Tag: Bangkok

Agalico Tea Room & Cafe, Bangkok

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If you are living in Bangkok and feeling homesick for a proper, old English tea room, Agalico in Thonglor may be just what you’re looking for. Open everyday from 10am until 6pm, Agalico Tea Room offers stunning and elegant surroundings to enjoy a quiet and relaxed catchup with friends.

In fact, the interior of Agalico is so impressive that they even have photographers on hand taking portraits of paying customers. Okay, this may be partly down to Agalico Tea Room’s fame in Bangkok after being part of the set of a popular Thai movie, but it’s still really impressive nonetheless. On the top floor, you’ll find young Thai socialites being snapped away on camera in a room decorated in antique English Period style.

agalico

Don’t let the photographer weirdness put you off going to Agalico Tea Room though! With contemporary gardens full of comfortable seating, beautiful, white and blue, colonial-American decor and meticulous attention to detail, Agalico Tea Room provides a great, tranquil atmosphere to enjoy your favourite cup of tea in Bangkok… Just make sure to get there early before the best cake and scones run out.

agalico2

Agalico has a decent choice of teas to choose from and a pot will typically cost you 120 baht. Cakes and quiche cost 120 baht also, however, for a tea room, there is not a great choice of cakes and they’re not particularly amazing either. Cakes at Agalico Tea Room don’t compare to other Bangkok cafes such as Coffee Beans By Dao, Cafe Tartine and After You. The interesting atmosphere makes up for this though.

agalico3

How to get to Agalico Tea Room & Cafe

Agalico Tea Room & Gardens are located close to Thong Lor BTS. If taking the BTS, take exit 1 out or the station and walk along the main road until you reach Soi 51. Follow Soi 51 for about a minute walk until you see a large white building on your right – Agalico does not have a sign, just walk into the drive way and take the door on your left.

Witch’s Tavern Bar & Restaurant, Bangkok

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Witch’s Tavern is a popular and quirky bar-come-pizzeria on Thonglor Road. It’s particularly famous among Bangkok expats for it’s live music, special offers and happy hours; Happy Hour is everyday between 3pm and 9pm. Between 6pm and 8pm on Fridays you can enjoy free pizza with your beer, and on Wednesdays ladies can drink free.

The interior of Witch’s Tavern bar is very dimly lit with plenty of gothic candle lights and quirky decorations lightening the place up. A Witch’s pentagram marks the entrance while clouds and birdcages dangle behind the central bar. The whole building is decorated just like a typical old English pub with Victorian portraits lining the walls, dark wooden beams and floor boards throughout – Witch’s Tavern even smells like an English pub! (Is it weird that I noticed that?)

Witch-Tavern

The atmosphere of Witch’s Tavern is great; the staff are super friendly and cheerful while vintage rag time and flapper music plays in the background for a real cosy feel. Witch’s Tavern regularly host live music performances, usually acoustic covers of popular, classic tunes that most people will love. One of their in-house live musicians plays some particularly good covers of Bob Marley, Beatles, Jack Johnson and other classics with a real creative and chilled out spin.

Prices are pretty reasonable, especially for Bangkok’s expensive Thonglor area, the great service and awesome entertainment. The Witch’s Tavern menu consists of a choice of mainly Thai food, Tapas, pasta, pizza, salads and burgers. Tapas dishes typically cost around 140 baht per dish, pizzas cost from 160 baht, pasta from 220 baht and burgers from around 240 baht. The menu at Witch’s Tavern also has desserts such as sticky toffee pudding, carrot cake and apple crumble, all prices starting from around 140 baht.

How to get to Witch’s Tavern Bar & Restaurant, Bangkok

To get to Witch’s Tavern, you can take the BTS to Thonglor and then catch a motorcycle or taxi from there. The bar is located on Sukhumvit 55 (Thonglor Road) between Soi 8 and 10. You could walk it, but it would take maybe 15 minutes.

All in all, Witch’s Tavern is definitely worth a visit in Bangkok for the awesome live music alone.

Roast Coffee & Eatery Restaurant Thonglor

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To date, Roast Coffee & Eatery in Thonglor is by far my best place to eat in Bangkok in terms of amazing food at decent value. Roast Coffee has definitely made itself heard in Bangkok though, and it’s top notch service and great food hasn’t gone unmissed – if planning on heading to Roast Restaurant on the weekend, it’s best to book in advance to avoid a long wait outside.

