If you are looking for hip bars, fancy eateries, and good brunch spots look no further than the streets of Ekkamai and Thonglor. While not really a neighborhood in the western sense of the word, Ekkamai and Thonglor are two streets that run parallel to each other on the south side of Bangkok. The streets are known for upscale restaurants, modern high rise apartment buildings, and a thriving nightlife. There’s not much in the way of tourist attractions making the vibes very local.

We stayed in an Airbnb apartment right off the main Ekkamai street and got the chance to explore the neighborhoods thriving hipster bar, restaurant and cafe scene, at times it felt like we were back in San Francisco. We found a few great spots that we really liked and kept going back to.

Cafes

Nikko Cafe: This cute little cafe was a nice alternative to Starbucks (which there are plenty of), there is an enclosed and air conditioned garden area that is awesome to work in or just enjoy a Thai iced tea.

Check out all the Hipster spots in Chiang Mai!

Brunch

Warm Wood (closed): It’s western style brunch, and it’s delicious. If you are looking for eggs, pancakes, or a good sandwich Warm Wood has got you covered. The decor looks like you could be at a brunch place back in the states, and while you are eating your pancakes and bacon you might forget for a moment that you are in Asia.

Bars

Beer Belly: This is the bar where all the young hip kids hang out, it’s sort of a complex of a couple bars and restuarants around a courtyard. They’ve got delicious greasy bar food, games, and pitchers of beer. You can sit outside in the courtyard under the glow of the neon lights or hang out inside playing pool, ping pong, or jenga.

Mikkeller Bar: This Copenhagen based brewery has been expanding all over the world, we’d been to the bar in San Francisco and when we found out that there was a Mikkeller down the street from us in Bangkok we knew we had to check it out. Situated just off the main Ekkamai road in a 50’s style Thai house, Mikkeller has somewhere around 30 beers on tap both from the Mikkeller brewery and other breweries around the world. So if you need a break from the Changs and Singhas check out some craft brews at Mikkeller.

Game Over (closed): This bar is a game enthusiast dream, they’ve got everything from regular bar games like pool, to board games, to computers for playing online games. To play games there are a few different levels of access, regular bar games and some board games are free if you are eating or drinking there, some games are considered premium games and you can purchase a “day pass” to be able to use those (cards against humanity was in this category), then there was VIP access, which means you have a monthly membership and can use the PC’s and electronics for online gaming. We had a blast playing the free games like pool and connect 4.

As you can see there’s not a lot to do other than eat and drink in this area, but honestly that’s just fine with me, as eating and drinking are some of my favorite things to do. So if you are looking for a fun night out and want to hang out with the hip Bangkok locals Ekkamai is the place to do it.

Life in Wanderlust

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