When you think about Michelin starred restaurants, do you think about super expensive upper-class restaurants and high-profile chefs with household names? You do? Think again........
Sunday night is the night we often jump on the scooter and head the 25km downtown to the heart of Bangkok for a little cruise around, stopping at wherever we fancy for a bite to eat. This Sunday was no exception, I can never tire of cruising Bangkok at night, its endless cacophony of alleys and 'quarters' leading you to discover a never-ending inventory of places to go and things to eat and do to add to your Bangkok arsenal.
The only thing different last night was the wife wanted to try a famous Pad Thai restaurant, supposedly the 'best in Thailand'. Also expecting the complimentary title of 'Most Expensive in Thailand', we set off and trundled down to Phra Nakhon and the superlative ridden Thipsaimai and Pad Thai paradise.
Parking is horrendous so don't go by car. Even for the bike, I had to park hugging a curb on a junction next to some pretty red and white painted curbstones.....and there was a queue!!
Bugger that for a game of soldiers so we didn't go in. They did have a takeaway menu and window too but we wanted to sit and eat so we did the only thing that any normal person would do and that was to go to the Pad Thai street food stall that some crafty beggars had cleverly set up next door (it seems that its called Lueng Pha Pad Thai according to Google maps!) and ate there whilst watching people hopping hungrily from foot to foot waiting to spend double the price on exactly the same dish as we were eating!
As a bonus, we also got to see a firework display as our chef seemed keen on pyrotechnics....
Food always tastes better when eaten on the street and this was no exception. It was delicious, but if I'm being honest, its just Pad Thai, it always tastes the same wherever you buy it. As a bonus, I got some practice with the chopsticks as I attempted to remove the micro-sized cubes of the evil tofu that they'd included despite my request to leave it out. We were charged one baht each for the ice in our coke the portions weren't very large and it was a little pricey. 60 Baht (£1.50 / $2.00) each, which could either be considered a saving over the price of Thipsamai or a tax paid for our impatience, either way, it was rather clever pricing form the 'poor relations' next door!
Anyway, getting back to Thipsamai, a couple more photos of the takeaway counter and their menu......
85Baht for a very tiny dollop of the most basic Pad Thai? I think not....
Now if you were wondering about the Michelin Star I mentioned at the top of the post, I wasn't talking about this restaurant...
We didn't actually realise at the time, but the genuinely, world-famous Jay Fai's place was just two doors further along the street!
If you're a gastronomic philistine, such as I, then you might not be aware that in Bangkok we have a Michelin starred street food joint, whose chef is called Jay Fai, a 75-year-old lady who makes the best crab omelettes in the world and for this, her restaurant was awarded a star and proudly displays the certificate on the wall.
Jay Fai herself is well known as she always wears a woolly hat and old-fashioned aviators goggles when she's cooking. She also does all the cooking herself, always......and here she is a these few dodgy photos I grabbed last night!
Yup, that's a Michelin starred restaurant! Brilliant :-)
That's the lady herself playing the wok, woolly hat and goggles clearly visible if you blow up the photo a little!
I am now becoming obsessed in my research to discover whether this is the only Michelin starred restaurant in the world where the customers sit on plastic garden chairs.....
Now we didn't eat here because I'm tighter than a duck's arse and wouldn't pay 1000 Baht (£25, $33 USD) for a crab omelette there is allegedly a very lengthy waiting list for reservations but I managed to google a menu to whet our appetite.
Bangkok, an amazing city full of contrasts and surprises but to paraphrase Neil Diamond; "Bangkok's fine, but it ain't home. Yorkshire's home but it ain't mine no more"
To everyone who doesn't have the freedoms and safety we are currently enjoying here in Thailand, I wish you all the best and you are always in my thoughts.
A little further reading and references:-
Thipsamai's home page with a quite interesting story of the history of Pad Thai
Their 'proper' review courtesy of Trip Advisor!
The official Michelin guide to Jay Fai's place
PS I have tried to use the technique for search rankings as per @fknmayhem excellent post. I originally used 'michelin star Bangkok Thipsamai Jay Fai pad Thai crab omelette' so I hope this meets your approval!
And of course, I've pinned the post to the excellent @pinmapple which I wish everyone would use as its a brilliant resource we are fortunate to have here!
Didn't she complain some months after being rewarded it, that the Michelin star was taking all her joy away because things had gotten way too busy? And she wanted to "give it back"?
I didn't read that, to be honest, but she got it two years in a row! By all accounts, you can only book by EMail and it can be a three-month wait. Not sure whether this still applies with no tourists here though. It was quite a funny scene seeing people sat on the pavement and paying so much money for an omelette! Are you a foodie?
What do you mean? You still can't use chopsticks properly?!! Shame on you!!!!! 😤
I heard about that lady and her Michelin star, been on tell quite a few time, but I'm really surprised that her dish is sooo expensive. Is it even affordable by local standards?
That aside, I'm really craving for some decent Asian food. Your post reminds me of SF4 last year, literally coming up to a year ago.
@tipu curate
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You would be proud of my ability with the sticks! I hold them high like people do in Hong Kong!
Its been a very eventful year in so many ways and the food is one of the main reasons I love Asia. I don't actually like most of it but its the atmosphere, the attack on my senses on every street is just brilliant. For a people-watching street junkie like me its heaven!
Sorry to see you're going back down into lockdown, hope you can survive and make it bearable.
I'm getting used to it now, especially with winter coming, it's so depressing don't want to go out much anyway.
Was it you who said was supposed to come back for your mum's big birthday this year? Hope family are all well up north.
We were supposed to be back in Jul, then we booked a family Xmas lunch.....heaven knows when we can come back. The problem is not getting back to the UK, we could fly back tomorrow, but coming back here. Only a few people are allowed to enter Thailand, all on special flights after special approval and being married to a Thai means I fall into the 'allowed' category but I need......
Doctors fit to fly certificate
Clear Covid Test less than 72 hours before departure
100K USD Covid Insurance (currently for a UK citizen it would cost around £1200)
A paid for in advance booking in an ASQ Hotel (Government approved quarantine hotel) for 2 weeks which start at £900 including meals and tests.....the £900 hotels are dumps...and you need to stay in your room for the whole 2 weeks.
Booked flight which are ver limited due to almost no-one being allowed into Thailand, The Thai UK embassy arranged seat comes in around £1400 one way.
Then, with all this booked and paid for, you have to go to the Thai embassy in London, in person and get a special certificate. If any of your paperwork is not in order and/or god forbid you suddenly develop a fever, you've lost the lot as there are no refunds.
The wife has to spend 2 weeks in a government facility for a minimum fee or pay full whack to stay with me.
We simply can't afford it, neither the money nor time so we are sticking it out but if anything happened to my Mum, I'd have to shoot back so its all suck it and see right now.
That said, I truly appreciate that we're very lucky here and things are no different to how they were this time last year apart from the checking in everywhere and constant mask-wearing which is normal for us now.
It's simply horrendous over there and bloody scary so do whatever you need to do stay safe and sane please.
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