The interior of Roast coffee & Eatery is spacious and airy with sophisticated, industrial style decor and high ceilings. There is a small, shaded balcony available outside for you to sit and dine alfresco if you wish too. Menus are charmingly brought to you in the design of a vintage newspaper with a huge choice of lunch, coffees and brunch dishes.

roast

The coffees and iced teas at Roast Coffee & Eatery are highly reputed as some of the best in Bangkok; you can even buy Roast’s own brand of coffee beans to take home. Specialty iced teas come served in a delightful jar with lychees and mint leaves; unlike many other cafes in Bangkok, drinks are not overly sweet and have some really nice, subtle flavours. A big jar of iced tea at Roast restaurant will typically cost about 100 baht.

On to the food menu at Roast Coffee & Eatery: There is wide choice of dishes on the menu from seafood stew & crusty bread, gourmet toad in the hole and Wagyu burgers & chips to the American style crispy bacon & pancakes, goats cheese frittata and a great choice of healthy salads.

bacon

The food menu at Roast Coffee & Eatery will set you back between around 250 and 400 baht per dish on average. However, Roast is one of those places where everything tastes AMAZEBALLS and is totally worth the money – portion sizes are generous unlike some other pretentious, over-priced restaurants and cafes in Bangkok.

Desserts at Roast cost an average of around 200 baht but are also of decent girth and tastiness for the price. Roast Coffee & Eatery is also open at night when it hosts live music and serves a range of mouthwatering cocktails from around 180 baht a glass. Roast Thonglor is a very popular cafe brunch restaurant for couples and groups of friends looking for a chilled out hangout with some of the best food in Bangkok.

How to get to Roast Coffee Bangkok

Roast is located in SeenSpace Thonglor. You can take a BTS to Thonglor station and then catch a taxi to Thonglor soi 13. Just a few hundred metres into the soi, you will see SeenSpace on your left. Roast Coffee is just up the stairs of SeenSpace and the first restaurant on the left on the first floor. You can check out their Facebook page here.

 

On Nut Night Market & Beer Garden Bangkok

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On Nut is an area of Bangkok not particularly well known for it’s shopping or lively nightlife. However, come evening time when the Thai locals finish work, On Nut comes alive with clothes stalls, food, beer and live music. By Bangkok’s standards, the night market at On Nut is comparably tiny against the other mammoth sized markets of Bangkok, but cheap and cheerful nonetheless.

On Nut Shopping

The Bangkok night market at On Nut is heavily geared towards Thai girls heading out for some after-work bargain shopping. Sellers here are genuine and prices cheap, plus there are some cool clothes and shoes at On Nut night market. You can find men’s t-shirts here – but literally only about four stalls catered towards men, sorry chaps. For SuperDry fans, make sure to check out the knock off SuperDry stall which sells some cool knockoff SuperDry T-shirts for around 300 baht.

Prices vary from 100 baht for standard blouses and t-shirts, to about 1600 baht for custom made dresses and jump suits. On Nut night market is perfect for a relaxed bit of casual Bangkok shopping as opposed to the stress of delving into the bigger, gargantuan markets such as Chatuchak and Pratunam market. It doesn’t need any longer than 30 minutes to an hour to look around properly. It’s not all about the shopping at On Nut night market though…

on nut night market

On Nut Beer Garden

Facing On Nut night market from the road, head to the right until you come across more food stalls and less clothes and handbags; this is the On Nut beer garden. Well… I’m not sure if you could call it a beer garden, but the bar area at On Nut night market is basically an outdoor pub surrounded by a wall of food stalls and covered with a tent-like roof.

The atmosphere is super relaxed with a gathering of both local Thais and local expats. It’s not the sleekest and cleanest looking bar – it IS a local night market after all – but, as standard in Bangkok, it’s still table service and there is a live Thai band performance most evenings. Toilets cost 3 baht per use and are of the authentic squat variety… not everybody’s cup of tea and an obvious indication that this is not the glamourous place to dress up.

on nut night market

Beer is cheap at On Nut night market, costing from 40 baht per bottle to 100 baht per pint to 500 per 5L tower. There is loads of food to choose from, from 120 baht sushi sets, chicken katsu curry for 79 baht, Thai food for 40 baht and roti pancakes for 30 baht.

There are especially loads of Thai dishes and Thai desserts to drool over; it’s a great place to go and sample the local Thai cuisine without breaking the bank. And the sushi is surprisingly good – Upon realising that I was ordering raw fish from what was basically a shabby looking trolley, I did start to regret my decision, but it is actually really delicious (and I didn’t die after all).

