JAY FAI: BANGKOK’S STREET-SIDE MICHELIN STAR IN THE AGE OF COVID

With the tourists gone, the most famous (and expensive) crab omelette in Thailand is an easy lunch.

As she cooks, Supinya Junsuta (สุภิญญา จันสุตะ) — known to most as Jay Fai — never stops shouting directions. Her small mob of assistants scurrying around her refilling bowls of spices, sauces, and seasonings. She rarely moves from her spot in front of a high-powered fan over the flaming woks with a full-face of makeup under her goggles. She never has a moment’s peace even though there are only three occupied tables at her modest restaurant that morning.

At the prime brunch hour of 11am on a quiet Bangkok Sunday, there is no hubbub as we approach Raan Jay Fai on Maha Chai Road. An oblivious diner would have walked right by the shop without giving it a second glance. Empty tables, no chairs filled with queues of hungry gourmands, the unassuming chef hunched over the woks, and the only signage is a tiny carved wooden plaque in Thai script above the entrance.

See my photography and read my article on Remote Lands here. 

 

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