Khao San’s sister street Phra Arthit Road has changed a lot this year as more of the abandoned shop-houses have been transformed into bars.

This latest space called Rong Lao (an old Thai world for bar) looks like the area’s classic zero-attitude bar where you can open a square bottle of Sangsom (B240) or Blend 285 (B450) and share it with your friends while listening to live acoustic daily. Local beers like Singha (B100/750ml), Leo (B110), Chang (B100) and Heineken (B140) are available in large bottles. 

The twist here is that they have an izakaya theme, with Japanese drinking dishes on offer like edamame (B40), takoyaki (wheat-flour dumplings, B70) and hiyashi wakame (seaweed salad, B60) as well as mains like tonkatsu (B110) and chicken teriyaki (B90).