Awesome food at Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย) in Lampang

Lampang is not a huge city, but with amazing northern food at Mae Hae, and the best bowl of khao soi I’ve ever had, they have some seriously delicious food options.

My wife and I spent a few weeks eating and wandering through Lampang, and it’s a Thai city we both really loved.

Recommended by Austin Bush, we went to a restaurant called Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย) one day, and the food there was yet another outstanding meal in Lampang.

The restaurant and seating area is in the front yard of this house

Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย) is just a small neighborhood, family style restaurant, in the central old part of Lampang city (right across the street from the famous Aroy Baht Diaw – 1 Baht restaurant).

They mostly serve takeaway, and hungry customers pull up on motorbikes, see what dishes are available for the day, and order whatever looks best in a bag to take home or to eat elsewhere.

However, behind the food counter, they do have a couple of makeshift tables. The entire restaurant is in the front yard of a house, so it has a perfect home style feel to it.

The curry and soup table

There are two main types of food Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย) has each day, on the left side are all the grilled dishes like grilled pork, and a number of different mystery packages of things grilled in banana leaves.

On the right hand side, on a wooden table, are all the northern style curries and soups. I don’t think you can go wrong with whatever you order.

The grilling side

We arrived just in time for an early lunch, and the grill is what first caught my attention. That stack of pork, and those packets of banana leaves were irresistible.

First you’ll notice the amazing red colored grilled pork (คอหมูย่าง)

One of the best reasons to eat at Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย) is for their grilled pork (คอหมูย่าง), and they go through quite a few kilos of it per day it appeared.

When you arrive, if they haven’t sold all that’s cooked already, you’ll see a big stack of pork ready to be chosen.

It’s self service, so you grab a pair of tongs and designate which piece you’d like – I like this because you can choose fatty or less fatty pieces depending on your preference.

Kaw moo yang (คอหมูย่าง)

Kaw moo yang (คอหมูย่าง)

They said it was kaw moo yang (คอหมูย่าง), which is supposed to be pork neck meat, but sometimes it’s not all real pork neck, but other cuts of cheaper meat as well.

Nonetheless, the grilled pork, was the first thing I tried, and probably one of the best things I ate at Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย).

The color of the meat was golden red, and while it tasted almost pork jerky like on the outside, it was moist and juicy and tender on the inside.

It also had an unbelievable smoky flavor to it, it was salty, and not even the slightest bit sweet – I love northern Thai flavors.

I chose a couple of pieces or pork, one was a little fattier than the other, as you’ll see below.

Price – ขีดละ 30 THB per 100 grams

Awesome taste, and delicious sauce too

The pork was extremely tasty and on top of the pork, the sauce, was also perfect.

The sauce was just a very simple nam jim jaew, mostly a mix of fish sauce, dry chili flakes, and maybe some lime juice. They also added in a good amount of cilantro (as you can see from my dipped piece of pork), which gave it a fresh touch.

Ying and I had 300 grams of kaw moo yang (คอหมูย่าง).

Naeb pla (แหนบปลา)

Naeb pla (แหนบปลา)

Every time I see something in Thailand wrapped in a banana leaf, I’m curious to find out what’s inside, and depending on the region of Thailand you’re in, there can be a range of things prepared in banana leaf packages, both sweet and savory.

In Lampang they call it naeb pla (แหนบปลา), but in most other parts of northern Thailand they call it aeb pla (แอ๊บปลา) but it’s the same thing.

The fish, which I believe was tilapia, was mixed with chilies and turmeric, and what tasted to me like green onions and cilantro. Their particular version was heavy on the aromatic herbs, giving it a noticeable earthy flavor, and not too salty.

As always, I loved it.

Price – 20 THB

At the bottom is jeen som mok (จิ๊นส้มหมก)

Jeen som mok (จิ๊นส้มหมก)

Another thing many people that order food from Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย) get is jeen som mok (จิ๊นส้มหมก), a popular northern Thai fatty pork snack.

