Going Soft

One of our biggest hit stories from the year came from Thai tea turned into soft-serve ice cream. In fact, you people liked it so much that the machine had a breakdown on its first day at work. Cha Tra Mue's follow-up rose tea flavor quickly became the talk of the town, not only for its authentic taste but also its supposed laxative effect. 

Purple Rain

Heekcaa

High Time for Tea

The tea game took great leaps this year, advancing the bubble tea territory beyond BTS-side stalls to the trendy likes of ATM Tea Bar, Tsujiri, Osaka Milk Tea and Halo Koffee. Although perhaps the innovations should have stopped short of Guangzhou-born chain Heekcaa’s invention: tea-based drinks topped with whipped cream cheese. 

Rabbit Hill

Wong-Kar-Wai-ify

Vintage mosaic tiles, sultry red lighting. This year saw six places get the In-the-Mood-for-Love treatment. Yaowarat counted two in Ba Hao and Rabbit Hill. The others included the new offshoot of legendary beef noodle stall Yih Sahp Luhk, the Vietnamese-themed bar and restaurant Happy Endings on Saladaeng Soi 1, and the bars Ninetails and Figure 8 (although admittedly less red). People, it’s really too much.

Go Local

It’s been a year for chefs finding their roots. Included in this are the six chefs featured in our "Are You Local" issue—the fine folk behind Gaa, One Ounce, Canvas, Rarb, 80/20 and 100 Mahaseth—plus the teams at Arena 10’s Prelude and Sukhumvit's urban farm-slash-fine-dining restaurant Haoma.

 

Going Green

Broccoli Revolution owner Naya Ehrlich-Adam has turned her back on wasteful plastic by adopting morning glory stems as the default straw served with every drink in the restaurant. Don't freak out if you aren't willing to suck your acai berry smoothie through a vegetable. They will still keep the option of plastic straws. Other restaurants undergoing similar, sustainable conversions include the Old Town's Seven Spoons and Hazel’s, where you’ll find a gamut of eco-friendly plastic substitutes: bamboo, Pyrex glass and stainless steel. Mad Moa is serving up its cocktails with lemongrass straws, and also experimenting with baked-leaf plates which can be used 3-4 times.

Junk Mail

Following Clinton Street's arrival right at the end of 2016, Siam Paragon's gone full American strip mall with IHOP and Cheesecake Factory. The queues may have died down somewhat, but our waistlines are still ballooning. 

Novelty Dinners

Diner en Blanc made you bring your own food, while Dinner in the Sky wants to charge over B600 for a brownie. Hence why we’ll be happy eating in plain old restaurants for the foreseeable. 

C & T

Junker & Bar’s been telling us for a while now that we should be mixing tonic water into our coffee. Now, the rest of Bangkok has got the memo. There’s espresso tonic at The Coffee Roaster by Library (Warehouse 30), kumquat cold brew tonic at 103 Cafe, and coffee with cola at Chata Specialty Coffee. OK, so that last one’s not tonic, but it kinda works. 

Shak Attack

For too long our weekends have been blighted by lukewarm eggs, soggy brioche and straight-from-the-jar Hollandaise. You can’t blame us for wanting to expand our brekkie horizons beyond eggs Benedict. One dish coming to a rustic-industrial cafe near you is shakshuka, a Middle Eastern specialty that sees poached eggs prepared in a spicy tomato sauce along with plentiful veggies. Some of our favorites can be found at Luka, Quince and Brooklyn Baker.