Video | Bangkok Michelin Guide: Chinatown crab omelette queen on earning her star alongside fine-dining restaurants
Until very recently I had no idea what Michelin stars were, says 72-year-old Jay Fai, whose restaurant was honoured in publisher’s first guide to the Thai capital along with the likes of Gaggan, Le Normandie, Nahm, Bo.lan, and Paste
At the age of 72, Jay Fai, who for decades has cooked crab omelettes over a wok while working her way up from a street cart, unexpectedly joined the global craze for fine dining last week when her humble shop in Bangkok’s Chinatown joined the ranks of Michelin-starred restaurants.
Actually, she almost gave stardom a pass.
“Someone from Michelin kept calling me to invite me to the awards ceremony,” says the diminutive chef, who sports the same ski goggles she has used for years to avoid splatters of boiling oil. “Until very recently, I had no idea what Michelin stars were. So I kept turning them down.”
She and her restaurant, Raan Jay Fai, became an overnight sensation when she took the stage for Thailand’s first Michelin guide awards ceremony on December 6 at the Siam Kempinski Hotel, alongside the Michelin tyre icon. That character she knew, having kept a toy replica by her bedside for years. But until she arrived and joined the chefs at the awards, “I had no idea the tyre man had anything to do with food”.
Aside from Fai’s debut, there were few other surprises at the glitzy bash, where guests paid US$600 per person for a cavalcade of dishes served by celebrity chefs from around the globe. Familiar names from Bangkok’s fine-dining scene dominated the list of 17 restaurants that received stars in the new Michelin guide, which is the city’s first.