Bangkok Michelin: Private Dining Rooms and Street Stalls

When one thinks about the culinary traditions of Thailand, especially the city of Bangkok, street food is often the first thing that comes to mind. Its true Bangkok may be the best street food city in the world, but there’s also a plethora of elevated, adventurous fine dining establishments as well.

Bangkok is one of the few cities where you’ll find Michelin stars given out to both street vendors and formal dining rooms alike. 

I couldn’t come back to Bangkok and not have another one of the famous crab omelettes at Raan Jay Fai, the legendary street food vendor. She’s had one Michelin star since 2018 and was featured in the popular Netflix series Street Food. 

My travel buddy Gerald and I got up early one morning and headed over around 8:15am to sign up for the waitlist, snagging spot no.14 which was a pretty good slot. The restaurant opens at 9am, but the waitlist opens at 8am. Part of the experience is waiting, watching, and conversing with other patrons who’ve also traveled from far and wide to experience the amazing food.  

After grabbing some coffee at a nearby coffee shop, we went back and waited about an hour before our number was called and we were given a menu to order. We got the crab omelette, stir fried pork with basil, and a noodle dish.

The omelette is one of the most delicious seafood dishes I’ve ever had. It’s stuffed with tons of lump crab meat, gently wrapped in fried egg that is really just a binder to keep all the crab meat together. Jay Fai cooks every dish herself, with the support of a few sous chefs and expediters to help finish, plate, and garnish the dishes. 

If you go to Bangkok and don’t eat at Jay Fai, you’re doing it wrong.

On the other end of the Michelin star spectrum is R-Haan, a 2 star joint featuring a multi course menu that celebrates the various regions of Thailand. 

Seated in a private dining room at a large live edge table, we enjoyed a vibrant meal that highlighted the best of the bounty of Thailand. 

The amuse bouche was actually a set of 5 different tasty bites, each representing a different region and plated on an actual gold dusted map of the country. There was a wagyu beef salad, mackerel fish cake, spicy minced pork, a crab curry bite, and a crispy golden cup with caviar. It was a great way to start the meal and awaken our taste buds.

Following the amuse bouche were 4 courses which included two standouts, the tiger prawn with tom yum bisque, and a boiled egg yolk in brown sauce which was by far the most impressive dish of the night. The yolk had a gel-like texture and the brown sauce was complex, deep, sweet, and utterly delicious. 

For the main courses we each got to choose 3 dishes, so we mixed and matched to get a bit of everything including a traditional tom yum, stir fried boar, and grilled sea bass. Having all of the main courses brought out together made for a beautiful display on the table, and really expressed the variety and unique flavors of the different regions of Thailand.

Dessert included petit fours, sticky rice, coconut pudding, and milk tea ice cream. Overall it was a great meal that was presenting so beautifully and truly celebrated the depth of tradition and regionality that makes Thai food so wonderful.