Look for the line. Every night, at the edge of downtown Hat Yai, southern Thailand’s largest city, a small team set up a cart and a deep-fryer. Before the first wing has emerged from the bubbling oil, there’s likely already tens of people waiting to buy the savory, pleasantly salty and aromatic chicken from this famous stall.
Kai thawt haat yai, Hat Yai-style fried chicken, has emerged as one of southern Thailand’s most famous dishes, and is sold from stalls in the country’s deep south to remote villages in its far north. The dish takes slightly different forms, but generally cuts of chicken are marinated in a garlicky, fragrant (typically from coriander seed), salty, umami-forward brine and occasionally coated with a light batter before being deep-fried until caramel-colored and crispy.
Choose your cuts, and at Baht Diaw, as is standard in Hat Yai, they’ll be paired with a bag of sticky rice, a generous garnish of crispy, deep-fried shallots, and a deliciously gloopy, sweet and spicy dip.
