January 2016 just whizzed by and the lunar new year has begun and my blog has been neglected for the last few months. Today, a friend asked when I would get back to blogging so I guess the answer is now.
Long Chim, owned by chef David Thompson of Bangkok's Nahm (#22 on World's 50 Best and #7 on Asia's 50 Best), opened with considerable fanfare almost a year ago. The chef timed the opening not long after the 2015 Asia's 50 Best evening in Singapore, and did a couple of invitation-only dinners while the region's chefs and food journalists were in town for the event.
The restaurant is a temple to Thai street food and much more fun and much less formal than Nahm. A lot of thought was put into the interiors to make the place feel like a stylized version of the street food stalls in Bangkok, from the chairs covered in mismatched fabrics and the jumbled up tiles at the entrance to the Thai tin cans filled with cutlery and the hand-papered walls. A lot of money was spent to make the restaurant look not too perfect and it works.
I've been several times for both lunch and dinner and it's their a la carte dinner menu that I enjoyed more. Fresh herbs and fiery chilis are in most dishes and they don't have a less spicy version so order carefully. I made the mistake once of ordering the green papaya salad and couldn't even finish half of it - guess my chili tolerance isn't Thai-high (yet). Some memorable dishes were the Chiang Mai curry noodles (khao soi), stir-fried Chinese broccoli with crispy pork and oyster sauce, the banana leaf cone filled with crispy mini fish cakes, the charred rice noodles with pork and yellow beans and the lamb rib curry. To be honest, I'd go more often if it wasn't in the middle of the mall. Walking past all those designer boutiques doesn't help make the way to Long Chim feel like a busy Bangkok street, but it is worth it once you get there.
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#02-02, Atrium 2 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
10 Bayfront Ave, Singapore 018955
Reservations: +65 6688 7299 or reservations@longchim.sg
Open daily for lunch and dinner
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