If you have met Lyndsey, you know she loves good food. So of course that is the first thing she started researching when we decided to move to Thailand. It became a hobby to watch street food videos on Youtube together as we got excited about moving (and waiting out the uncertainty). One place that shows up on all the lists is Jay Fai, the street food vendor with a Michelin Star. We were first introduced to her on the Netflix Original Street Eats: Asia, but she has been featured on many other shows as well. We made it a goal to find the shop and sample her world-renowned crab omelet. While a shame, the reduced number of tourists during the pandemic enabled us to book a reservation easily. We heard that it was not uncommon to have to book 3 months in advance or put your name in and wait 6+ hours for a table, but Lyndsey was able to schedule a lunch for us the weekend following quarantine release.
We arrived early with big expectations and big appetites. Amazingly the experience exceeded on both counts! The open-air restaurant was tiny by Amerian standards and massive by Thai street cart standards. There were maybe ten tables inside and a handful more squeezed into the sidewalk outside. The kitchen was actually still on the street, situated out the side of the building and you could watch Raan Jay Fai work wearing her signature goggles. While there were many delicious looking menu choices, we had already picked out the Crab Omelet and Pad See Ew to share.
Imagine a pound of fresh crab meat, rolled in fluffy egg, and roughly the size of a burrito, fried. Lyndsey described it as “straight-up amazing crab with a liiitle bit of egg to hold it together.”
The Pad See Ew was amazing – we both actually liked it better. Pan-seared fresh vegetables and colossal prawns are piled over a healthy portion of flat rice noodles. The flavors were perfect. We ate until we couldn’t fit another bite and felt a little guilty for leaving some on the plate!
We would highly recommend the experience – it costed about $20-30 USD, expensive for street food here, usually $2-3 USD, but the portions and quality of ingredients certainly justified it.
