had all sorts of Thai snacks: spring rolls, prawn cakes, chicken feet, pork neck and chicken wings, with three sauces, ranging from sweet to savoury. The spring roll, filled with vegetables, could have been more crisp. The deep fried prawn cakes were crunchy outside, but rather leathery inside. We liked the boneless chicken feet, which came with preserved chillies, vinegar and vegetables, making it sour, sweet and spicy. The pork neck had a mushy texture, but was good when eaten with the sweet sauce. The chicken wings were overcooked and tough.
Baan Mai, 7/F The Loop, 33 Wellington Street, Central, tel: 2368 7922. Open: Monday to Saturday 11am to 10pm
