Welcoming Long Chim to Sydney
The talk around Sydney is of expatriate Australian chef David Thompson’s new Sydney restaurant Long Chim opening soon.
The third of the casual Thai street food restaurant and bar, it will open in Angel Place on Monday, August 29.
It marks Thompson’s return to his birthplace more than 15 years after he went off to London, where he opened the world’s first Michelin-starred Thai restaurant Nahm.
Thompson is known for his work running Nahm Bangkok, one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
As Thompson puts it, it’s like coming home.
“It’s been over 20 years since I last opened a restaurant in Sydney. And now like some prodigal son, I am returning home to open Long Chim,” he told Business Insider.
Long Chim has been well-placed in terms of location: selecting Angel Place is strategic, right in the precinct of restaurants that includes Mercado and China Lane.
The 190-seat underground space sits below Martin Place. Standing at two levels, it has a large open plan kitchen and cocktail bar
For those wanting a sit down meal, there’s a mix of intimate dining alcoves, communal tables and counter seats.
Thompson says the restaurant is there for everyone: people can drop in for a snack or drink, or they can have a proper meal.
On the menu, there are small snacks such as crunchy prawn cakes, beef skewers with cumin coriander and turmeric, and cured pork sausages spiked with chillies and ginger. Then there are the mains that include a mussaman curry of beef with cardamom and coconut and deep-fried squid with garlic and peppercorn, with banana roti, and pungent durian ice-cream for dessert
“At the end of the day it's about the food,’’ he told Good Food. “And while a lot of the menu is international, we have a few tricks up our sleeve for Sydney," he says.
Long Chim will be open for evenings only to start with, from 5.30pm to midnight.
But Thompson says it will be open for lunch in a few weeks down the track.
Bookings for Long Chim go live from tomorrow, August 17.
by Leon Gettler, 16th August 2016
