May's Foodscapades: Jay Fai @ Bangkok

Bangkok has always been a haven of shopping and food, and on every trip we'd frequent the restaurants my uncle discovered when he was based there years ago. This year, we went back to this restaurant we first visited last year but did not have the stomach space to really enjoy the dishes to the fullest.

Named after the chef, Jay Fai is a one-woman (rather, grandmother) show with an elderly lady at the helm of the woks. Everything here is cooked over charcoal, which adds even more zing to the dishes. Jay Fai wears goggles to shield her eyes from the smoke, first time I've seen this on a chef!

Jay Fai whipping up the famous crab omelette over charcoal fire.

We were clever this time, ordering the bare minimum of dishes to savour every bit of flavour. Of course, the Crab Omelette was a must.

Jay Fai's famous Crab Omelette.

Swimming in a pool of oil, the omelette was superbly done with a perfectly crisp outer layer wrapping a generous amount of fresh and thick crab pieces. Two thumbs up!!

At 1000 Baht, this omelette doesn't come cheap but it's worth every penny.

Then, there's the Glass Noodles with Prawns in a claypot. I cannot tell you how tasty this was. The flavour was beyond imagination, and the huge prawns were extremely fresh, juicy and succulent.

Glass noodles with prawns.

Finally, the Drunken Noodles aka Fried Kuey Teow with Seafood. This dish was excellent on so many levels. First of all, the kuey teow was cooked al dente. Second, it was mixed with prawns, squid and crab - all so very fresh and well cooked. Lastly, this was all very well complemented by the secret mix of Jay Fai's sauces. If there was a food heaven, this dish would most definitely make the cut.

Why is it called drunken noodles though? Well, they say that one day a man who's had quite a few drinks visited a hawker in the wee hours of the morning, looking for food. So, they whipped up this dish with the available ingredients.