Bangkok may be the (unofficial) bar capital of Southeast Asia but when it comes to watching the sun setting over the river with a cocktail in hand the offerings are pathetic, close to zero in fact. Viva Aviv, with its location on the edge of antique mall River City, yards from the river’s edge, aims to change that.
A breezy collaboration between furniture and cocktail designers, it reminds us of one of the hipper bars along Singapore’s Clarke Quay. Not only does it have the bar tables and stools jutting across a pleasant riverside promenade, inside there’s also a designer interior in full effect. Think tropical maritime chic meets dashes of outright whimsy. In the main room, pulleys hang over the central bar made of salvaged wood, yards from a huge mounted Moose’s head. The other, with its leather sofas beside rusting anchors and other nautical knick-knacks, could pass for Jack Sparrow’s living room, if he had one.
While the owner, Wipassara Siriratmanawong, or Khun Ae for short, is responsible for this rustic look (she also owns a cool furniture-strewn bar at JJ Weekend Market, Viva), the bar is being looked after by some of the best cocktail geeks in the business, the boys behind trailblazing gastrobar Hyde & Seek no less. A couple of years back these three, gallingly good-looking Scandinavians were running one of the region’s most popular cocktail consultancy firms, Flow, but they’ve since shifted their focus to bars. And thank god for that – their audacious concoctions may not always come up trumps, but they’re always interesting, a refreshing change from the same old cliché line-ups you find at most joints.
Their ‘Rough Cut’ Signatures, many of them underpinned with rum (tequila is so last year, apparently), come in slightly cheaper than over at Hyde & Seek, B 250, and include blends like the smooth and delicious Young Guns and Old Grenades. A fetching salmon pink, it came in a tall, fat glass and with the well-balanced fruit-burst flavours of lychee, ginger and fresh pomegranate. Lovely stuff. Every week they also offer a special that goes for B199, along with wine by the glass, during the daily 4 – 8 pm happy hours.
Beers, including excellent local brew Phuket beer, are available, and food comes courtesy of Aaron, a young chef whose food impressed us over at Thonglor’s Serenade just over a year ago. Here, his focus is on snacky fare such as risotto-filled croquet balls with yoghurt dip (a must) and misshapen pizzas slathered in toppings like sirloin steak and blue cheese. Completing the relaxed, low-lit atmosphere are tunes spun by a roster of DJs. Not the usual bossa nova or Pitbull but a worldly hotchpotch of everything from ambient (think Boards of Canada) to jazz, Studio One reggae, Cuban joints and disco-y house.
We likes, a lot, but do the punters? Business clearly isn’t as busy as they’d like (the flooding can’t have helped, and the owner estimates that only 1% of tourists disembarking from the adjacent river dinner pier pop in for a drink), but once word spreads we can see Viva Aviv doing well among both expats and Thais, especially those who crave river breezes instead of the throb of downtown nightclubs. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for news of their latest specials and shades-down, look-at-me Sunday barbeques. Max Crosbie-Jones
อาคารริเวอร์ซิติ้ เจริญกรุง ซ.30
WHERE VIVA AVIV
River City – Unit 118 | 23 Trok Rongnamkhaeng, Charoen Krung Soi 30 | 0-2-639-6305
www.vivaaviv.com | 11 am – midnight, later on weekends
