SS Gai
Thai restaurant · East Nashville ·
Thai fried chicken with sticky rice, herbs, and dipping sauces
Thai fried chicken with sticky rice, herbs, and dipping sauces
"Housed in a refurbished car wash with vendors in the former bays, this one-track spot focuses on Thai street-style chicken—fried is signature though grilled is available—served to order at a window with sticky rice and tamarind chili fish sauce; the gai tod is impossibly crispy and bursting with flavor, and you can add pounded salads like charred eggplant, finishing with the essential mango crispy sticky rice slathered in mango sauce with lime zest." - The MICHELIN Guide
"In Nashville, SS Gai is listed as a Thai restaurant on the MICHELIN Guide's inaugural American South Bib Gourmand list." - The MICHELIN Guide
"Included among the 50 Bib Gourmand designations in the South guide, which recognize “good quality food for a good value” and are deemed “personal favorites” by inspectors when dining on their own time." - Henna Bakshi
"Fried chicken? Nashville has as much of that as we do musicians who show up with a guitar and dream. But make it extra crispy, loaded with Thai flavors, and served with a healthy dose of tamarind fish sauce, and you’ve got something in a league of its own. Suddenly, you won’t be able to resist skipping your mid-day work meeting to plop down for lunch outside S.S. Gai, one of six food and drink vendors at a refurbished car wash (aptly named The Wash). The menu is pretty tight, and even includes some good grilled chicken, but go with the fried—if only to rip off bites of crackly skin, scoop up the fried shallots that’ll inevitably fall off, and shovel the whole thing into your mouth. Order some grilled peanuts to douse heartily in chili vinegar and cubes of fried mango sticky rice for dessert, too." - jackie gutierrez jones 2, carlo mantuano, ann walczak
"S.S. Gai has carved a name for itself in a town known for frying (or roasting) up a stellar bird. Situated in bay 3 of East Nashville’s the Wash, Chris and Emma Biard’s Thai fried chicken comes with sticky rice, fried shallots and garlic, tamarind chile fish sauce, chile vinegar, vegetables, and herbs that you can artfully arrange into rolls and dip to your heart’s content. If you’re looking for some of the heat Nashville is known for, ask for the “make it risky” option and prepare to break a sweat. —JGJ" - Ellen Fort