Long Chim, Perth: restaurant review

The food at David Thompson’s joint in Perth is better than anything you’ll find in Thailand, I reckon. Is that heresy?

TWAM-20160213 EMBARGO FOR TWAM 13 Feb 2016 NO REUSE WITHOUT PERMISSION FEE APPLIES Long Chim restaurant Perth Pic : Philip Gostelow

Let’s call it inverse culinary cringe, shall we? You can get better traditional Italian food in Australia than Italy, I reckon. The best and freshest wild-caught Australian seafood, in the right hands, can be the basis for world’s best practice sashimi. And now, maybe, the same might be said of Thai. Heresy? I’m not so sure.

At Long Chim you’ll find what is almost certainly the best Thai food Perth has ever seen. Possibly Australia. And certainly better food than most of what I ate in Thailand for three weeks last year. It’s all to do with self-confessed “aged wok jockey” David Thompson: the Sydney-raised, Bangkok-domiciled chef who has made a career for himself as a scholar of Thai cuisine.

Lest that sound a little grand, anyone who has met him will attest to his charm and finely honed sense of irony. He’s a man of the people, not of the elite; the streets and markets at the coalface of Thailand’s insatiable appetite for food are where he’s happiest.

Long Chim is a whole lot more fun than the restaurant that has made him famous, Nahm (first in London, now Bangkok). And by taking on a high-walled heritage courtyard, and a series of barrel-vaulted basement rooms, Thompson and his backers have created something very special in the heart of Perth. The place drips with tongue-in-cheek design elements and real character.

What’s even more important is the kitchen team. With Thompson on site for the launch months, refining a menu that works around what Thai produce he can source in Perth (which is probably less than he’d like), it is truly impressive how quickly this place has hit cruising speed. Despite the pressure of a full reservations diary from day one.

What I like most about Long Chim, however, is the lack of compromise. Its in-your-faceness. And I don’t simply mean the food is hot; it’s just that flavour balances haven’t been skewed to appease a western palate with, say, excessive sugar, or a light hand with the shrimp paste or fish sauce.

The som dtam (green papaya salad) is properly garlicky and riddled with fresh baby red chillies. The Chiang Mai style larp of finely chopped chicken gets serious heat from pepper (black and white) and dried chilli, and proper pungent acidity from fish sauce. I mean serious heat. Served with leaves of crisp white cabbage as both foil and eating utensil, it’s the standout dish.

The baby, just-cured and grilled pork sausages, which come with fresh coriander, whole green chillies (your call) and blanched wafers of ginger, are sweet from jasmine rice. The prawns baked with a lid of bean thread noodles and an intensely sticky/powerfully peppery stock, served in a small metal pan, take on a crisp/caramelised nature that is nothing short of brilliant.

On the same theme of caramel: fried fish pieces served with “three flavoured sauce” – a glorified sweet and sour – full of tangy tamarind, garlic and relatively mild red chilli. All about the balance.

And on it goes. Curries, relishes, dipping sauces, soups and rices pile up on the table as excitement takes over from common sense.

You’ll need a gang. Durian ice cream will polarise; some may not click with the sticky palm sugar pudding in salted coconut milk. But if there is anyone in Australia, of any age, who doesn’t like fried roti with banana and condensed milk, a late night street classic, I’ll go he.

Address: Basement, Barrack St & St Georges Terrace, Perth

Phone: [phone] Web: longchimperth.com

Hours: Lunch, dinner daily

Typical prices: Starters $18; mains $30; desserts $14

Summary: Global warming

Like this? Try… Catfish, Ballarat; Longtime, Brisbane

Stars: 4 out of 5