Here Hai Restaurant

Gaggan Anand runs a restaurant with a waiting list measured in months, and for lunch he orders from this seven-dish Ekkamai wok shop: "The food is unbelievably good."

Why go

Here Hai started above a noodle shop and has now held a Michelin Bib Gourmand six times per Time Out's April 2025 review, all on a menu Gaggan counts at "about seven or eight dishes." The signature is lump crab fried rice, and Time Out's Toey Sarunrat names the mechanism: "cooked over intense heat with traditional Chinese techniques, the rice comes out deeply aromatic, every grain seared with wok hei and packed with flavour." Portions are limited and priced above street level, which is what whole lump crab costs.

Order this / avoid

• Order: the crab fried rice, then Gaggan's pair from Gourmet Traveller: the crab meat stir-fried in curry and the mantis shrimp with chili and basil.
• Avoid: Monday (closed), the 3-4pm service gap, and the noon crush; the queue predates the plaque.

What locals & experts say

• Gourmet Traveller (Gaggan Anand): "The food is unbelievably good. The menu only has about seven or eight dishes." ref
• Time Out Bangkok (April 2025, Toey Sarunrat): six-time Bib Gourmand winner; "every grain seared with wok hei and packed with flavour." ref
• Local rec: Jeff's list carries Gaggan's line verbatim as the reason to go.

Good to know

• Timing: daily 10am-3pm and 4pm-5:30pm, closed Monday (Time Out, April 2025). No dinner; treat it as the anchor of an Ekkamai lunch.
• Booking: none; queue for a table, and the earlier the shorter.
• Getting there: 112/1 Ekkamai Road; Phed Mark sits by the BTS at the foot of the same road for a one-afternoon wok pairing.

Jeff's take (his words)

• The brief: Gaggan - go for lunch.
• The quote he saved: "I love the crab meat stir-fried in curry and the mantis shrimp with chilli and basil. It’s my new favourite place to order lunch."

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

should-visit — A seven-dish wok kitchen good enough that Gaggan Anand calls it his favorite lunch order, with six Bib Gourmands behind the crab fried rice and a critic on record about the wok hei in every grain. Above street prices and behind a real queue, which is the honest cost of crab in this volume; the short menu and daytime-only window are features, planning constraints, and the reason it stops one rung short.