If you’re heading to China town in Bangkok on Yowarat Road, you will definitely run into this inconspicuous corner seafood restaurant called Rut & Lek. It is literally a hole in the wall but some of the most delicious seafood I have tasted in Chinatown.
I think if you Google the top 25 best restaurant seafood in Bangkok this is definitely the one for you. If you’re looking for a five-star ambience go somewhere else. This is a true blue street food Thai seafood restaurant with the biggest Thai smiles you can see!
You’ll have everything of seafood on the menu and there are things that I actually tried here they never have tried before especially the way they were served.
The Dishes
One of the first dishes we ordered was the stir-fried seafood vermicelli. I quickly noticed they used a couple of mama noodle soup packages but it didn’t matter because it tasted so so good. Rut & Lek’s big chunks of squid, shrimp and yummy vegetables in the stir-fry!
One of my favourite dishes here at Rut & Lek is their deep-fried calamari. I’ve had calamari of course numerous millions of times however this one was a little bit rough on the edges but it was really good. It came with a sweet Thai sauce and hot, crispy fried goodness.
Simultaneously the grilled prawn and the grill seashell came out on your table looking delicious as ever. I was actually here on Saturday night before this review. I was shopping in Chinatown with a friend of mine who is moving out of the country. She requested we go here to try the seafood and we were not disappointed. Nearby to Rut & Lek, is the Sampeng Market. We walked all over this market. Sampang Market is fairly close enough so you can go shopping all day and then head to this place for some amazing seafood dinner.
Grilled Prawns
There were so many grilled prawns. My eyes were bulging at the ginormous size of these amazing prawns. Just looking at them I can just feel how full I was going to feel eating these delicious succulent fat prawns.
I believe this is one of Rut & Lek’s signature dishes because everyone had grilled prawns on their table. You might want to be a little bit careful when you’re tearing the prawn head off to eat the tail. We experienced a bit of protein that you might not want to eat (hint hint)!
I have never had grilled shells before. We really didn’t even know what it was or even how to eat it. I was sitting with a couple of friends trying this out. We were kind of picking up the shell and figuring out how do we eat as it seemed like there was nothing is inside. It was such a flat shell. Well lo, n behold these were scallops stuffed with seasoned minced pork.
Scallops
These supple scallops, freshly cooked or steamed, were inside. When you open the shell, the minced pork was carefully placed inside and then grilled. which we had no idea what it was. Apparently, it turned out to be minced pork in spices which adds such a delicious flavour to the scallop shell. I love the scallop shell, I mean the actual hard shell, as I had never seen scallops in the shells, always out and ready to be eaten.
Somewhere in between the Thai style, curried crab crept onto our table, which by the way, is a very huge favourite for Thai people. Thai style curreid crab was my least favourite dish however my friend absolutely devoured it. I love the taste of the fresh sweetness of the crab, but I just don’t find any taste in the curry. This curry then for me, becomes sweet. It is an overall sweet taste and I like things that are more savoury especially for food. Desserts I like sweet.
Seafood Soup
Lastly, the seafood soup!! I think got semi neglected because it was the last entree served. We were so extremely full of the extravagant variety of amazing seafood. Speaking of neglect, I just remembered the LARGE I mean 3 very LARGE raw oysters. They came with some creative fixings which tasted superb.
You must definitely try the seafood soup because it had such huge chunks of fish, more shrimp, scallops, squid and octopus.
One of my other friends who came here with me does not eat anything that comes from the sea. So there are non-seafood options. She ended up ordering a mushroom soup which was absolutely delightful. She also ordered some chicken fried something or another dish again which was also very very tasty.
I think the staff at Rut & Lek or lek & Rut and for providing us with such an amazing variety of seafood and wonderful service. They are on top of everything if you need anything you have it right at your fingertips. When you sit outside on the sidewalk a.k.a. roadside they have trash bins for all of the excess seafood waste so it’s not sitting on your table.
This is definitely the land of a thousand smiles because this place was beaming with smiles! A HUGE thank you to the staff who make it all happen for us!
Wiht love and gratitude,
Fauzia