NEW ROOMS

Holiday Inn Mhai Khao

The brand is a somewhat sterile chain but we like the no-frills décor of this particular hotel, which gives it a clean, modern look. Make sure to book one of the pool-access rooms, though. There’s a shallow ledge extending from your room that makes for the perfect spot to sip beers while dipping you toes. The breakfast buffet is nearly on a par with fancier hotels in the area, and that always goes a long way in our book. There are also these little nooks embedded into the pool—a lovely way to start the day. The beach is superb and unspoiled, with tall casuarina evergreens providing partial shade.

Anantara Vacation Club

If you’ve already fallen for the charms of Mhai Khao, you can look into buying into Anantara’s Vacation Club scheme, which is a membership programme where you commit to buying points every year, which can then be converted to nights at various Anantara Vacation Club properties around the world. If you’re prepared to endure the 90-minute tour and sales pitch, you’ll find two-night deals on their website, from roughly B34,000 for a two-night stay at a pool villa. But you can also simply book a few nights’ stay through websites like agoda.com, starting from around B7,500 for a night with breakfast at an apartment suite. Pool villas are about B20,000 a night this November. The club itself isn’t beachfront, but you can easily transfer to neighboring partner hotels JW Marriot and Anantara Phuket Villas. www.anantaravacationclub.com

Baan Mai Khao by Sansiri

Why not take things even further by buying a beachside condo outright? Sansiri has a brand new development coming up here, featuring six three-story buildings and three five-story buildings. Sizes range from single bedroom units (62.5-71.5 sq meters) from B8.3 milllion, to six massive, 260-sq-meter penthouses going for B53.3 million. Swanky? You bet. They’re describing the style as “modern Sino-Portuguese,” which means blocky modernist structures with touches of geometric motifs vaguely evocative of the kind of tiles you’d see in Phuket Town’s shophouses. You’ll also be able to stay fit even when the red flag is raised on the beach thanks to the 50-meter lap pool. 081-086-4999. [email protected]

Party In The Hood

The classiest nightlife in Phuket happens to be around Surin and Bang Tao, just next to Mhai Khao. Here’s were to dance and drink without the sleaze of Patong.

NAIYANG

Dirty Monstera

On the night we visited the Indigo Pearl, the brand new bar was populated with chic couples (a refreshingly elegant crowd in an island overrun with some pretty horrible tourists). The Russian DJ and his sexy lip-syncing sidekick felt a bit out of place, but the décor is exuberant: a mix of neon signs, steampunk architecture by Bill Bensley referencing the area’s past as a tin mine, and luxuriant plants.  

Indigo Pearl. Nai Yang Beach and National Park, 076-327-006, www.indigo-pearl.com

BANG TAO

XANA BEACH CLUB

This is one of the swankiest beach clubs on the island, and one of the biggest in the world, thanks its vast stretch of beach. It’s also dedicated to bringing in big-name DJs (alumni include Paul Oakenfold and Frankie Knuckles). To mark the start of Phuket’s high season, they will host a Carnival Launch Party on Dec 14, featuring five international DJs, Brazilian dancers and a Rio-themed catwalk show right on Bangtao beach. For the event, the hotel will offer 30% off its room rates—from B6,410—with no minimum stay. 

Angsana Laguna Phuket, 10 Moo, Srisoonthorn Rd., Cherng Talay, 076-324-101. Open daily 9am-midnight, www.xanabeachclub.com

SURIN

Catch

The Twin Palms is slowly taking over Surin Beach, which means pretty wild parties and high-flying DJs. It also means the beach has become nearly private, drawing the ire of some locals. During the high season, you’ll have to cough up B3,000 per day for a beach chair. That amount can then be spent as credit at Catch—making it a kind of minimum spend. 

Surin Beach, Cherng Talay, 076-316-567. Open daily 9am-midnight, www.catchbeachclub.com 

Crocodile Strap 

Shown with: 1977 Seiko Speedtimer

NATO Strap 

This military band was used by the UK armed forces, and made iconic by Sean Connery, who wore it while playing James Bond, on a Rolex Submariner. Normally it’s made of tough nylon fabric, but leather looks cool, too. B500 leather (B400 fabric). 

Shown with:  1972 Rolex “Red” Submariner (brown strap), c. 1971 Omega Memomatic (tan strap),  

1988 Rolex Daytona with Zenith movement (tricolor strap).

Silicone Strap 

Silicone is more comfortable than some plastics, so look out for that. You’ll also see a lot of dive watch straps with bellows, allowing for the strap to expand and contract. That’s to wear the watch on top of a dive suit, as the suits’ thickness will vary with the depth and pressure. B300.

