Long Chim

What can I say. Amazing place. Food and cocktails to die for. Chicken larb in cabbage leaves, fish cakes and pad Thai was the best I have ever tasted. Great service too.
What a breath of fresh air. Other places in Perth can learn a lot from these guys. The banana roti and palm sugar pudding was out of this world. We will definitely be coming back.

The food & service is here is pretty spot on. Flavours are on point & they don’t shy away from the chilli heat in dishes such as the chicken larp & papaya salad. The spices in the massaman beef curry were fresh & had great depth of flavour. Our waitress was knowledgeable & made a fantastic recommendation on a dish to go with our Larp & refreshing cocktails. Good vibe for a Monday lunch crowd & the décor & general set up of the place is hip.

Service was great but to be blunt I wasn’t convinced on the food as it is very hyped up. The tamarind noodles came with three prawns (we were told four) but not much else and the flavours weren’t balanced. The snapper in tom yum was nice but very stingy on the fish, and the larb was the best one we tried but I just didn’t think this place was worth the high prices for the relatively small quantities and lack of flavour. My fellow food lovers like it though but I wouldn’t pay again for these prices as the local Thai in the food court was better. The staff were so lovely and the banquet may be better. Would love to know if anyone thinks the opposite on the food as maybe there were better dishes.

The curries had a wonderful composition, and obviously made from scratch, but I think the chef went a bit overboard with the chillies, making the meal extremely difficult to enjoy. Besides this, the overall flavouring and balance was great.

Finally got to try Long Chim and it seriously lived up to the hype. From the impressive atmosphere, décor and even the branding, the stage was perfectly set for a perfect date night.
We started out with two cocktails, Bangkok Painkillers, which were super sweet, but made us think we were already on vacation. We then ordered two mains, prawn pad Thai and Chang Mai curry noodles. Both were exceptional, nicely balanced, but the Chang Mai was the big winner with a lovely rich heat that couldn’t be faulted. We had to resist the urge to get every last bit out of the ample bowl.
Next we moved on to dessert and tried the banana roti. Wow! It was something like a banana donut/​crêpe. It was super satisfying, but still nice and light. I’m not usually a fan of banana desserts, but this one is not to be missed! The banana is very fresh and not overdone.
I would like to come back to try the chef’s tasting. At $ 95/​person it seems good value and the people who ordered it next to us seemed to have more than they could handle. Next time, will try that option and will try to go hungry.
Overall, beautiful place, great setting and exceptional food.

I’m one of those foodie types who gets excited about celebrity chef spotting much like the way other people get excited seeing a TV celebrity. I was once in a restaurant with Orlando Bloom and didn’t bat an eyelid, but the first time I saw Heston and Bourdain in the flesh I got all light headed and started to hyperventilate a little.
While David Thompson might not have the celeb status that Heston has, he has loads of chef cred and was on my fan-​girl list for many years before I first ate in one of his restaurants, Nahm in Bangkok. I pretty much only stopped over in Bangkok on the way home from Europe a couple of years ago so I could eat there. It was a revelation in flavour and a lesson in the fine balance of Thai food. Up there with one of the best meals I had in 2013.
Fast forward a couple of years and I heard Thompson was coming to Perth, again in a Como hotel, and I was keen to see if the meal could live up to the Nahm experience.
Well, this certainly isn’t Nahm but that’s okay. A far more youthful and edgy venue, you could happily come to Long Chim every month with groups of friends to work your way through the menu of family style dishes. Service is efficient, though timing could be better (our food came out a long time before our drinks and the pace was fast and furious as if they were wanting to get us out the door).
The cocktails are fun though be prepared to wait for them to land on the table. Better yet, order a beer or glass of wine first up so you can lubricate before your cocktail lands.
The food itself is vibrant and punchy, with some dishes bringing some severe chilli heat to our mouths. Portions are on the small side but the quality of produce and authenticity of flavours I think warrants the higher price tag. This isn’t your neighbourhood Thai, so don’t come expecting a giant pad Thai for $ 16. Book in advance, put on a cute frock and come for a fun and fiery night out.

