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Boutique Bangkok
STIRLING SILLIPHANT REVEALS THE BEST THAT BANGKOK HAS TO OFFER
A DECADE ago, the term “boutique” meant one thing to most people: a small shop selling original, handmade clothes rather than factory-churned garments. The term has since mushroomed into a cultural movement that includes not just fashion, but hostelry, dining, nightlife and even airlines. challenging functionality and the notion that “bigger is better” has been at the core of the “boutique” movement – from its origins in Anglo-American “bed-and-breakfasts” to today’s “lifestyle malls”.
As boutique properties and services increasingly become a successful and sustainable business model, mantras like “form follows function” become trite and dated. “Boutique” may indeed be a buzzword, but it is certainly more colourful than the mass-produced consumer culture to which it strives to create alternatives.
“Boutique” essentially means common sense: don’t overbuild; stick to what you’re good at; know your customers; and respect your own uniqueness enough to value – rather than fight – competition. It is a philosophy that resonates in Thai culture, especially on an aesthetic level. Think of the traditional Thai timber house with its free-flowing floor plan; not only does Thai architecture and design favour modest scaling, but the very dealings of people with their surroundings.
“Thailand is always well respected for its culture, design capabilities and creativity,” says Pierre Drake, designer of The Face, a stunning, village-like bar, restaurant and spa in Bangkok’s trendy Thong Lor area.
“Just go around Chatuchak or the trendy little cafes and bars in the back streets. Thai people have ideas and know what they’re doing,” he continues. In fact, Bangkok may well be unique in comparison to many places, in that “boutique” is not just for the elite but rather a street level phenomenon.
Just as European cities of the 1960s reacted against the humdrum functionalism of Le Corbusier lines by embracing cafés, bistros, and farmers’ markets, 21st-century Bangkok is going through its own “boutique” revolution. Small businesses have sprung up all over the city, many favouring traditional Thai aesthetics; others playing on creative self-expression and stylistic innovation adapted from the West.
From gardened spas in converted houses to funky “art hotels” and warehouses of retro kitsch, Bangkok has the most versatile array of shops, bars, restaurants, spas and hotels of any Asian capital.
Read on to discover some of the best.
Boutique Beds
REFLECTIONS: ROOMS IN BANGKOK
Daring enough to throw off the shackles of design minimalism, Reflections screams its way into visitors’ hearts with 30 colour-mad, themed rooms, each designed by a different Thai artist.
Although the hotel’s look and feel is quite Western in many ways, it showcases homegrown talent like Jitsing Somboon (menswear designer for Greyhound) and Pop painter Kongpat Sakdapitak.
Also on its premises are several bars, a karaoke lounge, gift-shop, swimming pool, massage services and a large restaurant in a separate house serving Thai and Japanese cuisine. Advance booking is essential at any time of the year.
THE EUGENIA
Part hunting-lodge, part colonial hill station, part-Asian oasis and 100% luxury is Bangkok’s newest boutique property: The Eugenia.
If you are turned off by the taxidermy – there’s a tortoise shell, stuffed peacocks and an entire croc on display! – you will still be charmed by the mahogany doors, tall ceilings, copper bathtubs, four-post beds, emerald green swimming pool and – wait for it – free breakfast, wi-fi, international calls and mini-bar. Oh, and did we mention the chauffeur-driven Jaguar, Daimler Limo, Mercedes 220S Ponton and Vespa with sidecar for hire?
ARUN RESIDENCE
Although the Chao Phraya River is best experienced at sea level, riverside hotels still follow the vertical impulse to build upwards. Thankfully, Ratanakosin’s newest boutique hotel kept its sights low – and scores high for it.
Comprised of only five rooms and a patio restaurant overlooking 17th-century Wat Arun, this small, cosy wooden house – painted in soothing hues of bottle green, temple yellow and beige – has enough separated areas to guarantee privacy and the kind of Old Bangkok charm you wouldn’t think still existed.