Shown with:  1979 Seiko 6309-7049

Zulu Strap 

Shown with:  1971 Rolex  “Steve McQueen” Explorer

Vintage-style Leather Strap

When made of steel, it’s called a bracelet. When made of fabric or leather, it’s called a band or strap. B1,500 or 1,800 with buckle. 

 

Shown with:  1998 Panerai Submersible

 

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Where to Buy

All straps shown here courtesy of Free Will Strap. G/F, Thaniya Plaza, corner of Soi Thaniya, Silom Rd. Open Mon-Sat 1-8pm. www.facebook.com/freewillstrap

 

Although they only sell online, The Leather Project also has a great selection of rugged leather and crocodile straps. www.facebook.com/TheLeatherProject

 

Another online craftsman in Bangkok is Zirdiva. They have cool designs and they respond quickly to email or Facebook inquiries. www.facebook.com/Zirdiva

Still don't have a copy of Top Tables 2013? Get it here.

1. Opposite Mess Hall

Under chef Jess Barnes’s stewardship, Quince placed third in Top Tables 2013. So really, there’s not much suspense as to whether his new venture, Opposite, will make the cut for Top Tables 2014. It’s the same wonderful Aussie-influenced European cuisine he was doing at Quince, and even if it’s been copied a lot since (see This Needs to Stop), he’s still the guy doing it best. The bigger issue is that Opposite is super noisy (a problem they’ve promised to address) and the bench seating is not the most comfortable. Also, the kitchen is tiny, meaning Barnes can’t do some of his more elaborate, or slower-cooked dishes in there—no bone marrow risotto, for example.

Eat this: Steamed Chinese bun with pork belly, slaw, shrimp mayo and pickled cucumber (B140).

27/1 Sukhumvit Soi 51, 02-662-6330. Open Tue-Sun 7pm-midnight

2 Paste

Paste is one of the most exciting openings this year. For one, it’s Thai food, which always gets extra points in our book. Secondly, the Australian-Thai couple in the kitchen isn’t shy of personalizing recipes (please don’t call it fusion). Thirdly, the food is delicious. The space, a narrow shophouse, is definitely cozy, but the separation between back and front of the house is a tad clumsy. We had to put up with the din of waiters putting away cutlery in the cupboard next to us for nearly an entire meal once. We’ve also been awkwardly seated with a view on the open kitchen, despite never interacting with the chef (in a place this tiny, trust us, it can feel odd).

Eat this: Stock-poached pork neck with chili, red grapefruit, local flowers and toasted sticky rice (B380).

120/6 Sukhumvit Soi 49, 02-392-4313. Open Wed-Sun noon-2:30pm;Tue-Sun 6pm-midnight

3 Chef Man

The first Chef Man opened at the Eastin Grand Hotel Sathorn where it generated instant buzz as the new go-to place for dim sum. Chef Man’s second branch, at the Eastin Hotel Makkasan has done it again, with reservations an absolute must if you’re hoping to sample a steamed cream bun with salted egg or a pork dumpling with abalone. As for the piece de resistance, Chef Wai Yin Man likes to boast about his B2 million kiln made especially for peking duck (B1,200) and his Beijing-native cook who serves up the dish. Do be punctual as the duck will be ready the very minute you booked the table—but note that there’s now also a third branch in Bang Na.

Eat this: Steamed cream bun with salted egg (B110).

3/F, Eastin Grand Sathorn, Sathorn Rd., 02-212-3741. BTS Surasak. Open daily 11:30am-2:30pm; 6-10pm

4 Hong Bao

Run by the high-rolling investor behind Water Library, this Chinese restaurant is another place stirring people into a dim sum delirium. While the food leans towards a decidedly Cantonese direction, the decor is quite lively and, unlike most typical Chinese restaurants, features Shanghainese accents like dark red and black lacquer and basket ceiling lamps. Noon is the best time to visit as, while some of the regular dishes are merely OK, their expertly prepared dim sum packs some serious wow factor.

Eat this: Steamed buns stuffed with lava cream and salted egg (B110).

G/F, Thanya Shopping Park, Srinakarin Rd., 02-108-6055. Open daily 11:30am-2:30pm, 5-10pm

5 Maya

You wouldn’t expect a Holiday Inn to be the center of a big buzz, but Maya’s striking cantilevered structure on the 29/F of the new hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 22 has certainly been turning heads. The kitchen serves up the North Indian culinary creations by Chef Ramneek Singh Lamba such as murgh chandi kebab (marinated chicken with yogurt, cardamom and mace, B380) and crispy okra with cashew and mango powder (B320). Is it going to be competition for heavyweights Indus and Rang Mahal? It’s a still a bit early to tell.

