BANGKOK RESTAURANT

Dexter Café & Bar

Sathorn welcomes another photogenic brunch spot.

1
Average: 1 (1 vote)

Replacing Green, the healthy salad and sandwich café that’s moved to Emporium, Dexter Café & Bar does all-day casual dining in an industrial space. The menu spans familiar breakfast and brunch favorites through to heartier options like fish and chips (B258), beef stew (B248) and spare ribs with barbecue sauce (B358). For something sweet, try the strawberry soup with mint vanilla ice cream (B128). You can also pop in after work for half-price cocktails and other deals from 5-7pm.

Tucked down a small alley off Sathorn Road, Dexter does all-day casual dining in an Instagram-baiting industrial space of white subway tiles, inspirational quotes and, the centerpiece, an eponymous vintage-style marquee sign. It’s quite charming, if a little uninspired.
 
The menu, too, appeals very much to current tastes, spanning eggs Benedict, pulled pork sandwiches and creamy pastas, but these are not nearly as successful as the decoration. Despite the lettering on the wall urging you to “Look at Things Differently” (the “Differently” is upside down), there’s very little that stands out here, apart from the all-hours drink deals: from buy one-get-one-free on coffee (9-11am) to three-for-two cocktails every day.
 
Aside from some serviceable egg dishes, the aforementioned pulled pork sandwich (B268) is probably the best of a rather tepid lot, with moist, decently seasoned meat. It’s the bread that’s a big let-down, though; in a town now teeming with artisanal bakers, there’s no excuse for this spongy, soulless bun. On the side you get both French fries—seemingly of the precut frozen variety—and equally uninspired, soggy “homemade” potato wedges.
 
The Middle Earth salad (B248), meanwhile, doesn’t lack for freshness, but is a misguided mound of greens heaped with dragonfruit, grapes, apple and grapefruit, and drizzled with a sweet pink dressing. The worst part, though, are the clumps of fried chicken—so crispy they resemble pork crackling. The salmon steak (B318) is a similarly crunchy affair, sitting atop a buttery bed of spinach with little sign of the advertised dill sauce. The roasted tomatoes on the side are tasty, though. As for dessert, the soft biscuit with ice cream, a special on our last visit, is a massive powder-y, crumbling disappointment.
 
Dexter’s many drink and lunch deals (see Facebook) seem to be winning over the Tripadvisor crowd, and there is some value to be found there, but we can’t recommend much else from its bland, characterless menu.
Venue Details
Address: Dexter Café & Bar, Sathorn Soi 8, Bangkok, Thailand
Phone: 02-636-6222
Website: www.fb.com/dextersathorn8
Area: Sathorn
Cuisine: Cafe
Opening hours: daily 8am-10pm
Report a correction