There’s fish on the menu at Pa Jit restaurant, in Thailand, but there’s also fish swimming in the aisles and bumping against diners’ feet under the tables. But no one’s complaining.

The eatery in Nakhon Pathom province, about 30 kilometers from Bangkok, has become a sensation since the adjacent Tha Chin River breached its banks 11 days ago.

First it was flooded with fish, then with a stream of delighted and camera-toting customers.

Now the family-run restaurant is making a virtue of potential disaster and is riding the wave of its fin-powered fame, all the way to the bank.

On Friday Pa Jit was full to bursting, with some 60 customers at any one time.

Families enjoyed lunch with enthralled toddlers playing with the fish flapping around their thighs.

Staff in waders carried bowls of fish soup or chicken noodles from table to table while diners posed in the lapping brown water or scattered fish food to see the resulting feeding frenzy.

Pa Jit has been a riverside fixture for more than 30 years, according to its owner, Pornkamol Prangprempree.

It last flooded four years ago. When the waters came this month, her heart, like her restaurant, sank.

"At first when there was a flood, I thought there would be no customer for sure.”

Now she says profits have doubled, going from around 10,000 baht ($309) to around 20,000 baht ($618) per day.

"Business is better here when there's a flood," she said.

Chomphunuth Khantaniti, from nearby Nakhon Pathom, was dining at the restaurant with her husband and son.

"I think it's good, because we can bring the children here."

The restaurant serves fish but not these fish. That’s just as well for 55-year-old businesswoman Ratee Sukkaewfa who enjoys having them around.

"No one catches them for food, no one eats them. They just come here to eat the noodles and look at them,” she said.

“The nature experience here is the highlight of this restaurant and it attracts people. It’s very rare to see,” said 63-year-old Bella Windy.

Pa Jit can expect another few weeks of inundation, as high tides and the tail-end of the monsoon season keep water levels up.

When it’s over the owner will finally see her restaurant dry again but she says she’ll miss the fish and the economic boom-time they bring.

Though the flooding has brought an unusual boon to Pa Jit, it has devastated many other areas of Thailand. Since late July, 12 people were killed and two went missing due to flooding, according to data from the Department of Disaster Prevention and mitigation.

On Friday, it reported that more than 480,000 people in 13 provinces, particularly in the north and the central, were affected by floods.

AP video by Tian Macleod Ji and Jerry Harmer