Longrain, Surry Hills

Despite filling our bellies with Guinness and Irish pub grub, we needed (yes, as in biologically needed!) something decadently sweet to round off our meal.

We headed down the road and around the corner (quite literally) to Longrain, long one of Sydney's hippest Thai eateries. Led by much-lauded head chef Martin Boetz (ex- Darley St Thai and Sailor's Thai), Longrain has earnt and held onto two SMH Chef Hats since 2001.



Housed in a nondescript warehouse, its funky, cool and modern interior belies its on-street appearance. The dining area is comprised of three inordinately long wooden communal tables. Tonight though, we were seated in the lounge bar since it was rather late and we were only here for dessert.

A long padded lounge stretches across the bar area, leading up to a headphoned DJ in the corner mixing ambient but low-key funky beats.

We agonise over the menu and coincedentally end up ordering two each of four different desserts (we are now down to a group of eight). And all is well and good until our waitress comes back and advises that the chefs would like to point out that the desserts are rather large and they're normally large enough to share.

Exactly what are they trying to insinuate about our propensity for greed? =) So we revise our order and have one each of the four options.

Now before I go further, may I point out that the photos that follow must've been the fastest I've taken in my life. For fear of my life! Forks were poised, drool was dripping and death by repeated fork jabbing did not seem an unlikely scenario.

Photos done though, desserts were divvied and shared, and ooh-ing and aah-ing began.


Coconut caramel custard with grilled banana $13.50

The caramel custard was soooo caramelly that a number of people could barely stop their eyes rolling to the back of their heads. I found this one a little painfully sweet, but if you love caramel, this one's for you. Everyone agreed though, that it would be impossible for anyone to eat the whole bowl due to its richness.


Thai coffee pudding with custard apple cream and young coconut sorbet $13.00

Most of us found the coffee pudding a little more like a coffee jelly than what we expected. The custard appple cream was rather tasty though and the coconut sorbet was very more-ish.


Vanilla flavoured tapioca with palm sugar ice cream $13.00

This was the surprise hit of the evening. The tapioca was sweet and comforting and the palm sugar ice cream had just the right hint of caramel.


Coconut and durian pancakes with passionfruit ice cream $13.50

But this was my favourite of the evening (and incidentally, the one I originally picked too). Four pancakes interpersed with slivers of durian and shreds of coconut. I could have definitely finished a whole one of these to myself! =P

The pancakes were perfectly cooked and the passionfruit ice cream was sweet and cleansing. Personally I probably would have preferred either the coconut sorbet or the palm sugar ice cream with this one though.

I quite like this idea of eating desserts at Sydney's more upmarket eateries. We paid only $10 each for dessert and coffee--a bargain for a bit of epicurean indulgence and gastronomic bliss.


Longrain
85 Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills
Tel: 02 9280 2888

Lunch: Monday to Friday 12pm-2.30pm
Dinner: Monday to Saturday 6pm-midnight (kitchen closes 11pm)
Lounge bar: Monday to Friday 12pm-midnight; Saturday 5.30pm-midnight