Like any global city, Bangkok’s culinary scene caters to travellers of all budgets and tastes: there’s sky-high skyscraper eateries with panoramic views and astronomical prices to match; and there’s hole-in-the-wall nooks that lack in style but make up for it with plateloads of substance. The same is true of Bangkok bars, which run the gamut from high-octane glamour pusses to insidery watering holes you’d never find if you weren’t told about them. We’ve covered them all — each personally tried and tested, of course.
1. Sky Bar, www.lebua.com
It may be a tourist trap, but Sky Bar – found atop the Lebua Hotel on the 63rd floor of the State Tower – is popular for a reason: namely, the sweeping 360-degree views of Bangkok and beyond. The scene is the second raison d’être, with everyone who’s anyone flocking for designer cocktails – the Sky Cosmo is to-get-drunk-for – and, of course, to rub designer-clad shoulders with Thailand’s highest fliers. Thirdly, and finally, they come for the food at Sky Bar’s adjacent Sirocco restaurant: thick hunks of Wagyu beef served with style on pink-clothed tables.
2. Lumphini Boxing Stadium, www.muaythailumpini.com
When in Thailand, drink like the locals do ringside at Lumphini Boxing Stadium. It is here in a car park-esque space – all concrete floors, exposed metal beams and cracked plastic bench seating – that seven matches in ascending body weight take place every half hour. But Thais don’t let the blood, sweat and Tiger Balm unfolding before them put them off their beer: with cheap-as-chips Singha served up in plastic cups from servers doing the rounds, it’s one of the most authentic ways to get drunk in Bangkok. Just don’t make eyes at a muscle-bound heavyweight.
3. Eat Me, www.eatmerestaurant.com
As a firm favourite among Bangkok’s ex-pat and gay communities, the cheekily-named Eat Me is a real local institution: a roof and garden help the spill over from the main dining room, which on any given night is near to maximum capacity. Food-wise, there’s a fabulous East-West fusion menu that incorporates tried-and-tested favourites like tuna tartare with soba noodles and black chicken with red papaya, toasted coconut, chilli and lime salad. The interiors, meanwhile, are chic, minimalist and sleek: there’s a regular roster of art exhibits to please the largely creative clientele, too, so the decor never gets stale for the discerning aesthetes eying it up. Head downstairs to the basement bar on Fridays when a jazz trio takes to the floor the crowd gets more raucous. Good, filthy fun.
4. Cheap Charlie’s
A hugely popular watering hole among ex-pats, Cheap Charlie’s is rough around the edges but warm and gooey on the inside: outside there’s an eclectic mix of tables and a boisterous, raucous crowd downing dirt cheap beers; on the inside the decor is a mish-mash of souvenirs from across the globe – including wooden carvings, number plates and other assorted knick-knacks. And found in Soi 11, it’s just a drunken stumble away from a slew of other bars to prop up.
5. Cabbages & Condoms, www.cabbagesandcondoms.com
With more than a little tongue-in-cheek about it – its motto is “be fed and be sheathed”- Cabbages & Condoms is beloved by locals and tourists alike for its humorous approach to dining: and with family planning at the core of its philosophy, the Bangkok-based branch of the restaurant serves customers with a conscience. The whole shebang is owned and run by the Population & Community Development Association (PDA), and serves Thai staples such as Thai green curry. Wrapping things up – so to speak – are after-dinner “mints” in the form of packaged condoms.