Eat this: Jhinga khada masala (king prawns with shallots, tomatoes, spring onion and spices, B800).

Holiday Inn Sukhumvit, Sukhumvit Soi 22, 02-683-4704. BTS Phrom Pong. Open daily 6pm-1am

6 Rocket

Rocket is bordering on annoyingly hipster, with its marbletop bar, brunch-y menu and Scandinavian-style furniture. Still, it’s definitely one of the more handsome places out there, and the food, while very simple, is both tasty and fresh. Lunch is usually expedited with a salami-cheese on homemade focaccia (B175) or gravlax on Danish rye (B175) but there are also breakfast options from omelettes (B95) and eggs benedict (B185) for those lazy weekend mornings. But while Rocket is a lovely coffee shop with its own in-house bakery, can it offer enough choice to really be considered a restaurant? We’ll have to see how the planned expansion pans out.

Eat this: Gravlax on Danish rye (B175)

149 Sathorn Tai Soi 12, 02-635-0404. Open Tue-Sun 7am-7pm

7  Scalini

With its dark hues and clandestine corners that evoke 1920s prohibition era New York, it may surprise you that the kitchen here is really extroverted and inclusive—you can actually help shape the pasta or just sit back and enjoy watching the loud and lively Italian chefs cooking up dishes like the stellar paccheri pasta with duck ragout, black truffle and pecorino cheese. Need help with pairing your cheese platter with wine? Ask the restaurant manager, Roberto Visaggio, who will impress you with his extensive knowledge.

Eat this: Oven-baked black cod fillet with caramelized white asparagus, Sicilian couscous and black mussels sauce (B600).

Hilton Sukhumvit Bangkok, 11 Sukhumvit Soi 24, 02-620-6666. Open daily 7am-11pm

8 The District

Meat-loving Bangkokians already know all the best steakhouses in town. But, compared to the up-scale competition, The District’s real draw is their claim of cheaper prices, with classic dishes ranging from the 240-day grain fed Australian Angus or tender tenderloin (180 grams, B1,350) to the seafood platter (B2,800). It may help you impress your date but does the quality stack up against the likes of New York Steakhouse at JW Marriott? And is it enough to make up for the pretty tired industrial New York-style décor (again, see This Needs to Stop, page 11)?

Eat this: 240-day grain fed Australian Angus (B1,350 for 180 grams).

2/F, Bangkok Marriott Hotel Sukhumvit, 2 Sukhumvit Soi 57, 02-797-0000. Open daily 6-11pm

9 Aston: Dining Room & Bar

Run by the young Chef Zra Jiraratana, this modernist kitchen has moved into a more hip neighborhood and into a very striking building that’s a chaotic blend of concrete beams, ferns and steel cables. Head up to the second floor, sit down at the counter in front of the large kitchen and witness the fancy kitchen tools in motion whipping up some molecular tricks. If you’re not that hungry for a full meal, there’s also a wine bar with an interesting snack menu downstairs.

Eat this: Yarra Valley lamb rack in red wine jus, seared with eggplant paste and tomato (B2,800 as part of the set menu).

68 Sukhumvit Soi 31, 02-102-2323, 084-551-5559. www.astonbkk.com. Open Tue-Sun 6pm-1am 

10. Appia

Appia actually opened early 2013 and made it into Top Tables 2013. And you can rest assured it'll be in Top Tables 2014. It's the brainchild of Jarret Wrisley of Soul Food Mahanakorn on Thonglor and Chef Paolo Vitaletti, who wanted to open a trattoria doing “Roman-style family recipes.” The decor is warm and avoids the industrial trend through a wood-paneled ceiling with beams, ceramic tiles behind the deli-style counter, turn-of-the-century bistro chairs and rustic chandeliers with little lamp shades. The homemade pasta has a lovely al dente texture that no other restaurant in town can rival. The other notable presence in the kitchen is a beautiful rotisserie, which roasts pork and chicken to a perfect crisp. One of the partners in this venture is a European who owns vineyards in the South of France. As such, you can expect a carefully curated wine selection.

