Surreal Surroundings in Wonderland

It isn’t just the food in Bangkok’s restaurants that is sometimes weird and of course wonderful.

Food Columns >Weird and Wonderful>Surreal Surroundings in Wonderland

You might be eating the most simple of meals in the most surreal surroundings. When it comes to being quirky in style and design, all that is kitsch, slightly strange, interesting and totally over the top, seems to fit in with the flavor of the city. Like Alice in Wonderland though, you sometimes have to go down side sois to find these pockets of magic and wonder. Your first drop off from the rabbit tunnel of the BTS is Thonglor . This area might be home to the glamorous of Bangkok who like to strut their stuff around Greyhound but along with Ekamai, this is also home to anything slightly out of the box.

Tuba bar and restaurant is more than a hidden gem. Filled with retro and art deco furniture, lamps and nick nacks, many of the quirky objects are for sale too. You can sit on an assortment of old style sofas, with tables from the 60s and 70s, under a lampshade the size of a small planet, listening to every type of music imaginable, with a margarita glass that looks like it has come straight out of a larger than life cartoon.

Everyone working here is male which is surreal in itself but their friendliness adds to the charm of the place. The menu offers the perfect mix of snacks and main courses. Once one person orders it sets off a domino effect with everybody snacking all night. Don’t be surprised to see the odd famous celebrity lounging in an 80s swivel chair with a cow designed cushion, next to a bright orange lamp.

For a snack in another retro shop where you can dine and also buy a pair of quirky glasses is Shades of Retro. With an old fashioned diving helmet hung outside, a glass cabinet full of shades and a funky soundtrack, you will be transported back into 70s cool.

For a slightly darker side of the magic, Blue Velvet reminds you of the castle of a wicked witch. The dungeon and Gothic style building feels more like a film set than a restaurant, with dark crushed red velvet sofas and a bridge into the big stone fortress. You might wonder, as you walk down this dark soi into this dark vault like restaurant, if you are going to see the menu or end up on it. This is the only place that a vampire would be seen dead in at night that’s for sure. It is creative, atmospheric, dramatic and wickedly wonderful.

For another filmic interlude and a sprinkling of fairy dust, Iron Fairies is beautiful, wonderful and totally bizarre. Designed by a children’s book author, it is a replica of one of the scenes from the book series. The food is hearty homemade burgers, which is perhaps fitting for a restaurant and bar that is not only a gallery, and antique shop but a blacksmiths workshop too!