Bangkok101

Upcountry Now – Nikki Beach Wine Season 2012

adul101 — Fri, 18 May 2012 03:00:50 +0000

Nikki Beach Koh Samui’s Wine Season kicks off on 24 May with a launch party and sunset barbeque on Lipa Noi Beach in the company of winemaker Hunter Smith, from Frankland Estates, Australia. Expect an unpretentious yet sophisticated evening of wine pairings, open-air food and indulgent beachside fun, with seven guest wines, an Aussie-style ‘Wine Hunt’, Australian-themed didgeridoo and percussion, plus a knock-out ‘Big BBQ.’ During the season, which runs until the end of August, the beach club will also be showcasing vino from a different country and guest vineyard each month, and pairing it with à la carte food menus. Visit www.nikkibeachthailand.com for more details. May 24 – August 31

Upcountry Now – Hat Yai 5 Surprises in 5 Weeks

adul101 — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:00:40 +0000

In an effort to boost tourism after the recent car bomb attacks in the southern town of Hat Yai, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT ) has teamed up with the public and private sectors in Songkhla to roll out the ‘Hat Yai 5 Surprises in 5 Weeks’ campaign. What does that mean for you? Special deals and discounts ranging from 50-70% off at department stores to 10 –30% off at hotels and 10 –15% off food and beverages. Thai Airways is also offering a special ticket price of B 2,500 through May. Until May 20

Pop & Rock – Beast live at Impact Arena

adul101 — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:00:38 +0000

If their Singapore gig is anything to go by, the Korean posters Beast will play some 24 songs, including ‘Special’, ‘Breath’ and ‘Shock’, when they play Impact Arena (02-504-5050) as part of their world tour on May 26. There may also be solo sets from band members Junhyung and Hyunseng plus Q & A sessions with the audience. Tickets (B1,000 – B 3,500) are available from Thai Ticketmajor (02-262-3456, www.thaiticketmajor.com).

Pop & Rock – Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Ball

adul101 — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:00:14 +0000

Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Ball – billed as “an Electro-Metal Pop-Opera; the tale of the Beginning, the genesis of the Kingdom of Fame” – should be one of the best stage shows Bangkok has ever seen. The performer named Forbes’ Most Powerful Woman in the World 2011 will sing from her latest album Born This Way, as well as from The Fame and The Fame Monster. It’s at Rajamangala Stadium, Huamark on May 25. Tickets are B1,500 – B7,000 from Thai Ticketmajor (02-262-3456, www.thaiticketmajor.com).

Art & Design – Ploy Saeng 9 Festival

adul101 — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:00:22 +0000

The Ploy Saeng 9 Festival at the Thailand Creative & Design Centre (TCDC, 622 Emporium Tower 24th Fl, Sukhumvit 24 Rd | BTS Phrom Phong | 02-664-7667 | www.tcdc.or.th) from May 3 – June 17 is a platform for the business ideas of Thailand’s graduate students. The projects range in area from cooking to gaming, medicine to beachwear. Admission free. For more information see www.tcdc.or.th/ploy-saeng.

Food Promotion – The bugs are back!

adul101 — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:00:04 +0000

The Maine lobster, called a ‘bug’ affectionately by lobster fisherman, are in season and our boats are coming in. Come and join us for an amazing value Lobster Feast!

- Whole Maine Lobster with all the fixin’s B799

- Lobster Linguini, white wine, garlic butter B599

- Lobster Bisque, with cognac B180

WHERE The Seafood Bar
41 Somerset Lake Point, