SEASONED motorists know better than to drive up Upper Thomson Road during dinner time.

Every day over the past few years, traffic at the entrance of Longhouse food centre, before Jalan Pelatina, has been nothing short of chaotic between 7 and9pm.

Cars clog up the extreme left lane while queueing to get into Longhouse's freeparking lot. Buses filter right to get out of the jam. Motorists on the outside lanes slow down to a crawl.

"But I don't blame the cars for queueing," says nearby resident Jane Oh, 44.

"There's really quite a lot of good food there."

The 13-stall food centre serves well-known minced pork noodles, char kway teow,duck noodles and goreng pisang.

In fact, the 400m stretch from Longhouse to Thomson Plaza has become a throbbing food strip over the past three years.

There are now 37 eateries housed inside shophouses along both sides of the road, offering popular fare like chicken rice, Peranakan food, seafood, pizzas and 24-hour roti prata.

Food consultant Vincent Gabriel, 64, who lives in nearby Bishan, says the food boom started a few years after Longhouse opened in 1999.

At the time, the adjacent shophouses were mostly rented out to motor repair shops, clinics, hair salons and provision shops.

"The landlords saw Longhouse's success and realised the potential of renting them out to food outlets," he says.

While rentals until then had been about $1,500 per unit a month, they could raise it to $3,000 for food businesses, which was still affordable compared to other shophouse enclaves, he adds.

Now, prices have soared to $6,000 per unit a month. But this continues to be lower than those in the Telok Ayer and Joo Chiat areas, where rates are about$7,000 and $8,000 respectively.

The main drawback, though, is the lack of parking space.

Lots in front of the shophouses are often taken, so customers have had to drive deep into the residential lanes to park.

But food operators reveal two "secret" parking spaces - Sin Ming Plaza and Shunfu market - which has up to 200 lots.

Sin Ming Plaza charges $2 per entry, while regular coupon parking charges apply at Shunfu market, at 50 cents per half hour.

TV cookshow host Devagi Sanmugam, 51, who opened her first restaurant - Devagi's - in Thomson Imperial Court last week, says there is room for upmarket eateries like hers.

But Mr Francis Toh, 51, who owns The Ang Ku Kueh shop in one of the shophouses,says it will be a while before the area reaches the bustling, iconic status of Holland Village.

He notes: "It will need some big names like American coffee chains. So far, it isn't there yet."

But to some food-loving residents in the area, Thomson Village is more than good enough.

Says regular diner Cindy Soh, 26: "It's way better than what it was five years ago."