On Nut night market is ideal for a dressed down, chilled out and cheap night out in Bangkok – Thai style!

How to get to On Nut night market

On Nut night market is easy to find in Bangkok – just take the BTS to On Nut and you can see the illuminated tents from the station. The market opens from around 6pm, seven days a week.

Iron Fairies Bar Thonglor Bangkok

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The Iron Fairies bar is a quirky and sophisticated bar and restaurant located in Thonglor, Bangkok. It’s distinctive wall of illuminated, potion-like bottles makes it stand out prominently on the main Thonglor road. Searching along the font for the entrance, you’ll find a mysterious, rustic wooden door which upon opening, leads you through to a rather ominous, dark curtained entrance and further into a very dimly lit, industrial blacksmith-meets-Victorian apothecary bar.

iron fairies

With quirky, ancient industrial-looking machinery dotted throughout the bar; cute touches such as tiny potion bottles of fairy dust cluttered around the surfaces; dilapidated, vintage wallpapered surroundings; and iron, gothic, spiral staircases leading to various floors upstairs, the Iron Fairies Bangkok bar boasts a very unique and enchanting, old English-dark gothic fusion atmosphere.

The trendy surroundings are complimented with vintage 20s flapper music and jazz; later on in the night, the Iron Fairies Bar features live bands performing swing music at the top of one of the spiral staircases. On the occasion I last visited, the Frank Sinatra voiced swing singer entertained from the spiral staircase while the band played on their very own balcony.

iron fairies 1

Iron Fairies Bangkok Menu

The menu at Iron Fairies Thonglor is impressive, with particularly amazing burgers averaging around 300 baht. The menu includes salads such as avocado and tuna for 240 baht, side dishes such as potato wedges and crab cakes for around 160 to 200 baht, steaks from around 695 baht and seafood such as salmon steak from 350 baht per dish. Everything on the menu at Iron Fairies is pretty much guaranteed not to disappoint and for the price, the food is very good quality.

Chunky burgers with brie, bacon, onions and mushrooms come served on a large chopping board pierced with a steak knife through the middle. Drink prices on the Iron fairies menu start from 100 baht for a fruit juice (sugar-free, pure juice – a rarity in Thailand), 300 baht for a cocktail and 350 baht for a glass of wine.

iron fairies bangkok

The Iron Fairies bar may be viewed as a tad pretentious and a little too trendy or superficial by some; It gets extremely busy on weekends and the clientele tend to be mainly rich, young Thais and expats. Sometimes, along with the sometimes fast jazz music and masses of people, the Iron Fairies Bangkok bar can be slightly stressful and not so relaxing. However, overall, The Iron Fairies Bar is ideal for a sophisticated night out with a quirky twist in Bangkok – just be prepared for it to get real claustrophobic on the weekend!

How to get to Iron Fairies Thonglor

Bangkok Iron Fairies is located on Thonglor 55, on the main road opposite Thonglor soi 13. You can take the sky train to BTS Thonglor, then catch a taxi to soi 13 for around 50 baht. You could walk it but it would maybe take 15 minutes and you’d end up pretty sweaty by the end of it.

Launchpad Co-working Space Bangkok

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Still relatively new, Launchpad launched it’s 800sq meter co-working office space in Bangkok, Sathorn, towards the end of 2012. As far as I know, there are currently only two co-working office spaces in Bangkok, the other being Hubba in Ekkamai. If you’re new to Bangkok and keen to meet some people, get some work done in a professional environment or simply just itching to get out of the condo, these shared offices are definitely worth a visit.

A day at Launchpad Bangkok

Greeted by two Thai receptionists, I paid my 220baht for the day, then proceeded to try mastering their fingerprint entry system. Upon your first visit you must register a fingerprint which becomes the lynchpin of your identity at Launchpad. Used by the doors for letting you access the various areas and for recalling your details on subsequent visits. After the 5th or 6th attempt to register my fingerprint, it began to look like gaining access just wasn’t meant to be, however after some special finger powder from the staff the scanners finally let me though.

launchpad

Launchpad has 120 work-desks, five meeting rooms, a large recreational area with beanbags plus a games room with gaming consoles, pingpong table and various breakout spaces. Unlike HUBBA (another co-working space in Bangkok’s Ekamai district), I wasn’t given a tour nor had much opportunity to ask questions. The Thai-English language barrier seemed a lot more apparent at Launchpad than at HUBBA, which made asking questions more of an exercise in poorly acted charades than anything fruitful.