Boutique Buys
IT’S HAPPENED TO BE A CLOSET
Cross Amelie with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and add a dash of Sex in the City – and you would have this oddly named, three-storey tribute to feminine whimsy. A clothing boutique in principal, It’s Happened to be a Closet is also a restaurant/cafe, reading lounge and all around paragon of cosy chic.
The food is also excellent, although, with only one table to go around, things can get a bit crowded. The newer Khao San Road branch is somewhat quieter but doesn’t feel as “lived in” as the Siam Square original.
PAPAYA
The grass is always greener on the other side, it seems. Western buyers fly halfway around the world for amulets and Buddhas, while Thai retrophiles cross town to come here and browse plastic lobsters, cocktail shakers, vinyl sofas, eggshell loungers and a thousand other random pieces of fascinating vintage miscellany.
The man behind Papaya, Supoj “Tong” Siripornlartkul, could be said to have started Thailand’s “retro” craze, not to mention the import and resale of Western vintage furniture in Southeast Asia. His museum of a warehouse and showroom is popular with local celebrities and film crews.
ÁMANTEE
If shopping for antiques in air-conditioned malls is giving you a headache, you need to visit this exquisite open-air gallery/showroom.
Set within a complex of traditional Thai-style houses in an artfully landscaped garden with ponds and tropical foliage, Ámantee hosts a permanent collection of centuries-old Asian artefacts that include classical Siamese paintings, woodcarvings and manuscripts. It also sells garden furnishings, household items, coffee, tea and wine – plus it also hosts photography exhibitions, courses and other activities.
Boutique Bars
FACE BAR
In a gardened compound of six Thai-style pavilions made of recycled and reclaimed wood is Face Bar where the varieties of Thai/Balinese/Indian flavours meet 1930s Anna Mae Wong Chinoiserie. Sip a cosmopolitan in an antique, canopied bed, or just laze out on a Fatboy beanbag chair.
If you prefer to be kneaded rather than inebriated to bliss, stumble over to Spa @ Face, where massages and body scrubs are offered from 10am to 10pm.
TAPAS
Helping pave the way for other bars that favour the subdued and stylish over the garish and booming, two-room, two-floor Tapas has been going at it for almost a decade. It’s a winning combination of Balinese-meets-Mediterranean decor, percussive house and tribal beats, and pitchers of potent iced kamikaze make it a hit with an affable, mixed crowd from all walks of life. This benchmark bar has withstood the test of time – and seen the opening and fizzling out of many a competitor.
PHRANAKORN BAR
The original ambassadors of “boutique”, art students have a penchant for fun, funky haunts and this Old Town watering hole bristles with more charm than 99% of the high-concept nightclubs are able to muster.
In addition to rock bottom prices on whiskey and beer and great views of The Golden Mount and Democracy Monument from the gardened rooftop patio, the four-storey Phranakorn Bar also packs in a pool table and a rainbow of quirky retro furniture.
Boutique Bites
EAT ME!
Tagging your restaurant “fusion” was a risky move when Eat Me! opened eight years ago. But Australian Darren Haussler persisted in serving inventive, cross-cultural dishes. His sleek multi-sectioned restaurant, which doubles as an art gallery, ensures intimacy even on the busiest of nights – of which there are many.
The “contemporary Asian” menu, featuring lots of mango, ginger, coriander, pomelo and kaffir lime to stimulate the tastebuds, changes daily and food is best when ordered to share communally.
Wash it down with a bottle of New World wine or generously measured cocktails.
SPRING & SUMMER
You never know who might waltz in to Spring & Summer. Following its cameo in the New York Times, UK Wallpaper* and French Elle, TV star Phol Tantasathien’s Thai restaurant-cum-desert-shop is one of those places where you expect to rub shoulders with all manner of jet-setting media types.
The kitchen also dishes up interesting Thai-fusion food – although portions leave plenty of room for dessert – strong cocktails and a good wine list. During the dry season, outdoor bar Winter provides an al fresco lawn on which to frolic.
