Insiders’ guide to Bangkok: eat, shop and socialise like a local

To get a sense of the Thai capital’s yin-yang character, Bangkok-based designer Saran Yen Panya recommends beginning an exploration at the Italian-designed railway station Hua Lamphong, which dates back to 1916 and still functions as a terminus for the nation’s Eastern Line. It also houses a museum. Chinatown and Song Wat “Just head from the station towards the Chao Phraya river,” suggests Saran. “Don’t use Google Maps.” This leads to the labyrinthine Chinatown, originally a Teochew trading settlement, now a neon-lit foodie mecca. The main drag, Yaowarat Road (from which the neighbourhood derives its name), is ever congested, but Saran says it’s down the narrow backstreets winding past dragon-topped temples where Yaowarat’s semi-permanent establishments serving Thai-Chinese culinary delights can be found. “Always look for the grumpiest-looking auntie cooking,” he says. “The worse the service, the better the food.” Eventually, the lanes lead to river-fronted Song Wat, where Saran works. “Lots of Bangkok’s hipsters are moving to Song Wat,” says a friend of Saran, interior designer Phansa Buaphaichit. “It changes every time I come here.” Walking past artisan cafes and boutique hotels to a converted warehouse called Long Dang Dang, we browse stalls selling second-hand vinyl and vintage clothes. The transformation has a lot to do with Made in Song Wat, a business collective that advocates heritage and creativity in the neighbourhood, she says. For an example of the creatives being attracted to Song Wat, Phansa points to a property near the entrance to the 19th-century Luang Kocha Itsahak Mosque: TARS Unlimited, a private gallery that moved last year from Sukhumvit, with the figurative art of Bangkok-based Warot Jarusirikul currently on display. Thonburi – the other side “Bangkok is a city cut into two halves,” says singer Savapatra Euakittaropakorn. “I grew up in Thonburi, on the other side of the river. It’s just somehow more real there.” Best known for its 17th century Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn), Thonburi was a city distinct from Bangkok until 1971, now populated by Thai-Chinese and Muslim merchants from the south. Unlike Song Wat, Thonburi has yet to be wholly gentrified, according to Savapatra, and remains a district of canals bisecting time-honoured neighbourhoods. Everything is cheaper, and southern-style curries bubbling outside shops such as Tong Leng (highlights include home-made egg noodles, crispy pork and fishballs) and Jae Oie (Thai-Chinese stir-fried noodles with the unique taste of kra ched, or water mimosa) are major attractions. “One of the best areas to find the most authentic Thai dishes is around Talat Phlu,” says Savapatra, of a Thonburi community and marketplace next to the Bangkok Yai canal. “And it’s easy to get to on the BTS Skytrain.” After dark Savapatra, whose single “Tears & Blood” has just dropped on Spotify, has been involved in garage bands since 2007 and knows her way around the city’s music venues. She’s already a regular at the new pop-up bar Doi Dum Punk, situated on the corner of Ari Soi 5, a 20-minute tuk-tuk ride to the north of the old city. Splashed in graffiti and the word “Chaos”, and illuminated with red lights like a bordello, Doi Dum Punk is a quirky venue that will be in situ until the end of December – maybe longer, given its success – initially opened as a fundraiser for a satirical film of the same name. Inside, urbane professionals mingle over whisky and soda while the Dead Kennedys rail against injustice in the background. The city’s propensity to birth offbeat F&B venues is nothing new to Laurie Osborne, a Briton who has lived in Bangkok for the better part of two decades and is currently the head of content at Time Out Bangkok. “It’s Thainess,” he explains, “which basically means absorbing anything from the world and making it Thai.” His first nightlife recommendation is the Chinatown Yacht Club. It may be far from open water but the bar, he says, has “a lovely open-air rooftop and serves great cocktails” as well as “New York-style hot dogs”, should you need to line your stomach. Chinatown Yacht Club is on Soi Nana, a strip of old shophouses repurposed as cocktail lounges and craft beer joints on the east side of Chinatown (not to be confused with the seedier Soi Nana off Sukhumvit). “It’s good for barhopping; Teens of Thailand is a great gin spot and Brown Sugar is a jazz venue that moved around the city for years before settling on the soi.” Other fine jazz haunts, according to Osborne, are stalwart Smalls, on Soi Suan Phlu, and Abandoned Mansion, which resembles a “1930s gangster movie”. For those wanting something a bit more uptempo, Osborne recommends Speakerbox, in Liberty Plaza, as “the go-to place for indie rock and the alternative crowd.” However, when friends visit him in Bangkok, he prefers to give them an only-in-Thailand experience. “There are multiple locations of Tawandang German Brewery across the city. It’s a place that combines the concept of a German beer hall with live Thai entertainment and great food. The service is incredible, your table’s beer tower is never empty. The actors you might see on Thai TV are on stage doing comedy routines, performing songs, dances, big chorus line stuff, even aerial acrobatics.” Taking a breather “They call Bang Kachao the green lung of Bangkok,” says Osborne. “You can see it from the air when you’re preparing to land.” Administered by Samut Prakan province, Bang Kachao is an island created by a canal and a bend in the Chao Phraya. Ferries and long-tail boats leaving piers at Chong Nonsi, Bang Na and Klong Toe take just five minutes to hop across to it. “The first thing you see are bicycle rental places, so you get a bicycle and some cold water and then you are out exploring,” says Osborne. “You can check out the botanical garden or the floating market, and there’s a handful of good restaurants scattered about.” He recommends Baan Baan Bang Kra Jao, which is a little difficult to find, down windy lanes, and, for the best value and “having a fun auntie cook for you”, the Bang Kachao Restaurant. “There are little village roads that have nobody on them, narrow paths by canals and stilt houses. Bang Kachao is just an easy place to go and get lost in.”

Insiders’ guide to Bangkok: eat, shop and socialise like a local

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Bangkok’s coolest corners, from neon-lit alleys and punk bars to canalside islands, Song Wat vintage finds and Talat Phlu noodles

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Chinatown and Song Wat

Bangkok’s coolest corners, from neon-lit alleys and punk bars to canalside islands, Song Wat vintage finds and Talat Phlu noodles

Chinatown and Song Wat