Aree Bar

Hard liquor heaven - superb selection for spirits drinkers.

If a Pad Thai Western film is ever made in Thailand, the relatively new Aree Bar would be perfect for the obligatory saloon scenes and shots.

It's darkish brown, exposed brick interior, wooden floors, bar stools, round and long tables, swinging doors and a whiskey and bourbon laden open bar evokes a Siam 'honky tonk' vibe (in a good way).

Triple treats, from left: salmon larb, lemon grass steamed mussels and chicken knuckles.

Run, I believe, by the same family/group, who manage the very successful (and good) Salt restaurant across the road, Aree Bar is built for drinking and snacking Thai style.

So not too many beers or wines, but an excellent selection of spirits complemented by a compact menu of glab glaem (Thai bar snacks and salads) dishes. While the menu is quite small, the dishes are full of big flavours, packing as much punch as their impressive selection of bourbons and single malts. We really liked our lemon grass steamed mussels and salmon larb.

Calm before the storm - all quiet before the band kicks into action.

And why aren't deep fried lemongrass chicken knuckles on more bar menus around the world? Yes, the cholesterol damage is likely to be immense but now, and again, they are finger licking awesome.

In addition to hard liquor and bar nibbles, Aree is popular as a live music venue - we visited too early to catch any acts but given its layout, and vibe, I think Aree Bar would be a good place to watch a band. Wonder if Willie Nelson or Tammy Wynette are keen to play Bangkok?

More information about Aree Bar

Steve Cafe & Cuisine

Location, location, location.

If charm, character, and warmth could be packaged and sold, the owners of Steve Cafe & Cuisine (SCC) would be billionaires.

Raw power -  prawns and red hot dipping sauce.

Besides stunning river views, SCC offers a 'dining with the family' vibe that's unmatched (only my opinion) and pretty special.

The restaurant is an old riverside family home that has  been renovated to accommodate around 40-50 dining guests. Besides a sheltered open-air front deck, there are small side dining rooms and a large'ish lobby.

On arrival (after a short walk from the National Library car park), guests are invited to take off their shoes before being welcomed by the SCC staff. The servers range in age from 8-40+ and everyone is friendly, affable and helpful - the "Tao of Steve" is a serene, and peaceful one.

Onto the food, the menu is crammed with Thai home-cooked favourites.

We tucked into raw river prawns - served with spicy dressing, Yam Som O, a refreshing pomelo salad, and wafer thin sliced deep fried chicken with lemon sauce (a very creative and delicious take on lemon chicken). In need of some carbs we also enjoyed thin pasta with bacon, preserved egg, bacon bits, onion complemented with deep fried onion and fish - another creative dish that proved yet again, everything tastes better with bacon and eggs.

Don't tell the Colonel - this lemon chicken dish is sensational.

Like the ambience, the food was spot-on and according to my mum-in-law, was prepared and flavoured with Thai people in mind.

Yam Som O - delicious and refreshing pomelo salad

Oh, and their coffee is excellent. All up, a great afternoon out and SSC is a super relaxing wining and dining spot by the river - we think we're going to be long-term friends with Steve.

Pasta Thai? Pasta with a Thai twist or three.

More information:
The Steve Cafe & Cuisine web site

16.18

Sixteen minutes and seventeen seconds of joy. How I wish I was walking in New Orleans with these guys.

Red Oven

Cold-cut heaven

What are the four English words most Thai, Southeast Asian, Asian people love the most....

All You Can Eat

And buffet is the six-letter word that cranks up the lust/greed/glutton levels in many normally mild mannered folks across the region. Whether it's pizza, ice cream, sushi, noodles, dim sum, or steamboat there'll always be a queue outside restaurants offering buffet menus.

I like the "food nirvana dream" sold by the buffet concept but the reality (for me), is a whole lot different. I always enter the buffet arena with "pace yourself" good intensions, but invariably end up eating plates of mis-matched food, and going home with a stomach ache.

Table overlooking Lumphini Park

That was until a recent Mother's Day visit to Red Oven (at the newish and very smart and elegant Hotel Sofitel So Bangkok in Bangrak) and its "world market" array of dishes. True to its marketing hype, Red Oven offers Spanish cold cuts and olives, French cheeses, Turkish dips, a sushi station, a teriyaki bar, a salad station, a seafood station, Thai salads, asian and thai favourites, mongolian pork, roast meats, tandoori kebabs, pastas, shepherd's pie, truffle mash potatoes, cannelloni, a patisserie and even teppanyaki ice cream.

Pretty comprehensive and pretty delicious. And good value too given the 1,000 baht++  charge per diner. But that's not all, the dining room offers a magnificent view over Lumphini Park.

Stuff of ice cream dreams.... toppings galore.

While Red Oven is special occasion dining destination just up a few blocks is another super - and much, much cheaper - buffet alternative at the Furama Silom Hotel. From Monday to Friday they offer the best value for money lunch deal in town.

Thanks again to my buddy Adam - one of the good food finders in Bangkok - for this recommendation. For just 200 baht (just a bit more than a Big Mac set) you can choose from an array of Thai, Western and Japanese dishes. They also have a noodle station and Khao Soy noodles available. To finish up, the coconut ice cream is delicious and you can also sip a post meal cup of tea or coffee.

Cool graphic take of Krungthep.

Marley Magnificent

I've been waiting a long time to watch this Kevin MacDonald directed Bob (Robbie to his school mates) Marley doco and for once, my patience and anticipation was richly rewarded.

Sure, it's mostly "positive vibrations" throughout the 150-minute film, with few, if any, "Bad Bob" stories but that's a minor quibble. 

