If you love Ronaldhino, you'll love the spicy samba flair of a platter called Pla krapong rad sauce Brazil, which is a deep-fried sea bass topped with a hot, sweet and sour gravy.

Or if your favourite team is Japan, don't miss the Kung muan Japan, a prawn wrapped in an omelette that's really a Chinese dish, but served in Japanese fashion.

Other menu items include Kung rad sauce Holland (fried prawn with orange sauce) and Pling thale phad sauce fah khao Argentina (stir-fried sea urchin).

And although poor old China didn't qualify this year, there's Chakrapat songsi - a seabass soup - so they won't feel completely left out.

The restaurants are also helping fans stay awake for the late telecasts with Nennoi tun paed sian, a steamed soup made with various unusual ingredients that apparently boosts your vigour.

Based on a soup cooked only for kings in ancient times, it's a lighter version of phra kra-dod kampaeng - the celebrated "monk jumps over the wall". It got its name when a monk, unable to resist the long-simmering aroma of the dish, broke the rules to sneak into the kitchen for a sample.

When this legend was born, the soup was made with a tiger's penis, a shark's fin, sea urchins, fresh fish stomach, abalone, Yunnan ham, deer tendon, black chicken and lots of other fantastic bits and pieces.

It was simmered with medicinal herbs for up to 18 hours, as it still is, but rarely with such exotic ingredients. Any modern attempt to recreate the original invariably meets with howls of protest from animal lovers.

Hong Min isn't going to risk that, says general manager Pannasarn Asvanuwatra. Its Nennoi tun paed sian is no less special, he insists, but the more controversial ingredients are missing, so it's more affordable too.

The shark's fin is still there (for the soup, if not the shark), as are the abalone, deer tendon, fish stomach and black chicken. These and other wonderful additions, including scallops, ensure that the taste and supposed nutritional boost are authentic.

Pannasarn points out, though, that connoisseurs of the soup appreciate the rich broth of the soup most, rather than the chunks floating in it.