The buzz: Here comes another interesting association of talented people. Five’s interior was designed by Ashley Sutton (Iron Fairies, Clouds, Fat Gut’z), its cocktails are by Joseph Boroski (a mixologist with a long list of distinguished clients, like the St. Regis Bangkok) and it is run by Pattriya Na Nakorn, whose family’s involvement with Italasia has led her to import luxury Italian brands (among other ventures). Interestingly, Pattriya decided to eschew the wine bar clichés popping up all over community malls (and this despite Italasia’s deep ties with the wine trade), and focus on well-crafted mixed drinks in a striking, moody décor.

The décor: Sutton has done it again, creating a spell-binding universe that starts from the very second you step in and a young man with long, dark hair and a black robe welcomes you. Soon you make out a network of pulleys, suspended lanterns, an overhead concourse, heavy black beams and black cables threading past them. As with Iron Fairies, a massive staircase towers ominously over the entrance, but this one takes you to a concourse so low you practically have to crawl to make your way to the pods connected to it, which loom over the room, offering both privacy and bird’s eyes views of the action.

The music: House music with live DJ everyday at 9pm.

The crowd: Having opened just before Songkran, it’s not the best month to gauge who will be drinking here. But Sutton’s already proved drinking can be done in a community mall (Clouds is in Seenspace, Fat Gut’z in Grass), so why not here? We’re betting on moneyed 30 and 40-somethings who find Thong Lor too hectic.

The drinks: Joseph Boroski has taken the alchemist theme on board to deliver solid cocktails (B280) with a touch of fantasy. Some are weighed in a massive scale sitting on the bar before being served, evoking potions brewed by witches. Others are shaken and poured from teapots with four-foot long snouts.

Why you’ll come back: It looks like Sutton, it tastes like Boroski and you don’t even have to leave the mall to get to it. Gregoire Glachant