Hot Damn! This restaurant has one of the the most gorgeous courtyards and interiors I have ever laid my eyes on! The basement level of the heritage listed State Building’s complex has managed to keep a lot of its original features and at the same time fills many of the walls with Thai ingredients and ornaments, triggering memories of holidays in Thailand.
I visited for the first time last week for dinner with a group. We ordered a ton of items from the menu. All of the dishes packed a flavourful and spicy punch. None of the dishes were overly hot, so those averse to chilli can rest easy. The stand out dish was definitely the banana roti, a must order dish if you like desserts. The cocktails and wine list will please even the most refined palate. Unfortunately our drinks took quite a while to arrive at our table, and we had been served quite a few dishes before we got our drinks, which was a shame.
The venue was packed on a Thursday. A great spot for a group or a romantic date. Ask for an inside table if you’re after a more intimate dining experience, as the courtyard has a more casual fun vibe.

I have been to Long Chim previously in Singapore and this was my first visit to the Perth one. I must admit, I enjoyed Singapore a whole lot more.
The food was delicious but the serving size was quite small considering the prices of the dishes. We started with the spicy chicken larb and it was lava hot which was amazing, but served with cabbage leaves to roll the mince up in which were too heavy for the dish (in my opinion). For mains we had the red duck curry and the beef madras. The flavours were spot on but I found both dishes to be lacking in meat. The duck was on the bone and there were only 4 small pieces of duck. The same went for the madras. 4 small pieces of beef and 2 pieces of sweet potato?! The dishes were around $ 37 each, so that was disappointing.
They do turn the tables over quickly too. Our 6pm booking was required to be done by 7.30pm. So be prepared to eat and leave.

«Wow» that’s my first impression when I walked inside this place. The décor surely is impressive as they bring back a lot of genuine feeling of an authentic thai atmosphere. We were promptly seated and explained about the menu. The three of us ordered the special entrée of the day «the pork skewer», and had a main each. I had the fried rice duck and my friends ordered the prawn glass noodle and prin’s noodle. We finished with the banana roti to share which was the highlight of the dining experience. The food and drink was ok, but I was expecting more as I think it lack the burst of flavour which I would expect from a good thai dish. Overall it was a good experience, I would probably recommend this place for a special occassion.

The new treasury building is beautiful … Empty on a Sunday morning but well refurbished.
Liked the décor at long chim but I felt there was a clash between the Rustic Thai décor and the seating… Make up your mind designers??? are you going rustic or classy? At long chim prices for food… i do not want to see rustic décor.
Service was ok… Not fantastic though … Do not expect the warm Asian hospitality from the staff… a bit stingy on the smiles.
Three of us ordered the green papaya salad, duck curry and deep fried fish with white rice. The food was good… Not a lot of it though… Which leads me to rate this place as over priced.
I paid $ 23 for my green papaya salad which was just as good as the $ 14 salad I had last week at basil and mint in morley… If the service was fantastic, then I could justify it but sadly this was not the case.
This place is ok if you have not been to Thailand or go there and eat only where western people eat.
But if you are Asian like me or visit Thailand frequently then you will find this place too pricey.

After a couple of visits for both a lunch and dinner I feel I have seen enough to rate Long Chim now; the setup is chic a relaxed Asian Bar vibe, across the main restaurant, bar area and courtyard.
The menu is firmly in the street food category which is good if you are after fishes to share, the ingredients are fresh and there is both a good amount of spicy and a selection of condiments if you wanting to take things further.
With a decent wine & drink list, you should enjoy yourself especially when it is not peak busy, as I have found that the service really suffers during these times and you can wait a while for dishes and a really long time to order extra dishes or drinks.