Fact is, Bob packed plenty of living in his 36 years. Yes, Bob departed this world for a greener (probably) and more pleasant place at a very young age - I forgot he died so young. Well, young in today's pop environment, where bands and artists never age (or retire) - they just take long breaks before reforming again and again (usually to pay off 'surprise' tax bills).

I've been a BMW (Bob Marley & the Wailers) fan for three decades. As a young un, the BMW sound was pretty hard to escape - it was the soundtrack to school sports trips, road trips, at the school yard, countless parties and more. 

    A beautiful piano & vocals only version of No Women, No Cry is one of the movie highlights 

Indeed, Bob's music and messages were embraced by many New Zealanders. Just as Morrissey and The Smiths sang to millions of lonely, shy, mostly white teens around the world, Marley's music connected deeply with Maori people in the early 70s, and still today. Heck, Marley's February 6 birthday is celebrated by thousands of New Zealanders every year - here's a great piece on this unique connection.

In addition, for New Zealanders of a certain vintage, Marley's concert in Auckland in 1979 has taken on mythical, and stuff of legend, status. 

Back to the film, it's beautifully shot and edited, and flows seamlessly. It's also thorough with revealing information about Marley's English father, and his gallivanting ways. Just a shame there were no interviews with Marley's English side of the family.

              The late Dylan Taite's wonderful interview with Marley during his 79 visit to NZ.  

While there's plenty of music, the highlights are stories from a whole host of reggae luminaries including Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt, Bunny Wailer, Lee Scratch Perry, the Carlton brothers and others.

It's a shame the late Peter Tosh wasn't featured more and I don't know if the film makers had a beef with Chris Blackwell, the Island Records supremo, but he comes across as a bit of a creep.

Even if you're not a fan, or are unfamiliar with Marley's music, there's plenty of good stuff including funny anecdotes and back stories. My favorite was a revelation that the "reggae sound" was created by accident - specifically, a "delay effect" delivered by an ancient tape recorder.

Amy Winehouse: Angel of Dingle

Brilliantly simple and simply brilliant.

That's my take on "Amy Winehouse: The Day She Came To Dingle," the recently-aired documentary about Amy Winehouse's performance at the tiny St. James Church in remote Dingle (the western most point in Ireland) in 2006.

While there's amazing footage of her intimate, unplugged gig for 80 lucky punters, the interviews with Amy and local organisers were for me, the best thing about this doco gem.

This was Amy before Back to Black mega-stardom. Throughout the interview segments, she's relaxed, charming and basically, a right laugh. Someone you'd love to call a friend or best mate, especially if you love music. God, her record collection must have been amazing.

Her musical education began with Kylie and Madonna, moved onto R&B and hip and hop, included a bit grunge, and always, always, a huge amount of jazz.

She waxes lyrical about gospel and jazz "hall of famers" such as Mahalia Jackson, Sarah Vaughn, Diana Washington, Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk. There's also footage of modern jazz legend, Carleen Anderson singing a beautiful "Don't Look Back in Anger" (yes, the Oasis song) cover.

Amy was equally enamored by the drama queen power pop tunes sung by 60s girl groups, The Shangri-Las, The Ronettes and The Crystals. She of course, had drama queen tendencies of her own. As revealed in the film, marathon binge drinking sessions, listening to the Shangri-Las on repeat and eating KFC for days was one of her post "romance gone bad" coping mechanism" strategies.

For me, this was close to a perfect music doco. The length was just right (just under an hour), the live music bits were moving, poignant, and bloody beautiful and Amy was candid, open, honest and being herself. In addition, it highlighted terrific, and often very funny stories from the gig organisers, and best of all there were no weighty, lofty, ernest "state of the rock nation-like" commentaries from "rock legend" talking heads.

More info here on the BBC site

Tete Quarters

Hold the calls.. I could be here for sometime.

No cash to fly to Paris? No worries, a dash of Left Bank panache can be enjoyed and embraced at the recently opened Tete Quarters (TQ) wine room and restaurant.

When owner, KK Chin invites you to "make yourself at home," he really means it and given TQ's prime riverside location coupled with its chic interior and decor, classic jazz soundtrack, comfy sofas and armchairs, you may never leave. 

TQ is the latest wine-themed bar / eatery to open in Bangkok but don't let that put you off. While many other Bangkok vino-inspired places are really pubs / clubs serving wine, the "swellegant" TQ is custom built for wine quaffing and clever conversation.

To complement the wine, there's lots to like on the diverse TQ menu and we especially enjoyed the spicy salmon som tam (with sweet strawberries to ease the heat).

Other delicious plates included succulent crab cakes, juicy burger sliders, a bacon-hock flavoured pumpkin soup (popular with us all) and big flavoured spare ribs. Their fragrant beef curry with roti deserves a special mention, as does the magnum ice cream with Baileys combo.

Ribs (top) and crab cakes (below).

You know this place is good when I've gone four paragraphs without mentioning its "money-shot" view of the Chao Phraya River. With Amorosa Bar now overrun with tourists, TQ is a terrific, and easier to reach, option for a sunset drink.

And if you need a break from wining, dining and talking, a window side seat offers a grandstand (sometimes hilarious) view of group tour tourists boarding the massive river dining cruise boats.

Finally, KK is a top bloke and magnificent host who is open to new ideas regarding the menu, wines, beers, and entertainment. He's taking his time to get TQ established and based on our night out, he's made a flying start and we can't wait to return.

Address: Room 226-228, 2nd floor
River City Shopping Center 
23 Yota Road Chareonkrung 
30 Talad Noi
Samphantawong
Bangkok 10100
Tel: 081-692-3647
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