STREET CRED
Thai food maestro David Thompson returns to the Sydney restaurant scene with the opening of Long Chim, a standard-bearer for Thailand’s robust street food. Fiery som dtum is just the beginning.
Thai food maestro David Thompson returns to Sydney with the opening of Long Chim, a standard-bearer for Thailand’s robust street food.
Perhaps you saw it coming. Talking to this magazine in October 2009, around the time his book Street Food was published, David Thompson remarked that the food of Thailand’s streets was not as well represented in the restaurants of the world as it might be. And there was a gleam in his eye as he said it. Fast-forward to today, and in addition to Nahm, the fine-diner in Bangkok that is now the most famous Thai restaurant in the world, he operates branches of Long Chim, his large-format street eatery, in Singapore and Perth and now Sydney and has announced plans to open another in Melbourne in early 2017.
Though he won acclaim with his interpretation of royal Thai cuisine in Sydney and in London, Thompson says he’ll never open another restaurant like Nahm outside Thailand. “The longer I’m in Bangkok the more I realise the impossibility of doing such an arcane and rarefied type of cooking outside the realms of kingdom. It’s the convenience, the ingredients, it’s the staffing, it’s those things we need to produce a finediner. Or at least a fine-cookin’ and fine-eatin’ place. I don’t like the folderol that surrounds fine dining in hotels.”
Street food, on the other hand, he says, is by its nature transportable. “Long Chim’s food is of that ilk. It has the robustness and taste that you’d find on the streets with perhaps a small refinement in that we want to use quality ingredients; sometimes the ingredients that are employed on the streets belong on the streets.”
It’s been 17 years since Thompson closed the doors on Darley Street Thai and ceased to be a resident of Sydney, the city of his birth. Bangkok is home now, no question, but he is excited to be back in Sydney for the opening of Long Chim, just off Martin Place in the CBD. Though Sydney’s Thai scene has grown by leaps and bounds in the years he’s been away, he has confidence in Long Chim. It’s been a big success in Singapore and Perth, and though he originally envisaged having the same menu everywhere, the concept has evolved since the doors were first thrown open in Singapore in 2014. Sydney, for one thing, will get more noodle soups. “It’s the one area I haven’t really developed at Long Chim,” he says. “Roast duck and egg noodle soup, the laksas, the khao sois, beef dumpling soups.”
The intention is straightforward, says Thompson: it’s simply to bring here the things people eat in Thailand.
“I don’t want to offer any pastiche or variation or anything more than a direct replication of dishes that work. We’ll make our dumplings and we’ll make our own coconut milk, so it won’t be quite like the streets in that respect, but it’ll be faithful. That’s what it’s all about.” Long Chim, 14 Martin Pl (access via Angel Pl), Sydney, NSW, longchim.com
Prawns baked with vermicelli
“This dish is found mostly in Chinatown in Bangkok, but it deserves to be eaten everywhere,” says David Thompson. “The noodles are dry and that’s why they really do benefit from a good marinade. Toss and turn the noodles often to ensure an even distribution of the sauce. I love it when the noodles are overcooked and almost burnt on the edges. Take them that far when you cook them and you’ll see what I mean.” This recipe can be started a day ahead to marinate the noodles.
Prep time 30 mins, cook 20 mins, (plus soaking)
Serves 4-6
2 tbsp melted lard or white sesame oil
240 gm (about 6) large prawns, heads and tails intact, whiskers and legs trimmed, digestive tracts removed (see note) Coriander (about 2 tbsp), to serve
Marinated noodles
180 gm dried glass noodles (mung bean noodles)
4½ spring onions, trimmed and cut into
4cm lengths
4½ garlic cloves, bruised
15 gm unpeeled ginger, thinly sliced
2 small coriander roots with some stalk
120 ml oyster sauce
60 ml (¼ cup) lard, melted
60 ml (¼ cup) dark Chinese wine (see note) 1½ tbsp roasted sesame oil
¾ tsp white sugar
Two pinches of coarsely ground white peppercorns
Two pinches of coarsely ground black peppercorns
Two pinches of coarsely ground dry-roasted coriander seeds (see note) Large pinch of ground dry-roasted Sichuan peppercorns (see note)
Large pinch of Chinese five-spice
Large pinch of ground star anise
Large pinch of ground ginger
Large pinch of ground galangal (see note)
1 For marinated noodles, soak noodles in a bowl of cold water until just softened (about 1 hour). Drain well, then cut with scissors into manageable lengths, about 10cm or so, and set aside in a colander. Lightly bruise spring onions, garlic, ginger and coriander root, then combine in a bowl with remaining ingredients and noodles. Turn to coat and combine well, then refrigerate to marinate (6 hours or overnight).
2 Preheat oven to 250C. Warm a 1.5 litre Chinese claypot or 1.5 litre flameproof casserole (see note) for a few minutes over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, reincorporate the marinade into the noodles by turning with your hands. Melt lard in claypot then add a piece or two of ginger and some spring onions from the marinade and stir until coloured (2-3 minutes).
Add half the noodle mixture, followed by prawns, then add remaining noodles, stir, then cook without stirring, until sizzling and coloured
(2-3 minutes). Cover with a lid and bake in oven, without lifting the lid, until prawns are pink and cooked
(12-15 minutes).