While skepticism about men ever having walked on the moon persists, like the constant flow of booze in an FBI director’s liver, the Moon Wok on International Drive is totally real, and rationalists and conspiracy theorists alike should experience it for themselves. The primary reasons: Jerry and Jackie Lau. The pair, best known for Kai Kai BBQ, left the brand they developed into a highly lauded stall inside Mills Market to help Twenty Pho Hour’s Kit Vongprachanh in his latest venture. With the Laus, and their nearly four decades of Cantonese restaurant cooking experience, Moon Wok Kitchen & Lounge garnered immediate legitimacy and lured Kai Kai’s customers down to I-Drive as bona fide cred will do.
And, yes, you’ll see the same roast duck ($34.95), char siu roast pork ($10.95), char siu ribs ($11.95) and crispy pork belly ($11.95) dangling from the display case as in Mills Market, so if you haven’t sampled Jerry’s Chinese barbecue, do. But it was Jackie’s dim sum items — siu mai dumplings ($7.95 for four) with their mix of shrimp and pork, and steamed chicken dumplings ($10.95) we liberally dipped in chili oil from the ceramic bowl on the table — that led it off for us. Missing from the beautiful, matte sintered stone slab? Red vinegar. That we had to ask for. We also asked for extra bowls so that all in my party could sample the velvet corn soup ($7.50), with its eggy ribbons and splash of sesame oil.
But before we could get a slurp in, a plate of Cantonese-style Mongolian beef ($26.50), a recommendation from Jerry himself, arrived in all its sweet-soy-slicked glory, with dried chilies, ginger and scallions. Along with a bowl of garlic fried rice ($3), it cluttered up the surface before us to the point that we had to appropriate the adjoining table to make room for all the dishes to come. When we got settled, out came a platter of five-spice fried chicken ($13.95), crispy, crackly and deeply flavored to the bone.
Temperatures were rising, much like the flames from the woks we gawked at in the open kitchen. Those licks didn’t just get our attention; they grabbed us by the nostrils with their seductive wok hei scents. Indeed, Jerry is a stir fry master, and passing along the knowledge he’s gleaned over his storied career to the next gen — like Moon Wok head chef Chan Chu — is what keeps him fulfilled.
I can say that whoever cooked the broad, chewy ho fun noodles ($20.95) did so with aplomb. Tossed in those ribbons were plush morsels of beef, red onions and bean sprouts but what stood out, of course, was its smoky, charred, caramelized essence. It was striking, much like the faux cherry tree blossoming at the entrance of the restaurant. In fact, the whole place charms with its design, from the bar area (try the off-menu, strawberry mojito-like “red clover”) to the mural depicting cranes in flight over the moon.
And over the moon is how we felt after pan-fried noodles with scallops, shrimp and squid ($25.95) that Jerry himself tossed and plated for us tableside. “I like to interact with customers and talk to them,” he says. The man spent a good amount of time talking to us, which inevitably led to the topic of why he and Jackie left Mills Market. I dug into a chocolate mousse cake with bananas expecting to hear a much longer response than “personal reasons.”
What really matters is that he and his better half are quite happy doing their thing here with an experienced team, not that certain aspects can’t be refined. And given the place is called Moon Wok, I’ll sum things up using some Michael Jackson references. I don’t wanna be startin’ somethin’, but here goes: Servers seemed unfamiliar with Cantonese cuisine and weren’t overly concerned with pacing, as a slew of dishes all arrived at the same time. Not exactly “white glove” treatment. That said, it felt right just to let it slide.
But the food! My advice: Don’t stop ’til you get enough and, when you do, just beat it.
Moon Wok Kitchen & Lounge, 11701 International Drive, 407-778-1700, moonwokkitchen.com
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This article appears in April 29-May 5, 2026.
