Bangkok Bars and Cocktail Lounges

Bar of the moment

Bed Supper Club

26 Sukhumvit Soi 11
Bangkok,
Telephone: 00 66 2 651 3537

The hottest new spot in the Oriental City of Sin, Bed is an extraordinary space-age designer lounge in fashionable Sukhumvit. You enter a large, all-white oval pod interior with a bar at the back, divan-beds suspended from the walls and low-slung chairs on the floors - all lit up in a permanent glow of soft blue neon. The effect is to transport you back to the Jetson’s via the 21st Century, silent films and videos projected on the walls adding to the retro-futuristic feel. Food is mostly a fusion of western and Oriental dishes, although tasty northern Thai fare seemed to dominate. Predictably it all comes at a price, but since ultra sexy staff dressed like spaceship travellers will happily bring food and cocktails to you as you recline like galactic emperors on the divan fittings, we reckon you’ll manage. Similar to its namesake in Amsterdam but somehow more exotic, we say: “come to Bed darling.”
 

Bamboo Bar

The Oriental Hotel 48 Oriental Avenue
Bangkok, 10500
Telephone: 00 66 236 0400
Hours: Sun - Thurs 11am - 1am, Fri - Sat 11am - 2am

Resembling “a speakeasy in the jungle” according to one critic, the Oriental’s Bamboo Bar is as much part of the city’s landscape as the Khao San and Pat Pong Road - just with a load more class and sophistication. Legendary for its live jazz since 1946, it’s a film noir type setting, a sort of Rick’s Café of the Orient, and you half-expect Bogart to wander in with a babe on his arm. The skilled bartender has trained at Harry’s Bar in Munich, and makes every spectacular cocktail from the Mai Tai to the martini. Décor is that jungle theme but you’ll find leather sofas and plush chairs amongst all the bamboo and palm fronds. Comfortable, classy and sophisticated, make yours a double!

Vertigo Grill & Moon Bar

21/100 South Sathon Rd Sathon Bangkok,

Telephone: 00 66 2 679 1200

Hours: Open 5 pm-12 midnight

Perched 60 floors above the city on the roof of the sultry Banyan Tree Hotel, Vertigo’s location is tops for great views, less good for staying dry though, since it has no roof. A chic open-air lounge popular with the cocktail-drinking glamour set and Amex carrying ex-pats, the restaurant does good barbecued seafood and Asian-inspired dishes such as lamb in Japanese Green Tea crust, but mostly you’re here for the drink and scenery. Bangkok's cityscape, the winding Chao Praya river and the soccer ball sun sinking below the horizon are best enjoyed with a glass of fine Crystal, or wine and cocktails.

Spasso

Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel

• 494 Ratchadamri Rd
• Bangkok,
• Telephone: 66 2 254 1234

Intriguingly billed as an Italian restaurant “and entertainment centre” you might forget for a moment that you’re in the Orient at Spasso. In the heart of the fancy Grand Hyatt, the space is fun, lively and crowded and usually packed weeknights with a post-work crowd of execs who come for good cocktails and loud chat. The chat tends to get louder when the local band performs covers from 9pm and although there’s minimal dance space, after a few Mai Tais most regulars are shaking their tails. If you come for dinner, take a seat at the intimate dimly-lit bar counter, order a Scotch and soda, and ask for some stock advice from the ex-pat suit standing next to you.

Met Bar

Metropolitan Hotel Bangkok
27 South Sathorn Road
Tungmahamek Sathorn

A private place to party late into the Bangkok night

When it first opened in 1998, London's Met Bar became the hottest nighttime haunt west of Ibiza. Now, its newest sister, The Met Bar, Bangkok, delivers the same for the Asian capital, answering a sophisticated need for privacy and energy in a space reserved for hotel guests and members only.

In the afternoon and evening, The Met Bar serves delectable Thai fare to a high-flying crowd. At night, it morphs into a sultry, lounge-style members bar with deep-club chairs and wine-dark walls. Lighting is soft and moody.

Bar staff - called 'mixologists' at the Met - create bespoke Martinis while headline DJs spin eclectic lounge sounds from around the world.

Mystique

• 71/8 Soi Sukhumvit
• Bangkok,
• Telephone: +66 2 662 2374

As if Bangkok wasn’t alluring enough, the multi-roomed Mystique brings another dimension to the fast-growing Sukhumvit scene. Set over three floors, it contains a dance space, a dining area and a lavishly-furnished lounge, not to mention five themed VIP rooms for special guests. With wines from Italy, Champagne from France, cigars from Cuba, and a delectable fusion menu, the cocktail menu does well to keep up. Masterful bar-staff mix up 150 delights from the Mystique Martini signature to the Lychee Mojito and the wicked Lover Machine. There’s also a Pimp Daddy. It’s the kind of place a certain rapper might be seen in.

Dali

• 227 Soi Rambutree (off Chakrapong Road)
• Bangkok, 10200
• Telephone: 00 66 2 629 1173

Cool art-bar in the traveller-rich Khao San area although whether Salvador himself ever passed through here with a backpack we can't say. Small, relaxed, popular with locals and tourists, it's full of surreal wall hangings downstairs, comfy sofas, cushions and live music. We prefer it below, where the wide range of cocktails, spirits and beers in a cool, quiet setting is a welcome respite from the frantic tropical chaos outside.