“’What?’ Robin repeated numbly. ‘Oh — yes. I’m meeting Raphael for a drink at seven o’clock.’
‘Excellent work,’ said Strike. ‘Where?’
‘Place called Nam something … Nam Long Le Shaker?’” (Lethal White, Chapter 57)
In Chapter 58 of Lethal White, Robin meets Raphael Chiswell at Nam Long Le Shaker, a Vietnamese restaurant in Chelsea, to interview him about his father, Jasper.
“Nam Long Le Shaker had the feeling of a decadent, colonial-era bar. Dimly lit, with leafy plants and assorted paintings and prints of beautiful women, the décor mixed Vietnamese and European styles. When Robin entered the restaurant at five past seven, she found Raphael leaning up against the bar, wearing a dark suit and tieless white shirt, already halfway down a drink and talking to the long-haired beauty who stood in front of a glittering wall of bottles.” (Lethal White, Chapter 58)
“Raphael took his bottle of beer off the bar and led her through to the restaurant where they took a table for two beside the wall.” (Lethal White, Chapter 58)
During the interview, Raphael orders dim sum and Robin slowly sips her wine. It’s here where Robin shares some personal information with Raphael in order to regain his trust. “Robin knew herself to have crossed an invisible boundary. In her whole time at the agency, she had never used truths about her private life to gain another’s confidence, never blended the private and the professional to win another person over.” (Lethal White, Chapter 58)
Nam Long Le Shaker is also mentioned earlier in Lethal White, when Izzy Chiswell reminds Strike of a long-ago night out with Charlotte and other old friends.
“‘…Remember when you argued with Jamie Maugham in Nam Long Le Shaker? Oh, you must remember. You wouldn’t back down — the whole table was at you at one point….'” (Lethal White, Chapter 38)
If you’d like to visit Nam Long Le Shaker for a drink and dim sum, find it on the map below.