3.5 stars for this new kid on the block.
I’ve been so excited to try one of the new restaurants at this beautiful site. Long Chim has this almost dirty, urban, raw décor underground. Its been designed in a totally wicked space and utilised the area so well. Aesthetically this place looks cool & there’s an outdoor ‘beer garden’ with open roof.
The waitress for the evening unfortunately was probably at the end of her shift, and poised that ‘I’m done for the day and really don’t want to be here’. Which was a shame, because for an initial dining experience somewhere quite cool and new (& pricey) you want the service to be friendly, chatty and enthusiastic.
To start we ordered some drinks– I had the ginger beer cocktail with vodka, nice and spicy. Has a real tang to it– was delicious. And for starters we ordered the beef skewers — you get 4 skewers with 2 sliced of meat about the size of a 50c piece probably ok for 2 ppl but not for the 4 of us. I quite liked the taste– the smokey flavour and cumin but others at our table said it was too dry. We also ordered the prawn cakes — which are not cakes AT ALL. The waitress did warn us, but she said that it was a cluster of prawn fried together. It’s not even that, it’s like fired street prawns in a herb salad. It was tasty and salty, but needs a dipping sauce or something to pour ontop (maybe more lime?!) as it was a but dry.
The mains ordered were the pad thai– good and flavoursome. Not the best ever pad thai I’ve eaten and for $ 33 I was hoping it would be. The massaman curry was probably my favourite dish– it was beautiful tender meat and spicy, really good. The rice noodles with Chinese broccoli tasted charred and spicy– this was another winner on the table, it was similar to a Kway teow. We also ordered the special which was lamb ribs in a dry rub marinade. The waitress said they would ‘fall off the bone’. Honestly they had flavour, but there was no falling off the bone. I fact you couldn’t rip the met off the bone with your teeth they were so tough. I love lamb ribs, but I couldn’t eat these!
All in all, I’d say the food was a solid 6.5−7 out of 10. Some hit and miss. Unfortunately for a place like this, with the prestige and hype (& price) I left a little deflated. Not sure I’d go back for dinner. Its a cool place, and maybe a cocktail and some bar snacks outside would be the way to go.

What a dreadful experience we had here. It took a long time to order food, which was nowhere near the best Thai I’ve ever had, but it was quite tasty. While we were still eating our mains we were told that they needed the table despite over 30% of the other tables in the restaurant being unoccupied. We were told that a table had been reserved for us in the bar and to settle the cheque. We did so and had to carry our wine through to the bar, where 10 minutes later that table was taken away from us too. Wish I could say that the food outweighed the bad taste in my mouth, but it didn’t. Won’t be going back to Long Chim again. Big big thumbs down!

