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If you’re looking to settle in somewhere cosy and sip a glass or three of a fabulous vintage during your stay in Bangkok, you’re in luck. Recent years have seen an array of popular wine bars open up in the Thai capital, run by serious oenophiles. These are some of our picks of Bangkok’s best wine bars.
This old-town venue on Samsen Road has a big screen and at least a couple of different movies showing nightly, making it perfect for you to settle in with a glass of wine – whether that’s in the comfy seats downstairs, or the even comfier seats in the small area upstairs that feels much like the wings of a theatre. This is a budget-friendly spot – house wine starts at just 90 baht a glass – at which to either catch up with friends over a few glasses of wine, or curl up on a sofa and enjoy a good flick.
Daily, 11am-midnight; Samsen Road (just before Samsen Soi 1; Thewet river boat pier); www.facebook.com/cinemawinehouse
Bear with us. Though The Smokin’ Pug – formerly of Sathorn fame, but recently relocated to bigger premises on the Lumpini area’s Langsuan Road – is first and foremost an American barbecue joint, there’s something about the vibe here that makes us love it just as much as an almost-wine-bar.
Pull up a pew at the bar and soak up owners Danny and Dana’s genuine hospitality, as they treat you like a regular on even your first visit (and likely top up your glass on the house while you’re not looking). On the wine front, there’s a short list of whites and a more extensive selection of the kind of reds that are more suited to The Smokin’ Pug’s hearty meat dishes, including a particularly irresistibly full-bodied Andeluna Malbec that’s among four varieties available by the glass.
Tuesday to Saturday, 5pm-midnight, Sunday, 5-11pm; 105 Langsuan Road; www.smokinpugbbq.com
This pint-sized tapas restaurant at Phra Khanong’s W District looks oh-so-enticing from the outside, with its wall-to-wall collection of wine bottles that just oozes southern Europe. Extensive spreads of tapas, featuring Iberian meats, cheeses and more, are accompanied by expertly selected wine by the glass to make for good-value sets that are worth seeking out. Or you could just sit back and have a shot at drinking your way through what is purportedly Bangkok’s biggest collection of Spanish wines – it’s a challenge we would happily take on!
Monday to Saturday, 12.30-11pm, Sunday, 4-11pm; W District (BTS Phra Khanong); www.facebook.com/casateobangkok
Perhaps one of Bangkok’s better-known spots for indulging in vino, Wine Pub at Victory Monument’s Pullman Bangkok King Power Hotel has an extensive range (that’s an understatement – there are an astonishing 48 varieties available by the glass!) of predominantly new-world-originating wines that come at a variety of price ranges to suit most wallets. All those grapes are accompanied by a menu of serious tapas fodder – much of it by way of huge hunks of dried meat out on show for extra European-style effect – that combines with the luxuriously brown decor to give Wine Pub a classy, moody feel, and one in which we can imagine ourselves happily polishing off a good few glasses at the very least.
Daily, 6pm-1am; Pullman Bangkok King Power Hotel, Soi Rangnam (BTS Victory Monument); www.pullmanbangkokkingpower.com
Step into the handsome cellar at Opus, an Italian wine bar on Sathorn’s Pan Road, and you’ll find yourself entirely surrounded by the floor-to-ceiling collection of bottles comprising a good few hundred different varieties – at least. The venue doubles up as both a restaurant and bar, and the more formal dining area up front serves an impressive range of classic Italian dishes.
Daily, 6pm-midnight; Pan Road (BTS Surasak); www.wbopus.com
It might be a chain with 18 branches across Bangkok – and another 11 spread between Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Phuket, and Koh Samui – but Wine Connection nonetheless has an excellent reputation for both the wines served in its restaurants and the wide variety available to take home by the bottle from its wine shops. Wine Connection’s restaurants themselves feature a menu predominantly made up of pizzas and pastas to soak up your choice of their extensive selection of wines by the glass and bottle.
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Where is your favourite wine bar in Bangkok? Let us know in the comments!
All photos by respective venues
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