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Longtime Restaurant & Bar

Natascha Mirosch

Clubby: inside Longtime, Fortitude Valley.
Clubby: inside Longtime, Fortitude Valley.Glenn Hunt

14/20

Thai$$

"Me love you long time" is a sales pitch used by a Vietnamese prostitute in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, a movie based on the memoir of journalist Michael Herr who reported for Esquire magazine throughout the Vietnam War.

The phrase has become part of the Western word's lexicon of pop culture slang, used with casual abandon and usually a dodgy approximation of an Asian accent. "Longtime" is also the name of one of Brisbane's newest contemporary Asian restaurants.

I'll put it out there right off - I'm uncomfortable with the name and the cultural stereotype it represents and I particularly loathe Longtime's paper menu placemats featuring naked and semi-clothed Asian women.

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Sumptuous: coconut and tumeric Moreton Bay bug curry.
Sumptuous: coconut and tumeric Moreton Bay bug curry.Glenn Hunt

However, the crowds sitting elbow to elbow at share tables or perched at Longtime's bar sipping No Money, No Honey or Horny Elephant Ale would seem to have no such qualms and I suspect a vox pop on the suitability of the name would only induce quizzical looks.

On an early Thursday evening and with a no-bookings policy after 6.30pm, it's packed. So what's the drawcard? Position for one thing. The off-piste alleyway location makes it feel seductively secret. Inside, moody lighting, plantation shutters, recycled wood and rough brick walls, along with a nicely pitched playlist add to the good time clubby ambience.

Seating is at long shared tables, at the bar overlooking the open kitchen or in coveted booths. You might need your phone-torch to read the menu because it's dark in here (incidentally, those embossed aluminium "fingerbowls" at your table aren't that. They're your water glasses).

Bubbly Bangkok tacos with spicy prawn larb.
Bubbly Bangkok tacos with spicy prawn larb.Glenn Hunt
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There's a lot to like about the food at Longtime. Head chef is Ben Bertai, who's done time at Longrain in Melbourne and most recently settled in for a long stint as head chef at Spirit House at Yandina.

The contemporary Asian menu is weighted towards cross-cultural drink-friendly bar snacks and it's worth dining with a group to taste through them. Betel leaves are served to be wrapped around either prawn and crunchy rice, punchy with chilli, or sweeter and milder toasted coconut and mango salsa. Tradition doesn't get a look in with chicken larb, here served as a hot dog with coriander mayo - tasty fun spoiled only by a very ordinary white bun. It'd be dangerously easy to toss down half a dozen mini "Bangkok tacos" made from crisp, bubbled turmeric fried wafers filled with spicy minced prawn, shallot, garlic and lettuce or supple bao buns, folded around soft shell crab with apple slaw or pulled pork hock.

Mains (almost an obsolete term these days) come under the headings "Soups and Lons" "Curries" and "Meats". A litmus test red duck curry highlights Bertai's experience and innate knowledge of Thai food - the precision-balanced flavours overlaid with just the right amount of heat and sweetness, the curry fragrantly rich and bright with flavour velvety over tender shreds of duck. Moreton Bay bug curry with coconut and turmeric is equally sumptuous, the sweet bug meat well integrated rather than overwhelmed by the complex layering of spice. Both curries, at $28 and $33 respectively, are served without rice ($3), which seems a little ungenerous. Pad se ew, a Thai street food and market staple made with chewy flat sen yai rice noodles tossed with shredded Asian greens and crisp bits of pork belly gets a resounding gong bang too. For the indecisive (and cashed up) there's a $90 per head chef's choice option (with an extra $60 for matched wines).

Betel leaves with prawn, punchy chilli and crunchy rice.
Betel leaves with prawn, punchy chilli and crunchy rice.Glenn Hunt

Wine is often put into the too hard basket when it comes to spicy food, with a few token aromatics offered, but here there's been an obvious care of duty put into the list. As a lover of both riesling and rosé, it's gratifying to see such a good representation of both; rieslings from the Clare Valley to the Reingau and Alsace, as well as pinot, primitivo and tempranillo rosés from Puglia to Provence. There are also some keenly priced Rhone-style reds. If the three Rs don't rock your boat, there are plenty of other spice-friendly wines including gruener veltliner and gewurztraminer by the bottle and glass, as well as the usual restaurant/bar big sellers. There are also a dozen or so cocktails designed to complement the dominant Asian flavours of the menu. Longtime has its own brew too; the aforementioned Horny Elephant Ale of which 10 per cent of the sale price goes towards conservation and rehabilitation of elephants in Asia.

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Since opening, there have been complaints (and puns aplenty) about the wait time at Longtime, but the bar is a convivial enough place to sit and whet the appetite with a couple of excellent bar snacks while you wait for a table.

Longtime has lots of hard surfaces and it's noisy when full, so definitely not the best place for a romantic date night. Nor is it the place to go  if you're expecting cheap and cheerful, or are a purist and want authentic Asian food. But for pre or post-town-painting with a group of hungry food-loving friends who don't mind paying for quality, it's right on the money.

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