PLA DIB
Contender for the best new restaurant of 2005, Pla Dib serves a mix of Japanese, Western and Thai food. The peerless “neighbourhood” feel, spirit and attention to detail has not diminished one bit since its opening day.
Soft-shell crab salad, grilled salmon with wasabi and mushrooms, seafood ceviche, duck and pomelo salad, heavenly mashed potatoes, and wood-fired pizzas are among the dozens of dishes of which Pla Dib’s buzzed patrons just can’t get enough.
Boutique Beauty
RUAN NUAD
Serenity in the heart of downtown Bangkok is hard enough to come by, but serenity on a budget? Only at Ruan Nuad, a simple two-storey, Thai wooden house where you have the equally simple choice to make between traditional Thai massage, oil massage and foot massage.
Trained in healing arts, the practitioners are faultless, and excel in working with customers. Come more than once, and it is likely your practitioner of choice will have familiarised himself/herself with your sore spots and aching joints.
BEING SPA
A pioneer of style from the early days – before Balinese-accented, Pan-Asian decor schemes became obligatory for a spa to obtain a pampering permit, Being Spa was among Bangkok’s first high-end, stand-alone spas.
Elder sister of upmarket Thai fusion restaurant Mahanaga, with which it shares a similar contemporary Asian-meets-Moorish opulence, the spa offers 12 private treatment rooms. Each contains special water therapy features such as a shower-bed room, spray room (the needle-jet room) and traditional floral-bath room. Collagen Ultimate Facial, Hot Stone Body Massage and Oxygenating Green Tea Body Wrap are among two dozen or so treatments on offer.
DVN
There aren’t any single treatment rooms at DVN. Instead, all of the seven rooms are doubles and feature an en suite steam room and lovely Central Thai porcelain bathtubs.
Bucking the contemporary Asian style of most other spas, the half-century year-old house in which DVN’s ensconced has an English country home feel to it, painted in hues of white and cream. Still, uniquely Thai touches pervade throughout, from sun-roofed veranda bathrooms, silk bed covers, and – of course – an oversized tropical garden with a massive rain tree shading the entire compound.
DVN brands itself a “well-being centre” where, in addition to a full menu of treatments, one can learn massage, how to blend oils, practice yoga – or simply just sip tea.
CONTACT DETAILS
Ámantee, 131/3 Chaeng Wattana 13, tel +66 (0)2 982-8645, www.amantee.com;
Arun Residence, 36-38 Soi Pratoo Nok Yoong, Maharat Road, tel +66 (0)2 221-9158, www..arunresidence.com;
Being Spa, 88 Sukhumvit 51, tel +66
(0)2 662-6171, www.beingspa.com;
DVN spa, 8 Sukhumvit 35, tel +66 (0)2 261-4818, www.dvn-wellbeing.com;
Eat Me! Convent Road 1/6 Soi Pipat 2, tel +66 (0)2 238-0931;
The Eugenia, Sukhumvit Soi 31, tel +66 (0)2 259-9011, www.theeugenia.com;
Face Bar, Sukhumvit Soi 38, tel +66 (0)2 713-6048, www.facebars.com;
It’s Happened to be a Closet, 266/10 Siam Square, Soi 3, tel +66 (0)2 658-4416;
Papaya, 89/57 Bangkok Bazaar Ratchadamri Road (across from Big C), tel +66 (0)2 655-3335;
Phranakorn Bar & Gallery, 58/2 Ratcadamnoen Klang Road, tel +66 (0)2 622-0282;
Pla Dib, 1/1 Areesamphan Soi 7, Phaholyothin Road, tel +66 (0)2 279-8185;
Reflections: Rooms in Bangkok, 81 Soi Ari, Phaholyothin 7 Road, tel +66 (0)2 270-3344, www.reflections-thai.com; Ruan Nuad, 42 Convent Road (opposite BNH Hospital), tel +66 (0)2 632-2662;
Spring & Summer, 199 Soi Promsri 2, Sukhumvit Soi 39, tel +66
(0)2 392-2747/8; Tapas, Silom Soi 4, tel +66 (0)2 234-4737
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