Longtail Kitchen Corp

“When we first opened, everyone was expecting fish and chips,” laughs Justin Cheung, head chef of Longtail Kitchen. Before Longtail took over its current location at River Market on the New Westminster Quay, the story goes, the space was occupied by a fresh-or-fried seafood dealer called the Crab Shop. The place had a regular clientele, and apparently they expressed some disappointment when famed chef Angus An, owner of Vancouver restaurant Maenam, decided to open a street-food style Thai restaurant.

But with a menu composed of dishes like crispy tamarind chicken wings, gai lan with pork belly and prawn rad na, after the opening in May of 2013, the complaints didn’t last. “We turned a lot of those fish-and-chip fans into regulars,” says Justin with a smile. (The name suits its riverside location perhaps better than its predecessor: a longtail refers to the narrow boats that ply Thailand’s rivers, canals and bays, some of which serve food right off the water.)