Tonight I went for dinner at Longtime Cafe. This place has intrigued me ever since I first saw it, even though there is little in the window to entice / inform the customer. What is the menu? What are the opening times? Does it do takeaway? Is it B.Y.O? Perhaps the simplicity of the window adds to the intrigue.
Despite the Thai sounding name, when you look at the menu it is definitely a mixture of both Thai and Vietnamese dishes. One of the other customers asked if they had her favourites starter, prawns rolled in rice paper. "No" came the answer "they are not on the menu today, we have a different menu every day. We can only get good quality rice paper on Thursday, Friday and Saturday." A menu that changes every day and a restaurant that takes dishes off the menu when they can't get the quality of ingredients they want, suddenly I am even more hopeful.
I ordered the Vietnamese special Pho noodle soup. Special because it comes with beef, chicken and wontons. It was very delicious. The table next to me had a papaya salad which they praised, followed my Pho soups as well. You can see into the kitchen too which I always like, as it gives you confidence in a place.
The staff were young and friendly and they seemed reasonably busy, with a steady stream of customers in the cafe and takeaway orders, very promising for a Monday night.
I'm hoping to go back soon.
UPDATE: My new friend Kake has recently posted her own review of Longtime Cafe and can report that it is open 5pm to 10:30pm Mon-Sat; closed Sundays and Bank Holidays.
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As you left, did you say "me love you Longtime"?
ReplyDeleteI think it was more like "thanks very much, see you soon". But they are quite close really.......
ReplyDeleteDo you happen to know their opening hours? I was hoping to go there for lunch earlier this week, but they were closed.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I don't. If I find out I will update the review.
ReplyDeleteIt is B.Y.O though, with a nominal corkage charge.
Thanks Richard. I'm going to attempt to catch them open again tomorrow evening, so will see if I can find out.
ReplyDeleteLet me know what you think of the place and if you find out the opening hours I will add them to my review.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by.
Opening hours are 5pm to 10:30pm Mon-Sat; closed Sundays and Bank Holidays. Cash and cheques only — no cards.
ReplyDeleteI'll give you a link when I've written up my own review :) Brief summary is that I quite liked my pho though I would have preferred more chilli heat, and would also have preferred the beef to be rarer.
Here you go: my review on the Randomness Guide to London.
ReplyDelete