ON A WET Wednesday night there is still an energy about Long Chim in Sydney that even the weather can’t dampen. We’d expect nothing less from a chef like David Thompson  (ex-Sailors Thai and Michelin-starred Nahm)  whose Long Chim restaurants in Melbourne, Sydney, Seoul and Singapore are taking real Thai food  (with an elegant  twist) to a wider audience.
Long Chim Sydney has been open for two and a half years but it’s still hot. The food has a kick too, just the right amount.

The décor is like a designer version of a local Bangkok café and the fare is street food -meets - Michelin-chef and that just HAS to be good. And it is. No spring rolls with sweet chilli sauce here. Just exotic pungent flavours and colourful fresh dishes that explode with layers of taste in your mouth.

I love that the cocktails also have an Asian twist. I opt for the Lychee and Ginger Martini ,it always remind me of trendy bars in Asia, but there’s a very tempting Thai Basil Smash  made with lime and red chilli  too. The beers go way beyond Singha and Tiger and there is a whole swath of wines chosen to go magnificently well with Thai food; the Reisling and Semillon choices are stand-outs. 

We opt for the tasting menu (9 dishes $68pp with optional beverage paring $30pp). Rock oysters, spicy cashews in tamarind fish sauce and chilli, chicken satay and crunchy whitebait with herbs, shallots and chillies .Followed by mashed prawn curry,duck larb, stir fried Siamese watercress (a Thompson staple), grilled beef smoked over coconut husks with tomato relish  We add  a baby squid dish for good measure.  The cashews are more-ish , the whitebait just the right level of ‘crisp.  The duck larb is divine (one of the best larbs I’ve ever tasted),  the Southern Thai curry of mashed prawns with coconut milk and turmeric is a creamy delight and the baby squid with green peppercorns and Thai basil in an inky sauce releases its flavours slowly on the tongue.

We veer off the tasting menu for dessert because who can go past banana rotis covered in a condensed milk sauce. After which we need the coconut sorbet to clean the palette and sort through all those taste sensations.

‘Long Chim’ means ‘come and taste’; we came, we tasted, we loved it.

LUXURY LINKS: www.longchimsydney.com

Hilary Doling, Posted 28/6/19