2019 WAVE Award Spotlight: Pom Moongauklang

Central Florida’s Favorite Local Chef, Favorite Local Late Night Dining (Pom Pom’s Teahouse and Sandwicheria)

Walking into Pom Pom’s Teahouse and Sandwicheria in Orlando is like stepping into a blend of Willy Wonka and The Mad Hatter. The restaurant’s colorful decor mixed with owner Pom Moongauklang’s amazing teas, sandwiches, salads, desserts and more are only limited by Moongauklang’s pure imagination.

It’s no wonder that she was voted Central Florida’s Favorite Local Chef. When opening Pom Pom’s—which took first place as Favorite Local Late Night Dining and second place as Favorite Restaurant—Moongauklang says she wanted a place with “no hate, no side eye, no discrimination; just a place to eat really good food, have a good time and have good conversation.”One of Moongauklang’s goals with Pom Pom’s is to make sure it is a safe place for customers to come to, even at 2 a.m. Pom Pom’s is open until 5 a.m. on Thursdays and 24 hours a day on weekends.

What is Moongauklang’s favorite menu item? That would be the same thing as asking a mother to pick her favorite child, she says, but the sandwich that has the most meaning to her is Mama Ling Ling’s Thanksgiving sandwich. “It was the first meal my mother cooked and mastered when she came here,” she says.

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