You know in TV shows and movies where a knight is about to go into battle, so their squire helps them get into their armor? Now imagine that, except instead of a knight you’re watching a 74 year old Thai woman donning large protective goggles and bright red lipstick, arms extended as a staff member puts her arm brace on for her while she yells out commands. She may not be a knight, but Supinya Junsuta, better known as Jay Fai, is as much of a warrior as they come in the kitchen. But the real battle is amongst the general public, all fighting to witness her skills and score a seat at her eponymous restaurant Raan Jay Fai in Bangkok, Thailand.
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already seen Jay Fai on Netflix’s Street Food, a documentary series showcasing some of the world’s best casual roadside stalls and canteens with Chef’s Table-esque dramatics. Add onto that the Michelin star that was awarded to Raan Jay Fai last year, and the fact that every dish in the restaurant is cooked by just 1 badass woman, and you have a recipe for fully booked reservations 3 months in advance and an hours long wait list. If you’re planning ahead, then DEFINITELY make a reservation well ahead of your trip for the optimal experience.
If your flight to Bangkok is sooner than the next available reservation, then you’ll have to resort to the standby list, which could leave you eating your food up to 6 hours after you put your name down. Not kidding – one of my followers told me they put their name down at 11:45AM to be 10th on the waitlist, came back when they opened at 2PM, and didn’t get seated until 5:30PM based on slow table turnover from it being a one woman show. We were NOT about to do that so we had a different strategy that involved luck, breakfast, and massages.
2023 EDIT: It’s important to note that Jay Fai no longer takes reservations. They also open the waitlist at 8AM before the restaurant opens at 9AM. All of the times and prices listed below are based on my visit in June 2019, so please take this into account!
How we got a table with minimal wait at Raan Jay Fai
- 10:10AM – we left our hotel, the Conrad Bangkok, which was a 20 minute ride from Raan Jay Fai with minimal traffic on a Friday morning
- 10:30AM – we arrived at the locked up restaurant to survey the situation (the restaurant doesn’t open until 2PM), not too surprised to find there were already 3 parties waiting to put their names down. We found out from the first couple in line that the the waitlist opens at 11AM (they had failed at waitlisting the day prior so they got there early to be first in line). Note that based on a recent Instagram post by Raan Jay Fai, the waitlist seems to open at 12PM now [8AM as of August 2023], so you may have to wait longer to write your name down or hope a staff member puts the list out early
- 10:45AM – a staff member set up the wait list earlier than expected, so we only had to wait 15 minutes to secure the 4th spot on the waitlist
- 10:48AM – there were already 10 names on the waitlist. We headed to our breakfast spot, a 12 minute walk south from Raan Jai Fai
- 11:00AM – we sat down to eat at On Lok Yun, a popular, super old-school cafe where we ordered one plate of eggs, bacon, ham, sausage, and Chinese sausage. It was on the greasy side, hence why we split one. You’re not here for the eggs though, as the must-order dish is the egg custard bread with kaya, a delicious coconut jam that sits in a pool of evaporated milk for you to scoop up with chunks of white bread. You’ll also want to get the bread with butter and sugar, a super simple toast that tastes like there’s some fairy crack dusted in with the sugar.
- 11:25AM – we finish breakfast and pay 191 THB (US$6.12) for our meal inclusive of drinks, and head out for massages just a 2 minute walk away
- 11:27AM – we arrive at Thanomchai Aree, a no-frills, traditional Thai massage spot that offers a 2 hour massage for a mere 400 THB (US$12.81 !). They give you a uniform to change into, then offer you some tea to relax before your masseuse starts putting in work — stretching, kneading, bending, and sometimes even stepping on you to work every knot in your body. There are definitely a few times you’ll wince/scream in mild pain depending on which area they’re working and how tight you are, but we walked out of there feeling SO relieved and refreshed, ready to eat!