The desk space was good with plenty of room and, although I didn’t have access to a UK socket, there were spare adapters available if needed. The chairs were excellent, some kind of decent replica of a Mesh chair, with great lumbar support.

The environment seemed a little less expat friendly though. Most of the guys there were Thai, pretty young and mainly male with more technical type roles. Although the atmosphere was laid back and not particularly ‘office-y’ or stuffy, many seemed fully engrossed in their work; perhaps the illusive recreational area would have provided more conversation.

The overall feel was clinical and precise, a little like working in cubicles, minus the walls. Where compared to the contrast HUBBA’s organic friendly style it was a marked difference. I would recommend Launchpad as somewhere to go and get things done without distraction. However if you like the feeling of working in a more diverse and energetic, creative environment, I may point you towards HUBBA (Review pending).

How to get to Launchpad Co-working Space

Launchpad can be found on Thanon Pan just a 400 meter walk from BTS Surasak in Sathorn. It’s easy to find with it’s large ‘LAUNCHPAD’ stickered name on the window.

Address: Launchpad, Sethiwan Tower – 139 Thanon Pan, Bangkok, Thailand 10500

 

About the Author

Guest blog written by Mark from Fifty Shades of Mark, a blog documenting the ventures and misadventures of online dating.

Khaosan Road Bangkok

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Khaosan Road, Bangkok… Either you love it or hate it. Usually you hate it when you’re sober but after a few drinks, it’s the most awesome place on Earth. Khaosan Road Bangkok is full of people trying to sell you junky souvenirs, lure you into suit shops, tempt you into ping pong shows (there are some very curious shows including one called ‘Pussy write letter’ and ‘Pussy shoot banana’) and backpackers drunkenly stumbling around in the road… all to the backdrop of some cheesy, pumping dance tunes.

It’s not ideal for families, at least not at night time anyway, but Khaosan Road is absolutely brilliant for solo travelers and groups of friends. Everybody on Bangkok Khaosan Road is in Holiday mode; people are typically pretty merry and talkative with one another so it’s great for meeting some new Thailand travel buddies.

Khao-San-Road-Bangkok

Befriend random travelers from countries you didn’t even know existed, buy a bracelet that says ‘Mr Rape’ or ‘Sex my nuts’, eat a scorpion on a stick, marvel at the random break-dance-offs in the road, buy a Chang beer t-shirt and get drunk on a bucket of Sangsom for only $4… every young backpacker has got to visit Khaosan road at some point in Bangkok…

Just be prepared for the in-your-face atmosphere of people trying to sell you crap and the just plain loud backpackers with simply too much testosterone… take it all in good humour and wash it down with a Thai-style bottle of Sangsom and you’ll have a whale of a time! And before you get too irritated with the poor chaps trying to sell you stupid hats and useless souvenirs, remember they’re not exactly from privileged backgrounds and they have to deal with drunken, loud backpackers everyday for a living… poor guys.

More interested in some sober shopping on Khaosan road instead of the nightlife? Check out my shopping guide for more information on what you can buy on Khaosan Road.

How to get to Khaosan Road

There are many hostels and hotels on or nearby Khaosan Road in the Old City of Bangkok, in which case it is easy to find using signs or the map below…

khaosan road map

If you are staying further away from Khaosan road, you can catch a ferry from Saphan Taksin central pier (you can take the BTS to Saphan Taksin station right next to it) to Pra Athit pier.

Where to go on Khaosan Road

There aren’t really any specifically outstanding bars along Khaosan road, it’s just a matter of turning up and going with the flow. Do make sure to check out the adjacent road, Rambuttri Road, though. Rambuttri Road a little more subdued (just a little) and prettier – instead of blaring dance music, you may find some more chilled out live acoustic music. The bars aren’t such a squeeze to get into and streets are filled with pretty fairy lights and random flash mob break dances.

bangkok nightlife

Rambuttri Road

Owl School Bar & Cafe Bangkok

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owl school bar

For an authentic and completely typical, modern, local Thai hangout, make sure to visit the Owl School Bar in Bangkok. It’s a real nice, laid back hangout for younger Thai locals and students – it’s pretty rare to find any other foreigners there. The Owl School Bangkok is real small and cozy, hosting all of about six tables inside, and maybe two or three tables crammed outside at the busy street front.

owl school

During the day, the Owl School is cute, homely cafe with shabby chic, white furniture and cozy decoration. Later at night, the separate bar next door opens up and they host chilled out live music – usually a small, Thai acoustic band squeezed between the chairs outside.

