Review

Dining at Long Dtai is an adventure. The rich and fragrant Southern Thai cuisine is reward for reaching Cape Fahn by small ferry on an island off the Bophut shores. Renowned chef David Thompson has created a menu celebrating Southern Thai cuisine layered with spices and packed with flavour. Taking traditional heirloom recipes and reinterpreting them, focusing on finesse while promoting marine sustainability by only using line-caught fish. Begin your experience with a signature cocktail of native lands with locally made rum, infused with pineapple, turmeric, and local honey scented with a basil leaf and lime, or gold and spice with pomelo-infused tequila, young chili, lime, and peach shrub. Your taste buds are ready to explore the signature dishes’ exotic combinations. Begin with toasted coconut and shrimp paste salad with fresh local scallops and tart plum leaves or coconut soup with squid and fresh tamarind leaves; both dance on the palate with a balance of flavours and textures. Mains include coconut and turmeric curry with blue swimmer crab, aromatic beef skewers spiced with cumin and turmeric, and deep-fried locally caught fish with turmeric and curry paste. All delightful, complex combinations featuring fresh ingredients in authentic preparations and stylishly presented. The dessert array offers many choices, from grilled bananas with coconut cream to a lighter coconut crumble pudding.