Where do you see yourself in five years? For most of us, it’s a question without a simple answer. But for Narit Kimsat, it’s always been an easy one.

“Any time I applied for a job and they asked that, I said, ‘I want to open some sort of a takeaway chicken shop or curry shop’,” the chef tells Broadsheet. “A bain-marie curry shop or a Thai charcoal chicken shop.”

He’ll realise part of that dream later this year, when Kimsat and business partner Jimmy Pham (co-founder of Waxflower) open Yang Thai, a Thai charcoal chicken shop in St Kilda.

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Kimsat, who was born in Thailand and moved to Canberra at age 12, worked at La Pinta and was the opening chef at North Melbourne wine bar Earth Angels (a role he left in March, shortly before the formerly Hot-Listed venue closed for good in May. At Yang Thai, he’ll serve mostly – but not strictly – southern Thai food, prepared over the shop’s two charcoal grills.

There’ll be three main offerings: turmeric chicken (available whole, halved or quartered), grilled whole fish, and grilled tofu as a vegan option. But Kimsat says he’ll add the occasional special including larb, snacky house-made curry puffs, som tum (green papaya salad) with salted egg, and khao yum – a salad featuring blue rice, which “everyone does differently”.

A highlight will be the $25 lunchtime meal of tofu, fish or golae chicken (a southern Thai dish of grilled skewers coated in coconut milk and barbeque sauce) each served with salad, sticky rice and sauce. The duo will team up with Bakt on Basque cheesecakes for sweets, and also hope to secure a liquor licence after opening and eventually incorporate a small bottle shop.

There’ll be some seats, but Yang Thai will be geared towards takeaway. “I just want to bring exceptionally high-quality food for a really, really affordable price,” says Kimsat. “And to do that, you gotta cut costs like table service, people topping up your water and taking reservations.”

Kimsat and Pham plan to open the chicken shop sometime between July and September. Before then, they’re running a series of three Sunday pop-ups on June 15, 22 and 29 with set meals for $25 to $35 as a way to test out some ideas. Dishes will be available on a first-come, first-served basis and the pop-up locations will be announced at the beginning of each week on the Yang Thai Instagram account.

Yang Thai is expected to open at 49 Blessington Street, St Kilda later this year.

@yang.thai__