The intersection of Arlington St. and Crawford St. in Watertown is a sluggish and tranquil residential region. What Da Chick, a new Thai chicken cafe with brilliant yellow walls coated in photographs of cartoon chickens, functions as a beacon of light on the otherwise grey road corner.
Opened on Nov. 9, What Da Chick specializes in khao gentleman gai, a common Thai hen rice.
“Thai-style rooster is so new close to in this article,” stated Natapat Jansipsee, a line cook dinner at What Da Chick. “The restaurant vibe is really avenue-like—you could discover some thing like this in Thailand.”
What Da Chick strives to be genuine in the foods it serves. Its menu draws in lots of people today of Thai heritage to the cafe as perfectly as all those seeking to extend their cultural palate with new worldly cuisines, in accordance to Jansipsee.
“It’s an aged school [meal] for anyone,” Jansipsee mentioned. “It’s all over the place, in every single lifestyle, and every single society is various. … We want to established up the vibe straight away that this is incredibly authentic, very Thai, extremely heat, welcoming, and relatives-oriented.”
Just like sellers one particular could find on the streets of Thailand, What Da Chick offers a confined menu of Thai comfort foodstuff with just five chicken rice alternatives and a several appetizers, but each individual option is packed with flavor.
“The place screamed that it was exciting, new, and not much too severe about by itself, which was cool,” AJ Singh, a diner at What Da Chick, said. “Everyone was definitely awesome, and the foodstuff was definitely good—definitely some of the greatest Thai food stuff in the region.”
One of the restaurant’s most preferred dishes, in accordance to a hostess, is the spicy chicken rice. The dish consists of What Da Chick’s fundamental fried chicken coated in a chili powder that is exceptional to Thailand and provides the dish a marginally more acidic and spicy flavor. The fried exterior offers a awesome crunch and texture to the hen without having feeling as well greasy.
“[The food] experienced flavors that I could see everyone experiencing,” Sing, CSOM ’23, stated. “It wasn’t like you experienced to like Thai food items to be there.”
Along with traditional ginger rice, each individual hen dish comes with a diverse dipping sauce to complement the flavors of the hen. The spicy hen will come with a sweet chili sauce that cools down the hint-of-lime spice with a honey-like sweetness.
What Da Chick also serves a lighter, roasted chicken option. The dish comes with a lemon tamarind sauce, which adds a gingery taste to the food.
Each individual meal also comes with a bowl of Daikon soup, a traditional Thai starter created from radishes and chicken stock. The soup feels soul warming and may even remind you of your mom’s hen soup.
What Da Chick delivers a wide variety of appetizers, which include fried rooster or vegetable gyoza for a heat possibility and a seaweed or property salad for a chilly starter. The cafe also serves standard Thai drinks this kind of as Thai iced tea, longan juice, and roselle juice.
To additional emphasize its emphasis on family and neighborhood, What Da Chick offers a combo spouse and children food for much larger groups, together with all a few variations of What Da Chick chicken—poached, grilled, and fried—six servings of Daikon soup, and two parts of every sauce—ginger, sweet chili, and tamarind.
No make any difference which hen model you come to a decision to go with, What Da Chick brings the flavor and comfort of conventional Thai road foodstuff to the people today of Watertown for a acceptable price tag. The spicy rooster rice fees $12.95, in accordance to the restaurant’s web site.
“We want all the guests to feel at property and in a cozy environment,” the hostess stated. “We can provide flavorful food and particular spouse and children combos for every person so that all people feels welcome below.”
Images by Francesca Giangiulio / Heights Personnel
