Entree Kibbles: Lay Lao - Michelin Bib Gourmand Restaurant @ Ari in Bangkok [Thailand] #michelin

Monday, July 07, 2025

Lay Lao - Michelin Bib Gourmand Restaurant @ Ari in Bangkok [Thailand] #michelin

I first walked past Lay Lao after a visit to Dog In Town in Ari back in 2022, after noticing the michelin logo sticker; told myself to check it out soonest and this soonest took me about three years to materialize!

Opened in 2014, Lay Lao served Hua Hin and not Northern Thai cuisine that some social media influencers mentioned. Even though we reached at about 6.00 pm, the place wasn't crowded as I would have expected from most Michelin bib gourmand eateries, with the second floor being totally empty.

While awaiting our food, I took to exploring the local snack corner next to the cashier. While it's beneficial to sell local food souvenirs, it would be better if sampling can be provided! p.s. the crispy shredded pork at just 248 baht (about S$10) would be nice with plain porridge!

Coconut Soup with Seafood - this was said to be spicy and I was anticipating the spiciness to make my scalp sweat! It didn't happen as it was surprisingly quite mild. Nothing tomyum about it; in its place was a bowl of aromatic soup with a strong coconut punch that tasted like green curry!

Homestyle Grilled Chicken - I was expecting this to be like the isaan style one I had at Singapore's Un-Yang-Kor-Dai. Sadly, the meat was bland, and mushy with the tendency to stick to my teeth. Definitely needed the two sauces to up the flavor.

Deep Fried Sun Dried Pork Belly - lovers of char siew and siew yoke would enjoy this! Nuggets of caramelized pork belly that were sinfully sweet; said to be the result of a secret lay lao sauce! What's lacking, however, would be a bowl of Thai jasmine rice!

Pad Thai with Crispy Pork Skin - ever since I sold my soul to Thipsamai, it's quite hard for me to try pad thai in Bangkok as I am leaving the heavy carbohydrate dish to my favourite! However, one ingredient stood out from the menu.

Crispy pork skin, which I correctly assumed to be deep fried pork lard! Unfortunately, while they were in large chunks, the pork lard failed for being too cloyingly dry! The pad thai noodles themselves were nice although they could do with more oil as the noodles were clumped up!

Deep Fried Squid with Roe - said to be a another recommended dish that also used the secret lay lao sauce, I was seriously anticipating this as I recalled it being raved about on a social influencer page! And I love squid.

Let's dissect the little baby!

p.s. looks like a slug in this photo.

Utterly delicious! Squid was well seasoned (with a sweet twang) and nicely grilled, resulting in a texture that was non-rubbery and surrounded by a smoky aroma that was so addictive as my teeth chewed through it! For an extra punch to the flavor, dip it into the spicy seafood sauce!

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My companions didn't quite like the food, although I only counted the Pad Thai with Crispy Pork Skin and Homestyle Grilled Chicken as failures. Maybe I would be back this October!

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