You can get your kicks in Bangkok in several ways — high up in the Lebua’s breezy Sky Bar, by the banks of the Chao Phraya, or in sweaty Thonglor. I choose to keep the former for another day, and opt for other thrills, mostly the muted kind set to a jazz soundtrack.
The Bamboo Bar, Oriental Avenue
The Mandarin Oriental’s ferry gets me from Saphan Taksin station to the hotel. Jamie Rhind at The Bamboo Bar has told me to come after 9 pm, when the live jazz kicks off. That gives me enough time to wander around this historical hotel, and duck into the Author’s Lounge, named for the many famous writers who have stayed here over the last three centuries, including Noël Coward and Somerset Maugham. The Bamboo Bar started off in 1953 in the Authors Wing, before moving to its current location. It is now one of Bangkok’s A-list venues. Rhind seats my friend and me in a corner with a prime view of the stage, and tells us about his new cocktail menu, ‘Compass’, which draws inspiration from Thailand’s five regions. Aggy Aggy, the drink I am sipping on, is inspired by the North East farmlands. Thai gin coupled with watermelon, salac (snakefruit), lime and yeela (cumin leaf), its rustic roots are contrasted by its presentation, in a Champagne coupe glass. Meanwhile, Sharon, the chanteuse, makes her way through jazz standards, including How High the Moon and The Girl from Ipanema. I get in a request, too — It had to be you, a fondly-remembered song from When Harry met Sally. I cannot remember the last time I have had so much fun in a bar.
Backstage, Thonglor 205
I am still feeling blue, so I wind up the evening at Backstage, one of the most highly-rated bars in the city. Located in the PlayHaus hotel, it has a Hollywood look and feel, and a thematic menu. I pick Gaijin (based on The Last Samurai), with Whitley Neill gin, sake, Genmai-lager cordial, roasted rice and tea leaves. It tastes far better than it sounds! The drink’s mix of East and West is a hat tip to Tom Cruise who essayed the role of Nathan Algren, an American military officer who goes to live in Japan, in the movie. I can almost feel my blues melt away as I sip it. “What a difference a day makes...,” Sharon had sung a little earlier. I could not agree more.
Q&A Bar, Soi Sukhumvit 21
It is a muggy evening and I am a little blue, so I take a two-kilometre walk along the canals, to Q&A, a speakeasy helmed by Attapon Silva. Growing up in a business family, Silva had often been part of meetings in lobby bars, which helped fuel his belief that the bar is always the starting point for great things. “We’re a little hole in the wall with great cocktails,” he says modestly, though he has a unique design inspiration for Q&A — it is modelled after the Orient Express.
- Do: Pick up a bottle of the local Chalong Bay Rum from Phuket. The cane spirit takes full advantage of Thailand’s sugarcane riches and comes in a beautiful bottle.
- Don’t: Bangkok is not the kind of place to think of don’ts!
First, he serves me a glass of water, infused with three types of ginger, a simple yet refreshing touch. Attapon is a large presence behind the bar, and he presents the menu, which is divided into three parts: Revival, Quintessence and Uttermost. Revival indicates drinks that are more fruit forward in their taste profile, whereas Quintessence has more spirit forward drinks and Uttermost features new flavours. I am definitely in need of Revival, after my walk, and choose a Flat White # 2, with two kinds of gin (dry gin and ginebra), acid, orange blossom bitters and stevia, which is floral and delightful.
Thaipioka, Sukhumvit 55
Even at 9 pm, Bangkok is grid-locked, and my only comfort is that I have opted for an air-conditioned taxi that gets me to my next destination relatively unfrazzled. With a discreet location — tucked away in the corner of the Salil Hotel — Thaipioka, as the name suggests, specialises in the use of exotic Thai ingredients. The cocktail I try, Crying Tiger Grilled, is inspired by a local dish, Suea-Rong-Hai (Thai-style grilled steak). I learn that ‘Crying Tiger’ is the local name for the part of the beef that is so chewy even a tiger cannot eat it.
The cocktail is a fabulous variation of the Sazerac (a New Orleans classic made either with rye whisky or Cognac), and, here, it uses bourbon, with some rye whiskey, aged rum (fat washed, with the drippings of grilled beef) and absinthe. It has a lovely burn as it goes down. As I prepare to leave, Vipop Jinaphan, my host, hands me his card and the words “Sugar Ray You’ve Just Been Poisoned” catch my eye. I am told it is a speakeasy that used to be “hidden in Thonglor 20 for many years, and has just recently relocated to Sukhumvit 24”. I make a mental note to drop by the next time I am in town.
The third in a six-part series that tracks the best of South East Asia’s ever-changing bar scene. The writer is co-founder and CEO of Tulleeho, a drinks training and consulting firm.