- 1:45PM – we return to a very different scene at Raan Jay Fai, as there is now a mass of anxious diners waiting in the pouring rain outside of the restaurant, all seemingly clueless about how things will unfold and how they will call out wait list names vs. reservations. There was even a line of people waiting along the side of the restaurant who DEFINITELY didn’t realize the waitlist had been filled up hours before. We rejoin our original partners in waiting, excited in the knowledge that we’ll be among the first to sit down to eat and not have to wait in the sweaty crowd of people waiting under the awning to take shelter from the pouring rain that had just begun.
- 2:00PM – the restaurant is officially open. The hostess seats one table who had a reservation, as well as the top 4 parties on the waitlist (including us!). Each table orders their food in the order of arrival, so we end up being the third table to order since a couple of parties on the waitlist ahead of us arrived after 2PM due to Bangkok traffic (don’t be late!).
- 2:45PM – our first dish arrives at our table about 40 minutes after we order. Since every dish is cooked by Jay Fai and there were 2 parties of 4 ahead of us, we had to wait a good amount of time for all of their food to be cooked before she could start ours. We filled this wait time drinking beers and watching Jay Fai put in WORK on her wok! It’s truly inspiring whenever you see someone unbelievably dedicated to their craft – she didn’t even flinch when thunder as loud as fireworks crashed during the torrential downpour happening outside. But after all of that watching, it was time to finally EAT!
Best Dishes to Order at Raan Jay Fai
Here’s the good news – the signature crab omelet that you’ve probably drooled over while watching Jay Fai on Netflix is worth it. Yes, it’s expensive at 1000 baht (US$32) thanks to the use of high quality seafood and the obvious Michelin-Netflix markup, but when you compare that to the price of overly breaded crab cakes at your average restaurant, the price makes sense. Plus, you get a show built-in since you can watch Jay Fai masterfully shape your omelet into that signature cylinder. It’s filled with 2 baseballs worth of sweet crab meat plus some gooey egg binding it all together, while the whole thing is encased in a crispy outer layer of egg. It’s miraculously light and not greasy, despite it being deep-fried in that full wok of oil. The homemade sriracha is a perfect compliment to the omelet, though I personally wished there was a bit more flavor to the whole thing instead of relying on the sriracha.
That said, our favorite dish was actually the crab yellow curry. It’s made with just as much crab meat as the omelet plus soft chunks of egg stir fried with the crab meat, onions and chilis in an incredibly flavorful, fragrant yellow curry, all topped with fresh herbs. It’s also even more expensive at 1500 baht (~US$49.25), so I guess you’re getting what you paid for. We found it to be worth it for its delicious bites of plump crab meat with squishy, curry-soaked egg and an extra boost of sweetness, heat, and freshness from the onions, chilis and herbs.
If there’s a dish featured on the show that I would skip if you’re trying to narrow things down, it’s the drunken noodles. While they were good, with 3 large, well-cooked prawns and really nice flavor from the wok, sauces and chilis, Raan Jay Fai’s price of 600 baht (US$19.21) for a small portion of noodles is incredibly high compared to other places in Bangkok and even Thai restaurants in HK and the US.
You may find it more worthwhile to satisfy your drunken noodle craving at one of Bangkok’s many markets instead, and enjoy the pricier tiger prawns in one of her other more unique dishes like the dry tom yum, which stir fries your choice of prawns (800 baht = US$26.29) or seafood (1000 baht = US$32.86) in a sour and spicy seasoning reminiscent of classic tom yum soup. We opted for the seafood, which provided a mix of well-cooked prawns, squid, and fish with mushrooms and fresh herbs.
In the end, the two of us ate almost every last bite of food and spent a total of 4350 baht (US$142.95) including beers. It’s definitely an expensive meal, but we thought it was worth it overall for delicious premium seafood and a once-in-a-lifetime experience trying a badass chef’s famous dishes. You can make a reservation to Raan Jay Fai by emailing jayfaibangok@gmail.com at least 3 months ahead of your trip. If you plan to do the standby list, make sure to go early and go on your first day — I don’t think it’s worth waiting hours for a table if you aren’t one of the first people on the standby list, so at least you can always have the 2nd or 3rd day of your trip to try your luck again. Would you wait for a standby table to try Raan Jay Fai’s famous crab omelet?
