Inside Long Chim where the place has been given a complete redesign (that mural on the back wall is hand-painted).
What can you tell us about Long Chim?
Long Chim comes from Australian chef David Thompson, best known in the UK for being the man who was behind Michelin-starred Nahm, once London's premier Thai restaurant. That closed back in 2012 and the chef then concentrated all his work on restaurants overseas. One of those was Long Chim, a much more casual approach to a Thai restaurant than Nahm, currently open in Sydney and Perth. Now he's brought that restaurant to London.
And it's taken over Hovarda?
Yes and no. Originally Thompson had his sights set on another location for Long Chim. That fell through, after which he teamed up with Hovarda to open instead on their ground floor in Soho (upstairs is the Hovarda bar which remains as before). There was early talk about this only being a residency and while that message hasn't changed, in practice this is looking much more like a very long-term affair. The ground floor has been completely redesigned as Long Chim, and given the amount of work that's been put into it, we'd say that the Thai restaurant is very likely now here for the long haul.
The bottom floor of Hovarda, transformed into Long Chim
And where is that?
It's on the borders of Soho and Chinatown on Rupert Street, next door to The Palomar and a couple of doors down from another very popular Thai restaurant, Speedboat Bar.
What can we expect from the food here?
It's been described by Thompson as being both specifically influenced by Bangkok and also the dishes he feels that Thai people miss the most when they’re away from home. The menu here is notably quite a short one. There are four snacks/starters, seven mains and just one dessert. This is pretty similar to the Long Chim set-ups in Australia, and we found this to be something that works in its favour - short, succinct menus can be a good thing.
In recent years, London has been lucky enough to get some really good new Thai places, with restaurants like Som Saa/Kolae, Speedboat Bar and AngloThai leading the way. Many of those do celebrate the heat in the dishes, and while there was some of that in Long Chim, the dishes we tried seemed a little mild by comparison. That may well be just the dishes we chose, however and not necessarily reflected in the wider menu.
With that in mind - here's what we had:
Long Chim rolls (£6) - These are blanched Chinese greens, dressed with mushroom oyster sauce, sesame oil and deep-fried garlic, wrapped, rolled and deep-fried (with soy sauce on the side).
Breaded cured pork (£8) - this is minced shoulder of pork cured with salt, garlic and steamed sticky rice, deep-fried, served with shredded ginger, pickled garlic, red shallots and coriander.
Grilled beef skewer with turmeric, galangal and coriander (£6 each) - a must order, with incredibly tender-yet-charred beef. Get one each, you won't want to share.
Black tiger prawns baked with vermicelli, spring onions and celery (£18) - The dish of the night for us, with the sticky vermicelli particularly fantastic. Another must-order.
Aromatic curry of monkfish with cucumber relish (£17) - a relatively mild curry, but full of flavour.
Stir-fried sugar snap peas (£8) - aside from jasmine rice, these are the only sides. They're excellent though - so definitely get them.
Grilled sticky rice with banana (£7) - there's just the one dessert, and it's easy to share.
We only ordered one main course each, but it's all delivered sharing style and we think you could easily get away with ordering three.
The quality of pretty much every dish we had was excellent, perhaps a given since Thompson was in the kitchen when we ate there. He should be around a little while longer this side of Christmas, so if you'd like to try his cooking then heading there in the next few weeks should be a priority.
What about drinks?
We have assumed that the wine list comes via Hovarda - it was primarily European with glasses starting at £7. The short house cocktail list is, however, definitely geared more towards Long Chim (with a Thai milk tea being the non-alcoholic option). Both of the following are an easy recommendation:
Coconut and lemongrass gimlet (£14) and a Pineapple Negroni (£15, featuring pineapple-infused gin and coconut-washed Campari).
Overall thoughts
It's been a while since David Thompson was last working in a kitchen in London. Having never actually tried Nahm, this was a good opportunity for us to see what the chef can do. And while we're decidedly in a more casual setting here, that's no bad thing. What you'll find at Long Chim is a tight menu of some really great Thai dishes, cooked very well. It's not going to reinvent Thai cuisine, just deliver a very good meal out. Well worth a look.
More about Long Chim
Where is it? Hovarda, Ground Floor, 36–40 Rupert St, London W1D 6DW
How to book: Book online
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @longchim_london.
Hot Dinners ate as guests of Long Chim. Prices are correct at the time of writing.
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