I went here on 20÷12÷15, so about 3 weeks from when they first open. We had a table of 6. I really loved the interiors and the amount of detail each area of the restaurant was given and decorated.
The food menu is short and sweet with well known favourites like Pad Thai, Green Curry and so forth. The smells wafting from the kitchen was incredible. It made ordering all the more harder.
There was an option for a tapas sharing/​degustation of the best dishes of Long Chim, which was a little pricey at $ 90 per person (no drinks included). Instead we opted for a la carte and had about 9 dishes and 2 bottles of wines and almost a dessert per person for $ 80 per person (less than what the set menu would have been).
We started off the night with CHIANG MAI LARP OF CHICKEN which had a really nice kick of heat thanks to the spices and herbs. it was tender and delicious.
For the mains we had the Pad Thai — which wasn’t too bad, but wasn’t WOW. The good thing is it’s not too oily.
The Prin’s Noodle reminded me of Char Kaw Toew except without the charred favours. I feel as though the Sriracha sauce should have been blanded into the noodles, because it really lacked any sort of flavours. Give this one a miss.
For the curries, we ordered the RED CURRY of ROAST DUCK. FIRSTLY a word of warning it was HOT. SPICY HOT. The heat was there and required all of us spicy loving people to grab for the water/​wine/​both. The curry smelt absolutely divine. The only thing I want to comment is that there wasn’t enough duck. And it should be perhaps be more breast of the duck? because I felt as though I didn’t get any meat out of it.
We also ordered the AROMATIC VEGETABLE CURRY. It was DELICIOUS. and was definitely aromatic is all the good ways a curry should be. Worth getting for a veggie dish. And the heat in this was NIL and the heat burn from the red curry was eased by having this in your mouth.
GREEN PAPAYA SALAD. — My grandma makes better, but it is so unfair as my grandma doesn’t work in Long Chim’s kitchen. But it’s pretty good, needs to be a bit more tangy. But that’s because I like the tanginess in papaya salads.
The SUN DRIED KINGFISH was recommended to us by our waitress. It was fantastic. It was crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked, moist, juicy fish on the inside. Worth a try.
For dessert was had EVERY SINGLE ONE OF IT FROM THE MENU.
Durian ice cream — for those who love durian. the taste is strong. definitely made from durian. it’s deliciously creamy. I loved it. It also comes with a sesame cookie.
Thai Coffee ice cream — condense milk coffee. it like drinking teh tarik tea but in ice cream goodness.
Coconut cake — is your traditional typical asian dessert. it’s not bad at all.
Palm Sugar Pudding — when it came out it seemed almost disappointing as the size was so much smaller than the others. probably the worst of the desserts.
Banana Roti — banana wrapped in roti and deep fried then drizzled with condense milk. FOR THE WIN!
Drinks — we grabbed 2 bottles of white wine — DEFINITELY stick to the white wines if you are getting wines as the dishes have a nice heat and the white just washed it down nicely.
Bf also got a cocktail and there are some pretty good ones. I can’t comment much as I didn’t have any.
The best thing though is the staff. It was wonderful service. fast, efficient, thorough. knows their stuff despite not being opened for very long.
Worth going? — just to admire the décor, go into a corner and grab a few drinks.
Taste wise — i really liked the desserts and the curries was so fragrant. BUT it’s pricey.
Worth a try. but then I feel as though that’s it? simply because well. i feel as though there needs to be a more dimension of flavour than just the heat and salt in the dishes and I felt as though it just didn’t have that curry flavour depth and the noodles/​pad thai such a let down. especially as it’s pricey and really didn’t deliver on the flavours like it promises. especially when there are slightly cheaper places with more thai excitement.

Some of the most authentic, flavoursome Thai food outside of Thailand. The green curry and massaman curry are a must as is the Mule #2 cocktail (nice ginger flavour to balance out the spice). A definite must visit!

New Thai in town
Walking into the downstairs eatery located at the bottom level of Cathedral Square the first thing I noticed, besides the décor, was the amazing smells wafting out of the kitchen. I was hungry already and I hadn’t even seen the menu yet.
Service here is exceptional, I don’t think our water glasses EVER hit empty. On that topic, our cocktail selections were the Bangkok Painkiller and Wings of Kinari which both come highly recommended.
To start we chose the Wagyu beef skewers which were simply put amazing. Cumin is the standout spice in this dish so avoid if your not a fan. For our two shared mains we chose the Green Curry of Chicken and Deep Fried Seabass.
On the Green Curry our opinions differ in regards to heat, Susan though it was quite chili whereas I was actually finding myself hunting for chilies in the dish to give it more of the kick I was after. I have heard the red chili dish is hotter and will try this if/​when I return. Also there was not much chicken in the dish considering chicken is a cheap form of protein for a meal.
For the seabass dish, there was also lots of flavours and for all dishes the smells were amazing. Staff were very attentive and genuine and the experience was very pleasant overall. The only downside to eating here is the pricepoint which is at the premium end of the market. Not what you would expect to pay for thai style street food.

