The Bamboo Bar
Bar · Khanna Yao ·
Signature cocktails, live jazz, and old-Bangkok glamour
Signature cocktails, live jazz, and old-Bangkok glamour
"The Bamboo Bar was the first jazz bar to open in Bangkok, way back in 1953 at the Mandarin Oriental. The hotel has done its best to preserve the 1950s charm, with live jazz every day of the week and a strict dress code banning shorts and slippers. Their cocktail menu is themed around the concept of evolution, being adaptable and versatile as time passes, like the bamboo plant. Two crowd-pleasers from the menu are the bee’s knees with green mango and thai chili, and the mango sticky rice cocktail, which tastes exactly like the dessert. This is the kind of place you take someone to make them fall in love with you, or to feel like you’re in a romantic TV series where someone wealthy gets offed in a couple of episodes." - vichayuth chantan
"The Bamboo Bar was the first jazz bar to open in Bangkok, way back in 1953 at the Mandarin Oriental. The hotel has done its best to preserve the 1950s charm, with live jazz every day of the week and a strict dress code banning shorts and slippers. Their cocktail menu is themed around the concept of evolution, being adaptable and versatile as time passes, like the bamboo plant. Two crowd-pleasers from the menu are the bee’s knees with green mango and thai chili, and the mango sticky rice cocktail, which tastes exactly like the dessert. This is the kind of place you take someone to make them fall in love with you, or to feel like you’re in a romantic TV series where someone wealthy gets offed in a couple of episodes. photo credit: Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok" - Vichayuth Chantan
"Since 1953, this sultry 1950s-vibe jazz haven—Thailand’s first jazz venue—has drawn international fans and still feels like a sacred space for jazz lovers; a mention of my stay got me a prime perch for “Fly Me to the Moon” and a perfectly drafted Negroni, while an award-winning team blends timeless elegance, top-tier hospitality, and reinvented classic cocktails into a heady mix of history, culture, and comfort." - Pruepat 'Maprang' Songtieng
"Head bartender Jamie Rhind took a different approach when creating drinks for Bamboo Bar’s Thailand-inspired “Compass” menu. Instead of trying to mimic dishes as cocktails, he uses the food as inspiration by using the same ingredients but combining them in his own way. Like Hang Lay, a take on northern curry gaeng hung lay, which mixes Phraya Rum with zesty turmeric, ginger and tamarind. Teetotalers will be impressed by Khao Lam, a combination of smoky sticky rice, coconut, and beans that does the snack of sweet custardy sticky rice in bamboo tubes justice." - Veronica Inveen
"The Bamboo Bar, located in the Mandarin Oriental hotel—Bangkok’s Grand Dame—is a legendary home to jazz. Some might call this a jazz bar with great drinks; others say it’s a cocktail bar with great jazz. Either way, guests have enjoyed The Bamboo Bar since 1953 (though, it was redone in late 2014, with leopard- and zebra-print cushions and cane furniture); the iconic space has hosted the likes of Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, Dionne Warwick, Louis Armstrong, and Mick Jagger. The cocktails show their respect for the history of the bar—and for Thailand. The Thaijito, a rum concoction with crushed ice and muddled lemongrass and brown sugar, has been on the menu for decades—it’s a favorite drink of Pierce Brosnan." - Ashley Niedringhaus