New Hire: Yang Thai’s Pastry Chef Brings Dinner by Heston Training to a Charcoal Chicken Shop

Not many chicken shops have a dedicated pastry chef. But then, not many chicken shops are Yang Thai. Narit Kimsat (ex-Earth Angels, ex-La Pinta) and Jimmy Pham (a co-owner of Waxflower) opened the Hot Listed St Kilda spot last year. The shop was instantly met with crowds of people eager to get their hands on black pepper- and turmeric-marinated chicken, sticky rice and som tum.

When the shop first opened, Kimsat and Pham purchased desserts from Basque cheesecake cottage bakery Bakt. Now, they’ve hired pastry chef Angela Mogridge, who was the pastry chef and then sous-chef at  Navi, and clocked two years at Dinner by Heston as a demi-chef de partie. She’s now making all the desserts on-site at Yang Thai. “The space may be small, but I’m no stranger to small kitchens,” she says. We caught up with Mogridge to find out what she has in store for Melbourne’s hottest chicken shop. 

What drew you to Yang Thai after years in fine dining?
Taking a job at a takeaway chicken shop might seem random, but Narit’s vision for Yang Thai is very exciting and alluring. I feel that a lot of people take the industry very seriously, which is fine, but life is short so why not do something fun while having a work-life balance? Narit has given me complete creative freedom, which is a rarity in the fine-dining realm.

Why did you decide to focus on pastry?
After working with Gad Assayag, who is currently at Baker Bleu, at Il Fornaio in 2015, I became obsessed with wanting to perfect viennoiserie. He was a pretty great mentor for me, and really opened my eyes to the world of pastry and how much technique and skill is required for it. Now I am obsessed with the precision required to create pastry and desserts. The weighing, the timing, ensuring the temperature is correct, the excitement behind mastering a difficult recipe or process, a successfully laminated croissant. It’s all very satisfying stuff.

You have two mainstay desserts at Yang Thai. Tell us about them.
They’ve been selling out consistently! We have a Thai milk tea flan and a pandan chiffon cake with coconut buttercream. I am obsessed with eating flan and basically anything that involves caramel and custard. And I’ve always admired the fluffy beauty of chiffon.

Can you walk us through the peanut-butter-and-cherry tart special?
This one is a playful take on a classic peanut butter and jelly combo. Narit has a biscuit base with a perfect texture for this tart. I’ve made a sour cherry jam for the bottom layer, which will be balanced with a salty peanut butter mousse. The peanuts have been gently roasted before being turned into a praline, which I then fold through a cream cheese mousse base that has a generous helping of flaked salt. This is then poured over the jam layer and set overnight. 

What’s inspiring your cooking right now?
I’m enjoying the more humble side of eating out and cooking at the moment. I’ll take any opportunity to cook for friends and family, where I get to experiment and create something new, while focusing on seasonal produce. I also recently started a little side hustle business, Wild Spaghetti. This involves catering intimate events and small gatherings, which has been a huge learning curve, but is also an incredibly exciting new experience for me.

What new items are you particularly excited for people to try?
I am obsessed with chocolate and salt, so there is something special involving these two ingredients coming out soon. I love the idea of playing around with a weird tiramisu flavour as well, while covering some classics like mousse and eclairs with our own unique Yang Thai twist.