“That,” Larry said with a sigh, “was not what we were led to expect…”
We were scarpering at some speed from what had been sold to us as a civilised and bohemian new bar – ‘serving bespoke cocktails from top mixologists’ – but the reality was that surly men gruffly pushed undrinkable green concoctions towards us while someone murdered Broadway standards on the piano behind us. It was either “experiential” and “visceral”, or “tawdry” and “tiresome” depending on your perspective. We needed something that would elevate the evening, immediately, and so Long Chim – which means “come and try” – beckoned, coquettishly.
Set on Rupert Street, a stone’s throw from both Soho and the grimmer environs of Leicester Square, the restaurant offers David Thompson-created Thai cuisine which is intended to be accessible and redolent of Bangkok street food. The pricing isn’t at all bad for central London – starters lurk at around ten pounds, mains at around double that – and judging by the buzzy, fun atmosphere that Long Chim has engendered, it’s going to be one of the most popular openings of recent years.
A women-only table next to us were having quite the night – whooping and cheering as if they’d won the lottery, which you certainly don’t need to in order to dine here. Larry, who regards excessive noise with trepidation, asked “Do you think we should move tables, old boy?” But there was, in fact, not a free table to be found: a symbol of how successful this fine place is already.
After a couple of very decent cocktails – the banana sour is a daring, head-on collision between bourbon, a traditional sour and banana, turning it into less a marriage of ingredients and more a menage à trois – we have the concept of the menu explained to us by our friendly waitress. Larry uses the word “behest” and I have to chide him for doing so, but we are guided towards the ideal Thai meal, which should encompass a curry, a stir fry, salad and what we are informed is the centrepiece, namely an enormous bowl of jasmine rice.
We begin with nibbles – the chiang mai tomato relish, which is a fiery, spicy number, and the spicy pork with crunchy rice cakes, which we are encouraged to scoop up with large leaves. It all works terribly well, and Larry keeps telling me how authentic it all is. As he does so, he taps a light in the centre of the table, for emphasis, and it keeps turning off. This does not stop him in full flow.
Yet it is the mains that spark both conversation and appetite. Aided by a bottle of the house white, a perfectly drinkable if unexciting Chardonnay Pays d’Oc, we feast on lamb with cumin and chilli, aromatic monkfish curry, a pomegranate salad with red shallots and a miniature, deceptively fierce dish of cucumber and chilli that both cools and invigorates. A huge bowl of jasmine rice is indeed welcome, and keeps things ticking along nicely.
We finish our excellent mains, and bemoan the absence of the beef panaeng curry, which we had both had our eyes on, so we are delighted when it is brought to us, complete with extra rice, and a glass of far better wine, a 2020 Portuguese red from Hanuman which is known as ‘Howard’s Folly’. There is nothing foolish about our choice; it is superb and makes us wish we’d been similarly daring with the white.
Desserts are, as so often in Thai establishments, something of an afterthought. “What is it, old boy?” Larry asks plaintively as a grilled sticky rice with banana materialises. When it’s explained to him, he makes grumbling noises and then fights me for more of it; it’s surprisingly tasty, which is more than can be said for the tapioca with corn and coconut. Larry was more partial to this than I was. We had walked past Oliver! to get to the restaurant, and I was reminded of the gruel that the poor unfortunate orphan is required to eat in the workhouse at the beginning. I was, I must confess, not tempted to ask for more.
Yet Victorian-themed desserts aside, this is top-notch, innovative Thai cuisine that treads a careful and successful path between the authentic fiery dishes that you might expect in Bangkok and something more soothing for timorous Western palettes. Larry, who casually reveals in passing that he was born in Sri Lanka, can of course take double any spice I can, but we had a thoroughly satiating, deeply fun evening here, and I look forward to our grand return soon. “That was entirely what we were led to expect,” a satisfied Larry opined as we left, and it was all I could do, tastebuds still fizzing with fire, to nod, happily.
Long Chim, 36-40 Rupert Street, London W1D 6DW. For more information, and for bookings, please visit www.longchim-london.com.
