Food: Je Fai pra-tu-pee เจ๊ไฝประตูผี
Je Fai is the name of this iron-chef lady whose authentic cuisine is being run by its third generation already.
Interestingly, one of my foreigner friend was introducing me to this restaurant. She came across it when she came for the famous Padthai after reading the Lonely Planet.
The restaurant situated near the famous Padthai pra-tu-pee (ผัดไทยประตูผี) just off the Ratchadamnoen road towards Bangkok’s the old city area. The name can be literally translate into English as Padthai of the ‘ghost gate’. Don’t panic as the century old name refers to the gate on the old city wall near by where they transport corpse for burial service.
Je Fai, despite being in an old shophouse, is clean without a single spot. Comparing the other shops near by, the restaurant is remarkably well maintained.
With plenty of room instead of cramming all the tables on top of each others, we pick the table close enough to see Je Fai mastering her technique and far enough to avoid the heat from the furious clay stoves.
The menu is simple. Pick the meat or vegetables and how you want to cook it. Thai dishes are mostly stir-fried or soup. Don’t forget to tell how much spiciness you want.
First dish was Kai-jiew-pu (crab meat omelet) and it was the best stuffed omelet I ever had. The tasty omelet was stuffed with delicious big chunks of crabmeat. Normally other Thai restaurants give you a merely visible crabmeat in the stuffed omelet which you can barely taste it. I’d give it 15/10!
We ordered Tom-yam-koong. The soup was really good, rich in taste and herb. The prawns were also very fresh. However I find the size a little too big. Normally the smaller prawn has better taste, well subjectively speaking. We forgot to tell the waitress so the Tom-yam-koong was a little too spicy so a 8/10.
Third came the spicy stirred fried basil seafood ผัด. We were really impressed with the fresh ingredients of prawns, squid, and seabass. The dish has got a full taste of brown sauce and a shear aromatic basil leaves. I’d give this a 9/10.
A thai meal would not be completed without a vegetable dish. We picked stir-fried broccoli. The broc were not fully cooked making it too crunchy plus the XL size of the broc makes it a little difficult to chew. But one point that we can’t argue is the taste that is exceptionally delicious. It’s a 8/10 for this one.
The good: we see one of the best selected ingredients, great taste and a clean atmosphere
The bad: all dishes use the same raw ingredients making it too identical in texture and tastes.
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