The interior of the Owl School Bar is quite simple but also still characterful. The chairs look alsmost like oil drums with cushions and you can find some cute quotes printed across the walls maybe with a random, retro gameboy pinned underneath. The staff are super friendly and welcoming, particularly the chilled out owner.

Bangkok thai local bar

You can buy snacks like popcorn and Thai meals from around 80 baht to 200 baht. They don’t have that big a selection of drinks with a choice of about four beers, five cocktails and a few bottles of wine, but costs start from 100 baht.

How to get to the Owl School Bar Bangkok

The quirky Owl School Bar in Bangkok is located along Ekkamai Sukhumvit Soi 63. It’s a relatively long walk from the BTS Ekkamai station, maybe about half way down Ekkamai. Owl School Bar is on the main road, between Soi 20 and 22.

Moose Bar & Restaurant Bangkok

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The Moose Bar is a very modern and quirky, cool bar located on Ekkamai Soi 21 near the equally eccentric Tuba Bar. It has a real cool clientele yet still maintains a casual and mellow, chilled out atmosphere. The inside of the Moose Bar itself is spacious, dark (verging on vintage gothic perhaps) and simple with dim lighting.

moose bar bangkok

Not a place to be seen, but a place to be cool

There are subtle, quirky decorations throughout and a steady theme of hunting-trophy style moose heads mounted on the walls (actually, after long cocktail fuelled debates and googling – deer heads, not moose heads. Without sounding too pedantic).

moose bar bangkok

The list of cocktails at the Moose Bar is impressive with cheaper drinks starting at about 140 baht and specialty cocktails costing up to 250 baht per glass. Make sure to head to the Moose Bar Bangkok at happy hour for buy one get one free drinks between 5pm and 8pm. Also be sure to try the Gimlet, a particularly good cocktail with subtle herby flavours.

moose bar bangkok

The background music played at the Moose Bar is usually more of the typical accoustic Thai pop-style music, which makes it real pleasant and laid back to hang out. Some nights, the Bangkok Moose Bar hosts live music sessions too.

moose bar bangkok

How to get to the Moose Bar Bangkok

You can take a taxi from Ekkamai BTS to Ekkamai Soi 21 for about 40 – 50 baht depending on traffic. Walk in the Soi just a few metres and you will notice the Moose bar just ahead on the left hand side.

Tuba Bar Bangkok

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bangkok tuba bar

The Tuba Bar in Bangkok, Ekkamai, serves both Italian and Thai food with a nice selection of Belgium beers and cocktails. The most distinguishing feature of the Bangkok Tuba Bar though, is the quirky décor and attention to detail throughout the whole bar & restaurant.

Nerds like myself will appreciate the life-size comic hero models scattered around the place, cabinets full of retro, childhood figurines and a ceiling forming a sky of dangling model planes. The nostalgic and artistic memorabilia at the Bangkok Tuba Bar makes it really charming.

Bangkok nightlife

There is also a small and cozy, fairy light lit garden at the front of the bar ideal for a chilled out drink on a cool evening in Bangkok. The bar offers use of the pool table and a comfy living room-style area to watch TV also. Make sure to make the most of Tuba Bar’s Happy Hour between 5pm and 8pm when you can buy one, get one free on all cocktails.

bangkok bar

As an idea, cocktails cost around 230 baht each; salads, pasta and pizza cost from around 200 to 400 baht; and Thai dishes cost an average of about 150 baht. The menu at Bangkok Tuba Bar is huge – there is loads of choice in food with plenty of vegetarian options and lots of seafood dishes also.

The Tuba Bar has a super chilled out vibe to it, making it a great, casual hangout.

bangkok tuba bar

How to get to the Tuba Bar Bangkok

Take the BTS to Ekkamai station and take exit 1 out of the station. When you head down the stairs, keep walking straight ahead until you reach Banrie Coffee, located on the corner of Ekkamai Road. Turn up Ekkamai Road and head to Ekkamai Soi 21 – it’s walkable but still quite far, a taxi will cost about 40 baht in low traffic. Turn into the Soi and the Tuba Bar is just on the left hand side after a few metres walk.