Playing with Fire: Narit Kimsat

It's a chilly July afternoon in St Kilda. Tucked away on Blessington St sits Yang Thai, a shop smaller than a matchbox, but an assault on the senses from the moment you round the corner. 

Before you enter the shop, you’re greeted by a neon fire-breathing chicken with a flaming head - a teaser for the experience to come. Brightly coloured plastic chairs and tables are strewn across the courtyard and the smell of spices and roasted charcoal wafts through the air. 

Inside, the walls are lined with old CDs, Thai cookbooks, dog-eared magazines, WWE paraphernalia and a giant hand-painted mural: ‘I love St Kilda: Does St Kilda love me?’ (The answer? Yes, it does). It feels less like a restaurant and more like stepping into your friend’s living room in the 2000s. 

Yang Thai’s co-founder Narit Kimsat is behind the counter, donned in a Rhea Ripley t-shirt and cobalt blue apron, and it’s clear to see where the inspiration for the shop’s décor has come from. We’ve come hungry, so Narit throws a whole chicken on the grill and we start firing off our questions. 

Rollie: Everyone who's visited Yang Thai talks about your energy, Narit. How would you describe yourself, and why do you do this? 

“I love doing this shit. I love eating food. I love cooking it. That's why it's always worked for me; I never pretended. I would still come here if I didn't own this place. You need to ask yourself: do you like the thing you eat? Do you like the thing you cook? That should be the only fucking motivation for food.” 

Rollie: You work with charcoal, heat and fire every day. How does cooking make you feel? 

“Food is survival. It's right up there in the pyramid of being alive. I grew up in a pretty rough area in Bangkok - I'm looking forward to food, food is a celebration, food is survival. You eat so you can wake up to another day.” 

Rollie: You've worked at some incredible restaurants and bars around Melbourne — Earth Angels, Clover, La Pinta. What does quality mean to you? 

“For me, it's not about making money, it's about raising the quality. We're kind of bringing up the bar on charcoal chicken.”

Rollie: When did you know it was time to follow your passion and open something of your own? 

"Jimmy (Yang Thai's co-founder) asked me, 'What do you want to do? What's the goal here?' I told him, 'I'll be happy with the chicken shop.' He said, 'Do you want to do it?' I'm like, 'Of course I want to do it.' He said, 'Really - let's fucking do it.' It took me 15 years to get here. I'm fucking certain what I want to do and how to do it." 

Rollie: Nothing about Yang Thai follows the obvious path — the trading hours (12:08pm to 8:08pm), the tiny space, the process. Where does that instinct to do things differently come from? 

“Everything fits perfectly. It is intentional. We chose 12:08 because eight is a lucky number, and those eight minutes really give us time to calm everyone down before it gets hectic.” 

Rollie: The shop is eclectic — the CDs, the old magazines, the mural. What inspired that, and how do you feel working somewhere surrounded by things you love? 

“The CDs have got a lot more (meaning) than Spotify or whatever. I just spent $150 on a new collection, it's exciting to go look for that. We try to channel the early 2000s, that's what we try to do. We never really want to be elitist about it. I just want to be part of your life - I want to be like an everyday thing.” 

Rollie: How do you want people to feel when they experience Yang Thai? 

“I don't really hire people on their skill set, I hire people on attitude. Empathy is really, really, really important - understanding people, understanding their skill set, understanding how they like to work, what they're comfortable doing and understanding where they can go. Can't do any of this without them.”

Yang Thai is located at 49 Blessington Street, St Kilda, open Wednesday to Sunday from 12:08pm to 8:08pm. 

We took the flames off the grill and onto the feet. Narit wears Kumo Fire, available now in-store or online.