We were curious…So, last week we finally made it out to try the one-and-only Raan Jay Fai – the Michelin-starred street food eatery in Bangkok. Jay Fai is the name of the owner and also the Chef, a 72 year old known for her iconic ski goggles and incredible skills and speed at the wok. All of the dishes are cooked by Jay Fai herself over a charcoal stove. It’s fantastic just to watch her go, dish after dish, with the energy of a 20-something!  

The shophouse eatery is most popular for its giant crab omelet (Khai Jiao Poo). This burrito-sized omelet was so delicious with very generous amounts of crab inside (i.e. the price tag).  Surprisingly, it was not the least bit oily despite being very intensively deep-fried.

As well, Raan Jay Fai offers a number of other Thai specialties, all seafood based. We had to sample some signature dishes, of course, such as Charred Wide Rice Noodles (Raad Na Talay), Drunken Noodles (Sen Yai Pad Kee Mao), Spicy and Sour Soup (Tom Yum). The portions were very generous, much larger than standard Thai restaurant plates. Not to mention, the huge size of the seafood – great quality prawns, squid and fish!

Besides preparing yourselves for the long wait (some wait for hours on the sidewalk), you should also prepare your pocket. The food is quite expensive compared to your usual street food shop. However, now that we’ve tried it, we can surely say that Jay Fai offers premium and fresh ingredients and very sizeable portions.  Plus, seeing the effort Jay Fai puts into each dish, we’d say Raan Jay Fai is absolutely worth the time and price!