20/4 Sukhumvit Soi 31, 02-261-2056. Open Tue-Sun 6-11pm

You’re Fired! : Restaurants That Could Get The Boot in the 2014 Edition

La Table de Tee

We cut Chef Tee a lot of slack when he opened. Here was this scrappy kid opening a French-influenced restaurant using Thai ingredients—how bold! It was also incredibly cheap. But truth be told, we’ve never been as impressed with the food as with the ideas behind it, and with his prices shooting up, this love affair is now on the rocks.

Signor Sassi

Did Bangkok really need another expensive Italian hotel restaurant, moreover one that’s an imported brand from London, where the place doesn’t even have a Michelin star to its name? Not really. And recent feedback is that Signor Sassi, while not bad, is really nothing to get excited about.

Johann Bistro

Johann had big shoes to fill, being the son of the Mandarin Oriental’s Chef Norbert Kostner, one of the forefathers of Bangkok’s fine dining scene. And despite plenty of buzz initially, Johann fell way short of expectations. “Mains are beset by a bizarre inattention to detail and ill-considered sides,” we wrote in our review.

Hot Chefs : Old Places, New Faces

Feed us : What do people want more of?

Get your digital copy of Top Tables Bangkok 2013  from the BK iPad app or as an e-guide here. 

This Needs to Stop! The Three Most Tired Dining Trends in Bangkok

Industrial Decor and Eggs Benedict

Wooden tables, exposed bulbs dangling from the ceiling, Emeco Navy chairs, a bare cement floor—welcome to [insert random word here] Cafe, the new, hip restaurant that just opened on your street. Its owner studied in New York, and brought back a taste for brunch and exposed air ducts. There’s a marble bar counter sporting cheesecake covered in slimy, canned blueberry jelly under glass domes. The menu is on a clipboard, even though it hasn’t changed once since the place opened. Your waiter, who gets his hair cut at Never Say Cutz, has impeccable fashion sense—but has no clue what “sunny side up” or “over easy” mean. And most importantly, you can’t help but wonder, “What am I doing here? The food sucks. And I’ve been to a dozen such joints that look exactly the same.” Look on the bright side, though, this is a definite improvement from Victorian decor and soft-shell crab salads (the template from a couple of years ago). And the only thing that will kill this trend is another trend, which might be even lamer. Better the devil you know?

Sushi Bars

OK, we realize it’s a bit of a sweeping generalization to say that sushi bars restaurants “need to stop,” but we certainly don’t need a new one opening every other day. Seriously, raw tuna is yummy, but you reach a point where all these sushi bars, who probably use all the same importers anyway, end up tasting pretty much the same. In fact, Japanese restaurants here seem to suffer from a similar problem to Thai restaurants. If they try to do their own thing, they get accused of being fusion. If they stick to the classics, they end up being boring. Not that anyone minds: Japanese restaurants were already on our list of tired trends two years ago, and the speed at which they’re multiplying only seems to have picked up. See our review of Sousaku to find out what happens when a brave Thai guy tries to change how Bangkokians eat sushi bar—and fails.

Rustic European Cuisine

Let’s piss off three restaurants in one go: we’re finding it increasingly difficult to remember what dishes we’ve had at Opposite, which ones we’ve had at Quince and which ones were from Smith. (Well, to be fair, the dry, undercooked brussel sprouts and greasy chicken “confit” were most definitely from our last trip to Smith.) And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Smokey eggplant salads have crept into menus from Sathorn to Ladprao. Terrines on wooden chopping boards are taking over our city. Lamb shanks “for sharing” dominate our dinner tables. To be fair, Quince and Opposite are still delicious (Quince just got a new chef from New Zealand, Blair Mathieson, who we really like). We just wish more people would do their own thing, instead of following in Jess Barnes’ footsteps (from Opposite). As a friend from Shanghai recently told us after checking out these three restaurants, “What’s the point? I could be anywhere.”

Top Tables Update: Bangkok's Best New Restaurants 2013

My father is a Lao Prince, my mum a Bunnag, a descendant of the regent, Sri Suriyawongse. I was born in Bangkok where I lived for four years, but after the Lao coup of 1975 we fled to Paris.

In Paris, my mother remarried a gentleman who worked for Benedictine [a liqueur]. He launched Jet 27 [also a liqueur], which proved very popular. So you could say I got a taste for this stuff very early on. My father, too, would constantly host parties, both in Vientiane and Bangkok.

I went to the very posh Janson de Sailly high school. Then I followed my friends into business school, but I was miserable there. I dropped out, started living a bohemian life, hanging out in museums—the whole Baudelaire thing.

I’d go back to Bangkok once a year, either for summer break, or Christmas. And to me the city was all nightclubs. That’s all I did here.

