David Thompson: ‘I’m over complicated aspirational cooking’

“Long Chim is happy, good Thai food,” pronounces David Thompson, “It means ‘come and taste.’ That’s what I want now; everyone who eats here to have a tremendously good time. In Thai, we say ‘sunuk’ which roughly translates as ‘have fun.’ I am so over doing complicated aspirational cooking.”

Or is he? I watch Thompson, clearly tired, yet fired up and hawkish at the pass on evening three of Long Chim’s opening week in Soho, London, meticulously tasting, adding just a squeeze of lime—this ensures every mouthful of the exceptional Long Chim rolls is equally fresh and fulfilling: a filo-like crisp wrapping, enclosing a spice-tickled mix of mustard greens and more. The presentation is simple, the garnishes recognizable, yet there is so much complexity in even the simplest looking dish.

Yes, the menu at Long Chim, London is short and to the point and Thompson insists it is familiar street food from Bangkok, where he has lived since meeting his husband, Tanongsak Yordwai in 1988. “It is the kind of dishes that Thais miss the most when away from home and want to eat”, he says, yet, the dishes have the intensity of flavor, the nuance, the exceptional balance, and the singing and dancing on the palate I recall being blown away by when Nahm opened at the Halkin hotel back in 2001.

The already buzzing restaurant on the ground floor of Hovarda Soho, their “partner-in crime here” as Thompson puts it, has been given a makeover with wacky wall murals, mahogany cabinets, and neon signs conceived by Simon Dewhurst, who founded Aaharn Group—a global Thai food group headquartered in Bangkok—with Thompson back in 2012. Long Chim now operates restaurants in Australia and beyond, with future development plans that could go global led by Aaharn Group partner and CEO, Jacques Dejardin. This is the first return to London for Thompson, whose Belgravia restaurant Nahm, which closed in 2012, earned him many accolades including, in 2002, a Michelin star within six months of opening. It was groundbreaking—the first Thai restaurant in the world to win a Michelin accolade (long before the guide itself came to Thailand). I recall extraordinary, sometimes mouth-numbing flavors, recondite ingredients, and sophisticated sexy food. It redefined our understanding and appreciation of Thai cuisine.

London will be a long-term, open-ended residency with Thompson himself staying into the New Year. He explains: “Long Chim has evolved since first opening in Australia. The menu is tighter and more focused, simpler yet more refined. It will have a rota of around 20 dishes cooked to perfection.”

And what perfection in a launch menu, including grilled beef skewers with turmeric, galangal, and coriander; spicy grilled squid with pickled ginger; breaded cured pork; and monkfish curry with cucumber relish and sweet, crispy five-spice pork. Thompson’s mission is simple: “I want to reintroduce authentic traditional Thai flavors that feel new to London yet are steeped in tradition.” Wherever possible he is importing ingredients directly from Thailand, as it is far cheaper that way, and tastes better.

Thompson gleefully opens a new arrival of long pepper, the original pepper used long before peppercorns and prickly ash, where unusually the outer rind, rather than the seeds, is used with its intriguing mandarin scent and taste.

“I was outwitted by a vegetable,” deadpans Thompson, explaining it was problems with getting the more unusual Thai vegetables that made Nahm unsustainable in the UK and led to its closure.

Satisfyingly, now, he can supply some ingredients direct from Thailand to other chefs in the UK such as Andy Oliver of Som Saa and Jane Alty, co-owner of The Begging Bowl, who were first introduced to Thai food through Thompson and worked at Nahm. “I prefer to help my friends than work in competition,” He’s excited to see how London’s Thai food scene has evolved, name-checking Smoking Goat, Kolae, Kiln, Speedboat Bar, and Anglo Thai, but he admits he doesn’t eat Thai food when he is abroad: “It feels like the proverbial busman’s holiday.” 

The author of the definitive book, Thai Food, which mixes a scholarly look at Thai culture with recipes, Thompson explains that Thai cooking is a paradox. It uses robustly flavored ingredients—garlic, shrimp paste, chilis, lemongrass—yet when finely shredded and melded together in cooking, they don’t dominate. Often there are an almost bewildering number of ingredients in a dish which could make for a confused and cluttered finish.

“Yet the flavors work harmoniously in concert: rounding, contrasting, and supporting each other,” enthuses Thompson. “What I love is that they arrive at a sophisticated and often subtle elegance. It is complex, and my chefs understand that. There’s nothing anglicized about our cooking. It relies on a great deal of finely honed knife work. Ingredients are hand-minced with a cleaver; it is what makes them more defined. I might add a point of garlic, literally a small piece that sits on the point of a sharp knife, to give a certain richness to a dish.”

“Texture, too, has a more defining role in Thai cooking, it is always an interplay of taste and texture plus deft seasoning, striving to create balance and tone,” elaborates Thompson. Ever keen to pass on his wisdom, Thompson explains that chilis actually sensitize the palate to texture, despite their initial impact. The crunch of deep-fried shallots matters, and shredded kaffir lime leaves can add not only perfume but texture, and, as garnishes, they are meant to be eaten as an integral part of a dish.

“My secret weapon is Patipan ‘Pae’ Jipromma,” explains Thompson with almost paternal satisfaction. He is lavish in his praise of Jipromma who is in London for the first time leading Long Chim’s kitchen. “He is the future of Thai cooking, truly one of the most exciting chefs of his generation cooking Thai food anywhere in the world.” Jipromma has worked with Thompson for the past five years and runs the Michelin-starred Aksorn restaurant in Bangkok.

Getting to the core of what makes his food so extraordinary Thompson explains what makes Thai cuisine so different and instinctive. “Whilst Western food can be approached from the outside—like constructing scaffolding by following technique, Thai cuisine needs to come from the inside chasing taste and developing a memory and instinct for it.

“I say to my chefs I don’t want them to only taste flavors, but to articulate them verbally and nail how they would describe the taste. I want them to distinguish the primary taste and the sequence of taste. I want them to really hold on to it. And to question all the time, is it more sweet, or salty, or both?Pae understands and respects these roots and brings a rounded picture of how to layer and balance, we continually learn from each other.”

Matthew Albert, for many years head chef at Nahm in London, and previously involved in the creation of Long Chim in Bangkok, is back in Thailand overseeing and further elevating Chop Chop Cook Shop, Thompson’s ode to the cookshops of the 1930s-70s, blending Chinese, Thai, and Western dishes, which opened in 2023 to huge acclaim. That’s after Burning Rose, the Thai restaurant Albert ran in Balham, Southwest London (my local) closed. Keeping Thompson protegés within the inner circle, Albert’s sous chef, Bertie Procter, is now working alongside Thompson and Jipromma in Soho.

“I consider inspiring others as the culmination of my career,” observes Thompson. “It is not just about following instructions—I want chefs to give the extra fillip to dishes by cooking from the soul, imbuing a dish with something of themselves.”

The Thompson Thai dynasty is as tight as ever.