I’ve had it on a number of occasions and I just can’t get into it too much as it’s basically pure fat and oil, I do like the sour flavor, but it’s just too greasy for me.

However, since it looked like it was one of the specialities here, I had to give it another shot.

Price – 20 THB

It’s a little too fatty and greasy for me

Jeen som mok (จิ๊นส้มหมก) is made with pig skin and fat, and a bit of meat and garlic, that’s fermented until slightly sour, then grilled in a banana leaf packet.

At Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย) I liked the flavor, but again, it was just too oily for me to really enjoy it fully.

What I did really like about it, was that it was served with cloves of fresh raw garlic, which gave it a nice flavorful bite.

It’s interesting and worth trying, but not my favorite northern Thai speciality.

Fantastic restaurant in Lampang, Thailand

A meal in northern Thailand wouldn’t be complete without sticky rice, and all three of the above dishes went extremely well with a nice fresh batch of sticky rice, especially that grilled pork.

Gaeng khae (แกงแค)

Gaeng khae (แกงแค)

When we first arrived, they were just starting to make the curries and soups, and so we snacked on the moo yang (หมูย่าง) and the other grilled items before ordering from the curry selection.

One of the most widely available northern Thai dishes is gaeng khae (แกงแค), a simple combination of mushrooms, herbs, and vegetables, and also some chunks of pumpkin in this one, in a broth studded with a little fermented fish sauce for extra flavor.

I always enjoy gaeng khae (แกงแค), because it has such a fresh vegetable herb flavor, and I love mushrooms as well

Price – 25 THB

Gaeng naw mai (แกงหน่อไม้), bamboo shoot curry in Lampang

Gaeng naw mai (แกงหน่อไม้)

Although I was pretty happy after what I had just eaten at Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย), I decided to get a final bowl of gaeng naw mai (แกงหน่อไม้), bamboo shoot curry / soup, as it had just been cooked fresh and it smelled really good.

Price – 25 THB

Good mixture of fresh ingredients

The soup included pieces of chicken, some cha om (climbing waddle), fresh bamboo shoots, some other herbs, and chilies.

I believe the milkiness of the broth came from both the bamboo shoots and there was also some banana flower in it as well.

It was sort of plain, similar to other northern Thai soups, yet it was very soothing and made use of good fresh ingredients.

The gaeng naw mai (แกงหน่อไม้) was a good dish to end with.

All around delicious food at Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย)

Here’s the full meal spread at Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย), it was a delicious meal; I loved both the food and the atmosphere of the home-style restaurant.

The outside view of Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย), Lampang

Conclusion

When I was in Lampang, one day for lunch we went to a restaurant called Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย), a that serves home-style northern Thai Lampang food.

We started our meal with some grilled pork, which was some of the best I’ve had in a long time, and proceeded to eat a few more items off the grill, and a few different northern soups.

Everything was delicious, and the environment was extremely laid back, just like eating in someones back yard.

There are many delicious places to eat in Lampang, and Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย) is a restaurant you’ll love if you’re looking for home-style northern Thai cooking.

Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย)

Address: 911/1 Thanon Tipchang, Muang Lampang 52000
Open hours: Open from about 7 am – 3 pm, but they may sell out sooner, Closed on Sunday
Prices: Our entire meal for everything we ate was 250 THB, and we ate quite a bit of grilled pork.

ที่อยู่ 911/1 ถนนทิพย์ช้าง อ.เมือง ลำปาง 52000
โทร. 054-223912
เปิดบริการ จันทร์ – เสาร์ ( หยุดทุกวันอาทิตย์ ) 7.00 – 15.00 น. ( แกงเริ่มขาย 11.00 น. )

How to get there: If you’re staying in the central area of Lampang town*, you should be able to walk to Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย) easily. It’s located right across the street from Aroy Baht Diaw restaurant, on the corner of Thanon Tipchang and Thanon Suandok. For the map, scroll down to “Lampang” and click on Jay Noy (ร้านเจ้น้อย).