As a city,
Bangkok is a bit like Marmite, Brussels sprouts or capers: either you love it
or you hate it. I happen to love Bangkok in all its two-faced glory. Poor
against rich, glittery golden temples full of colour, incense and people
against gleamy designer apartment buildings where nobody seems to be living. A
pint of beer for a pound, or a cocktail for twelve quid - it's all to be had
within a single taxi ride that shouldn't cost you more than a journey with your
Oyster card.
(That
overpriced cocktail mentioned above is courtesy of Sky Bar, atop the State
Tower. It's mentioned in every guidebook so should be easy to find. What no
guidebook seems to capture, however, is its amazingness. You'll find yourself sixty-four
floors up in the air, yet outside, with a Hollywood staircase to end all
staircases. You'll be oohing and aahing over the view, fighting rubbery legs
and feeling, well, on top of the world. Go there! And then go on to Clouds
Lounge, like we did.)
Clouds
Lounge is tucked away on a square in Thonglor, a neighbourhood that has been
hip and happening for a while now. Bangkokians love to live there, eat there,
go out there. The bar is futuristic, half inside, half outside, and sports an enormous
tree trunk right in the middle. The ceiling is decked out with what can only be
described as an art installation: Christmas bells are bobbing up and down,
making the ceiling a moveable, squirmy seasonal decoration. My friends tell me
that only last month, there were green apples there, with one red one in the
middle, and a Japanese lady in kimono sitting on the tree trunk knitting a
scarf. All night.
Ashley
Sutton's third venue, after the equally interesting if totally different Iron
Fairies and Fat Gut'z, Clouds is more than a bar. It's a place where living art is displayed to
surprise its customers. The cocktail list does the same - it surprises. For
starters, the names of the drinks are nearly all cloudy, airy, dreamy: there's
As High as a Kite, Cloud 9 and Silver Lining. Next, for some reason they're all
made using Ketel One. Which is kind of handy when you want to try every single
funky one and not mix your spirits.
I'm kicking
off the night with As High as a Kite, an espresso based cocktail, to make up
for the fact I missed out on coffee after dinner. It comes with a little shot
glass full of espresso jelly and wakes me up in an instant. It's not the only
drink that could pass as a dessert. The one called Rocky Road to Perdition
lives up to its name and features chocolate ice cream, marshmallows and nuts.
Starbucks eat your heart out. More zingy and refreshing are Lighter than Air
which is topped with a mountain of foam (egg white?), and Head in the Clouds, a
green apple and blueberry based concoction infused with rosemary. See, told you
you'd want to try them all.
Food is
also on the menu. The Portobello mushroom pizza does what it's supposed to do -
it lines the stomach in preparation for yet another cocktail - but that's all. Contrary
to what you'd think if you've ever visited Iron Fairies, where they boast to
serve the best burger in town, this is food for sharing, for sustenance, on a
night that's all about the drinks, good company and enjoying the warm air.
If you're
joined by a Real Man (i.e. one that refuses to drink anything but beer), you're
still good. Next door, with seating on the same square, there's a brewery where
they serve an impressive array of beers, even the odd pint of Hoegaarden. You
can mix and match your drinks sitting at the same table, without having to hide
them from the waiting staff. This is Thailand, nobody minds.
The weekend
revellers are trendy and mainly Asian. Twenty and thirty somethings. I spot
couples, businessmen along with large groups of friends sipping from shared 'fish
bowls' - the upmarket equivalent of Ko Phangan's plastic cocktail bucket. I
don't feel out of place, our group fits right in. It feels like we're right in
the thick of it, surrounded by 'real Thai people'. A true find. Perfect for a foodie in
Thailand. Bangkok, I love it.
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