For when you want dinner with those drinks

Freebird

Estimate date budget: B3,000-4,000*
The big graffiti mural in the dining room is kind of a vibe killer, so instead book your date for brunch in the charming back garden, where your pick-up lines will be complemented by free-range chickens and the sound of birds chirping. Hot stuff. The dishes like crab buckwheat risotto (B385) and cocktails such as Salon Prive (B320) aren’t bad, either.
28 Sukhumvit Soi 47, 02-662-4936. Open daily 5:30pm-midnight

Vesper

Estimate date budget: B3,000-4,000*
The Sardinia-referencing menu of bar food is an absolute win (get the fregola with mussels and clams, B320), while the drinks are so good that the pair of you will be drunk before you know it. Our pick: the Frida Kahlo-referencing Self-Portrait with Necklace of Thorns (B390). Otherwise known as a fancy negroni.
10/15 Convent Rd., 02-235-2777. Open Mon-Fri noon-2:30pm; Mon-Sat 6pm-1am; Sun 6pm-midnight

Bunker

Estimate date budget: B3,500-5,000*
This post-apocalyptic vision of tapas-and-cocktail culture gets its date credentials very right. One, tables are far enough away from each other to have a private conversation. Two, it doesn’t hold back when it pours stiff drinks like Siam Sipper (B280). And three, you’ve got the rest of Sathorn’s best bars to pick from if the night’s going well.
118/2 Sathorn Soi 12, 092-563-9991, 02-234-7749. Open Sun-Wed 5:30pm-1am; Thu-Sat 5:30pm-2am

For when you need a movie to help with the awkward silences

The Friese-Greene Club

Estimate date budget: B1,000*
Just nine people fit in this indie cinema for a bona-fide secretive vibe, while the movie lineup goes where no mainstream Thai cinema would dare. Nineties trash comedy Preaching to the Perverted (showing Feb 14) might not be first-date stuff, but you’ll find a different movie pretty much every night of the week. A glass of house red wine at the bar costs B120.
259/6 Sukhumvit Soi 22, 087-000-0795. Open Tue-Sun 6pm-midnight

Bangkok Screening Room

Estimate date budget: B1,500-2,000*
Silom’s 50-seat alternative cinema doesn’t just have a multiplex-beating roster of independent and classic movies; it also has an excellent bar lounge with plenty of intimate corners (beers like Rouge Hazelnut Brown Nectar cost B240). This V-Day drop by at 9pm for something moody and Japanese called Harmonium, or catch the fashion biopic Yohji Yamamoto: Dressmaker at 4:15pm.
2/F, 1/3-7 Sala Daeng Soi 1, 090-906-3888. Open Tue-Fri 3:30pm-midnight; Sat-Sun 11am-midnight

For when you’re kinda broke

Le Cafe des Stagiaires

Estimate date budget: B1,000-1,500 (happy hour)*
The easygoing Sathorn bar with a heavily French vibe pours its signature cocktails (B300-380) with B100 discount from 4-8pm every day—must-know info for any penny-pinching Cassanova. The jeans-and-T-shirt atmosphere and outdoor terrace complete its date-spot credentials.
142/21 Sathorn Soi 12, 081-207-3077. Open Tue-Fri 7:30-2am; Sat-Sun 9-2am

Vogue Lounge

Estimate date budget: B1,200 (happy hour)*
Don’t let the sexy blend of plum leather and chrome-plated toothpicks fool you into thinking you can’t afford to date here. Starting at 5pm, its buy-one-get-one-free on the potent and very awesome house cocktails (B340). Just make sure you get your date the hell away from there after 9pm, when stuff gets a bit more serious.
6/F, Mahanakhon Cube, Narathiwat Ratchanakarin Rd., 02-001-0697. Open daily 5pm-2am

For impressing with serious cocktails

Bronx

Estimate date budget: B2,000-3,000*
Down-to-the-last-detail cocktails come with little homemade nibbles on the side. Word of advice: avoid the sesame gherkin if you plan on any lip-locking later. The cocktail it comes with is amazing, though: an inhibition-loosening blend of sake, vodka and rice wine called Umami (B300).
Thonglor Soi 25, 02-036-6071. Open Tue-Sun 7pm-2am

Q&A

Estimate date budget: B2,500-3,000*
Only a handful of people can squeeze into this slice of high-end craft cocktail culture hidden away near Asoke junction. Expect the barman to join in on your date if you don’t book ahead, as walk-ins have to sit at the counter. In fact, their website lists a bunch of do’s and dont’s for you to brush up on before your visit. Fun times!
235/13 Sukhumvit Soi 21, 02-664-1445. Open Mon-Sat 7pm-2am

J. Boroski

Estimate date budget: B2,500-3,000*
Instead of choosing from a menu, here you get interrogated by a barman about stuff like sweetness, strength and spirit preference before he whips that information up into something delicious and charges you B500 for the privilege. It’s all desperately pretentious but also kinda fun, while the moody space carries enough class to make your date feel special.
Sukhumvit Soi 55, between Thonglor soi 5 and 7, 02-712-6025, Open Tue-Sun 7pm-2am

Rabbit Hole

Estimate date budget: B2,500*
Try and snag seats on the second-story mezzanine, where the big velvet sofa’s perfect for getting a little closer after a few drinks. And on the subject of drinks, the one’s here are superb. B450 for the White Truffle Martini ain’t cheap, but who wants to go to bed with a cheapskate?
125 Sukhumvit Soi 55 (Thonglor), 081-822-3392, 098-969-1335. Open daily 7pm-2am

*We've tried to give you a reliable idea of how much it'll cost going for a date at each of these places. The price shown is based on two people having three drinks each. Where we talk about dinner dates, we've thrown in the cost of a few plates of food, too. 

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