Lon Lon Local Diner

Our Bangkok culinary adventure begins!

I showed up without a reservation on a Saturday night with a minor bout of solo diner anxiety, but because I was early they were able to squeeze me into a table next to the entrance. The décor strives for a retro ambience – jammed next to my table, there was an old-fashioned Adler typewriter perched next to a palm-sized globe; on the table, some ancient specimen of a telephone. It’s deliberate, this faux colonial vibe, obviously done up to attract the hipster set. I just hope they’ve put as much thought into the food, I thought to myself as I settled in. They give you a menu and you order by scanning a QR code at your table – perhaps a leftover Covid measure to reduce contact with the wait staff?

            The showcase items are the set menus. In keeping with the diner theme, each features a main – usually some slightly tweaked variation on a Thai street food classic, with the occasional fusion element thrown in, such as Chinese-style stewed duck breast – appropriate, given that Thai is in many respects a hybrid culture, with culinary elements recognizable from both the eastern and southern portions of the Asian continent. I opted for the vegan chili jam stir fry tofu and cashew nuts, served with fried vegetarian spring rolls (an alternative for carnivores substitutes chicken for tofu and an E-Sarn tom yum mushroom soup for the spring rolls) – though the menu is so extensive that it took a long time to decide. Perhaps the choice was a tepid way to launch my Bangkok culinary adventure, but I was a weary traveler in search of retreat from the roaring traffic outside in the boisterous Silom district, not to mention an air-conditioned reprieve from the searing humidity and heat of the June weather.

I opted to wash it all down with a nice cold Singha beer on draft, which arrived fresh and bubbly. I’ve never been much of a beer drinker, but I’ve also long loved Singha for its stark Perrier-like carbonation. Its foamless fizz endows it with a bite, making it the perfect complement to any spice. Would it be going too far to call Singha the champagne of beers?

            I didn’t have to contemplate this for long, thankfully – I was starving by this point. My food arrived just a few minutes after the beer. The centerpiece of the dish, of course, was the tofu, which transported me. Fried to a perfect crispiness so as to seemingly wall-out all seasonings, once your incisors break the surface, the slightly mushy consistency within blends with the marinated seasonings on the surface to fulminate an intriguing bouquet of slight spice crossed with a tropical sweetness. It turned out to be the perfect Welcome to Thailand flavor, though I would have appreciated more cashew nuts – perhaps more tofu, as well – the portions all around were rather small. After all, their naming in the dish implies a starring role, yet the restrained use of cashews meant that it was more or less a garnishing spice, on a par with the peppers and onions that rounded out the medley of flavors. To those pilgrims considering journeying forth, I would suggest avoiding the red chili peppers altogether – one accidental ingestion will annihilate the subtlety of the other flavors that otherwise contribute to a dynamic complexity.

            Now we come to the spring rolls. They were so nicely done. Crunchy in a very light way, and not soggy at all. The accompanying dip contained tones of aloe, a faint aftertaste of pineapple, and an overall syrupiness that would one expect.

            The dish came with a choice of rice – either steamed or in a soup. I chose the former, but to be truthful, it felt like a cling-on carb – it wasn’t necessary. I understand the tradition that they’re striving for, but I would have liked the kitchen to have come up with a more intriguing pairing, given the ambition otherwise on display – perhaps a fried rice with some unexpected ingredient or other.

            I might have just arrived in Bangkok on the perfect night, and it was really lucky coincidence that brought me to the doorstep of Lon Lon Local Diner. Normally I would have headed straight for the night markets, but there was a thunderstorm gathering up clouds on the horizon and my hotel was right next door. Lon Lon tries to bring the best of the street indoors, and it manages – albeit with a stylized, self-conscious approach. In retrospect, this was a subtly restrained and refined way to commence my Bangkok culinary adventure, and, if you don’t find the settings too pretentious, a totally acceptable place to dig in to modern and fresh tweakings of Thai classics.