Brisbane favourite Longtime to close as new Thai restaurant is reborn

Fortitude Valley restaurant Longtime has announced it is running its last service on November 2 before it is reborn as a dedicated events space.

Co-owners Tyron Simon and Frank Li will also open new 90-seat restaurant Same Same at The Calile Hotel, offering a similar menu to Longtime.

Simon said the decision to repurpose the restaurant after five years was driven by an increasing demand to hire the space out for exclusive events.

“At one stage we looked at doing something upstairs at Longtime but the commercials didn’t quite stack up,” he said.

Longtime will act as a function venue for all three of Simon and Li’s venues -  Same Same, Honto and the soon-to-open 22 Agnes.

The space itself is not getting a refurb but will be a “blank canvas” for groups to do with what they want.

Situated on the new Ada Lane dining strip, Same Same will be join Michelin-starred chef Alan Wise’s Beaux Rumble and SK Steakhouse and Oyster from Simon Gloftis.

The new restaurant will feature an open kitchen twice the size of Longtime’s, as well as a charcoal fire pit to create a series of new dishes built around flames.

“The food is the same, the quality and value is the same, the difference is aesthetically what you're walking into,” Simon said

“All the things people go [to Longtime for] will all be there and taste exactly the same. We’re not going to increase the price [of the food] by even 50 cents, it’s going to be exactly the same.”

Sheridan Randall, 26^th September 2019