Narcissus, Tapas, NASA, Palace, Q Bar—the years from 1994 to 1997 were definitely golden years. Narcissus was iconic, epic. Balloons being dropped from the ceiling, DJ Mikey Mike at the decks. The partying was wild. I loved the sense of freedom. You aspire to that, all day, all week. You wait for it.

I finally moved back to Bangkok in 1997, and the economic crisis hit. I tried to be a photographer, but I was mediocre. I consulted for a coyote bar in Soi 24, doing posters, coming up with themes. Soon I realized I wanted to organize parties.

I dated a waitress at Q Bar. And her best friend was dating Paris [Batra, who became Bed Supperclub’s managing director]. So we talked about starting a club and that’s how Bed happened.

I remember the moment before opening and we’re standing there on this immaculate white resin floor, and there are immaculate white bed sheets. And the feeling was, “What the hell is this place?” It was like a piece of modern art.

We’d trained for weeks without a sound system. When it was turned on, that was very powerful. It was like a dragon coming to life.

There are so many best moments. One year after the 2006 coup, in 2007, it was our fifth anniversary. We built a tank, and painted it in flowers. And we’d never tell anyone anything for our birthdays. We would just unveil it on the night of the party.

Bed Supperclub was this perfect platform to create art. It had sound, and scenography, and lights and culinary arts. And none of it ever picked up dust. It’s all gone, destroyed. Well, except the tank. That’s at Jim Thompson’s offices now.

The place looked small at first. But it was just right. We brought in the best DJs and some nights it was just 100-200 people. There was this intimacy, this connection. It was definitely not like hearing Deadmau5 in a hangar.

When we started the hip-hop nights, I’d bring people in through the kitchen, because we’d hugely exceeded the maximum capacity. People could have suffocated in there. But they were incredible moments.

Bed Supperclub tried to go upscale after three years and it alienated the arty crowd it first attracted. Then came the police raid. Five hundred people being made to pee in cups. That was a watershed moment. After that, half our customers never came back. It was never the same.

My Instagram profile says “mid-life crisis.” Yeah, I just can’t get out of it. It feels like I’ve done everything too early, or too late, like having a kid. But actually, I don’t think having a daughter, a girlfriend, and my job, is incompatible. It’s just a job. But sometimes I dream of a corporate life, of a desk job and a chauffeur.

What I do is share experiences. Whether it’s a sound or a lamb shank, at the end of the day, it’s an experience. But I do hate that my job makes me drink and smoke so much. If I could get rid of that, it would be a dream job.

Ashley Sutton [Maggie Choo’s designer and managing partner] doesn’t believe in partying hard, hands in the air and all that. He wants Maggie Choo’s to be this beautiful cabaret. He wants to get people in from 7pm-midnight. That’s it.

I think there’s still room for a good nightclub in Bangkok. I guess it’s my dream to do something with the people from Bed, one day. But I don’t wake up looking to change the world. I just take things as they come. And I try to do them with love and passion.

The folks: This is an old chateau in Bordeaux, but its latest owner is a pretty intriguing guy. Silvio Denz is a perfume creator who bought the legendary glassworks of Lalique, in France. He also owns the biggest auction house for wines in Switzerland, along with two wholesale companies there. On the producing side, he owns vineyards in Spain and France, where he bought Chateau Faugeres in 2005.

The grape: This right-bank Bordeaux wine (Cotes-de-Castillon) is a blend of 85 percent Merlot, 10  percent Cabernet Franc and 5 percent Cabernet Sauvignon. Merlot is the grape Bordeaux is most famous for, as it thrives in the top districts of the region: St. Emillion, Pomerol and Lalande de Pomerol. Its dark color and opulent taste make it the grape of choice for the world’s best wines, including some Pomerol wines that are 100% merlot. Chateau Faugeres’ vines, which are an average of 30 years old, are planted on a limestone plateau and on clay and limestone hillsides.

The look: Dark to medium red.

The smell: Dark berries, earth and a tad of spice (which could be anything from earth, tobacco or cocoa).

The sip: You’ll probably taste much of what you smelled, making for a lush and easy to drink wine, even if the fruit doesn’t really hold up for very long. Overall, a fun, crowd-pleasing, modern Bordeaux, even if it’s not super complex.

The serve: Make sure you open it at least 30 minutes before drinking and that it’s not too cold (14-16 degrees Celcius). Actually, you could also just keep this wine for a couple more years.

B2,500 at Wine Gallery, at Emporium (BTS Phrom Pong or Siam Paragon (BTS Siam)