Five O’Clock in Bangkok
The Thai capital seduces you with its heat, incessant noise and enough spots to get sloshed. Here’s an after-hours guide
BANGKOK DOESN’T EASE YOU IN. IT HITS YOU the second you step outside: humidity you can chew, motorbikes coming from angles that defy logic, smoke from a grill set up on a sidewalk that clearly wasn’t designed for it. Visitors arrive rehearsing the same checklist—the Hangover rooftop bar, the temple, the tuk-tuk selfie—and leave thinking they “did Bangkok.” The real Bangkok shows up after dark and lives underneath the neon and behind the tinted doors: in the smoke curling off a street stall in Saphan Lek, in the half-heard guitar riffs drifting from a Sukhumvit shophouse, in a bowl of late-night boat noodles eaten shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers. It’s in the dark sois where strangers clink bottles of chang as a Thai rock band screams their heartbreak into the humid night. There are bars behind fake pawnshops, locked doors, unmarked entrances—places that weren’t built for influencers or itineraries.
Here are the ones we recommend:
Black Cabin;
Find The Locker Room
The Locker Room opened as a five-person project and quickly became a speakeasy by reputation. It relocated in 2018 to its current locker-guarded entrance and has kept the private-club energy since. It’s compact (seats under 40), the menu riffs on “Past, Present and Future” takes of classics, and the drinks are sharp and playful.
Rabbit Hole
Rabbit Hole keeps its mystery intact with a plain wooden door and no sign whatsoever. Inside, though, it’s sleek, sculptural and buzzing without being overcrowded. Rabbit Hole was one of the bars that shaped modern Bangkok cocktail culture, so
of course this bar made Asia’s 50 Best Bar lists. The menu is cleverly arranged by cocktail character (e.g., Spirit Forward, Refreshing).
Black Cabin
Black Cabin is a live-music refuge—raw brick, vinyl spins, a programme that ranges from contemporary jazz to indie to soul. It’s the kind of bar where people truly just come to listen. The venue’s ethos is less about high-concept cocktails and more about a good whisky, a cold beer and an environment where music is the attraction. Also, best of luck trying to find the
entrance—it’s literally tucked up in a dark alley behind one of the sketchiest buildings.
Crimson Room
A mix of cabaret and a jazz den, Crimson Room is Velaa Sindhorn Village’s homage to the Roaring Twenties. It trades Bangkok’s usual neon for velvet, chandeliers, curved balconies and a stage that commands the room. The team behind Rabbit Hole had a hand in shaping its aesthetic sensibility, so you get the polish of a modern cocktail operation still.
Honest Mistake
Honest Mistake leans into a 1930s Shanghai vibe: neon reds, mahjong hints. The concept sounds heavy-handed, but the drinks save it. Herbal Thai and Chinese ingredients give the cocktails a backbone that cuts through the décor.
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