Called in for a after work drink with my work crew. I didn’t feel like an alcoholic beverage. There was a menu juices/​mocktails.
So I ordered a watermelon juice and it was so delicious and highly recommended
We sat outside in the garden and the wind nearly blew us all away. We all walked back inside and it was really busy.
It will be a great venue and with warmer weather. Which Perth has plenty off. Look forward to choosing my next drink

So did the hype live up to reality? Sadly no. David Thompson’s long awaited delivery of the worlds best Thai food to a burgeoning Perth food scene seems a little bit flat, five weeks in.
The venue has everything going for it. It’s a fabulous room, perfectly laid out — Italian Canteen style — the staff are an absolute joy and on this Saturday night, it was a third full and conversation did not need to be shouted.
The Über Blonde, resplendant in a stunning black frock, correctly pointed out that whilst I may be knowledgeable about most modern dining, Thai street food is not my forte.
We kicked off with a superb Portuguese white — Howard’s Folly Sonhador Alvarhino Melgaco, at $ 12, a steal.
The menu is split down the middle, personal plates and share food, and tops out at around twenty dishes plus half a dozen starters. Despite ultimately sage advice, from the server and the Über, I ordered the Chiang Mai Larp Chicken $ 13.
Lesson one — listen to the peeps. This dish was «surface of the sun» hot. For me anyway. The Blonde managed a few more bites than me. Served in a small bowl with accompanying fresh cabbage leaves, the flavour was totally overtaken by the worlds hottest chillies. My lips are still burning 18 hours later.
Soooo for our next foray… we ordered the Red Curry of Roast Duck $ 35 and my fave of all foods — Green Papaya Salad $ 23.
Both perfectly presented, with duck on the bone, the dishes failed to convey to me the mark of a great chef and master of Thai food. The papaya salad in particular was a major disappointment — I have had superior versions of this in Ubud, Bali.
It was well seasoned, sized for two but was limp and overpowered by fish sauce. No delicate lime hints (no lime at all actually) and almost no mild chilli tones as expected.
The duck was moist, plentiful and shared the duck and red curry flavour perfectly but once again, no chilli taste present.
So three dishes down and no world class food yet. Maybe it’s me. Thai street food expert, the Über Blonde, mentioned that street food in country is not as hot. And she has dined at the Long Chim in Singapore where the chillies in a dish almost brought The Engineers short life to a premature end with their heat.
So. Whilst this review reflects my experience, I think that my lack of experience in Thai food in general needs a bit of work before my next visit. The stars are for the service and room.

We were so excited to dine at Long Chim restaurant and it was absolutely delicious. After a few false starts we found our way to the restaurant in the basement. You can either enter through the main lobby off St Georges Terrace or through the buildings off Hay Street. The stairs aren’t signposted but we found them near the florist.
We had an 8.30pm booking and the place was packed. The smells coming out the joint were so inviting that I wanted to dive headfirst onto someones table and just devour their food whole. We did wait unnoticed with another set of customers for about 5 minutes until we could flag someone down and we were then asked to wait at the bar for about 10 minutes until our table was ready. We sat at the bar and had a cocktail. I chose the Golden Leg and was the perfect cocktail. While it had cognac in it, it wasn’t overpowering and was yum!
We ordered the crispy prawns and beef skewers to start. They were to die for. Absolute perfection. Next came the pad Thai which was surprisingly spicy. Don’t get me wrong, I live for chilli and it was just right for me but it is not for your average Aussie. After this we had the roast duck fried rice which was the dish of the night. Then roast duck curry. I found this to be very small and not in possession of a lot of duck. Given the $ 33 price tag, I just expected more of the dish. We also had the green Papya salad which unlike the pad Thai and rice — was not spicy.
Overall, Long Chim was absolutely delicious. Their cocktails were inventive and delicately balanced. The food was yum but dishes were small and expensive even for Perth. The dishes we tried were chilli hot and not for the average Australian palette. Would I go again? If they changed menus, I would try out their new round of flavours yes. For drinks yes. To eat again — perhaps not for that price. Overall we paid $ 260 for 4 people.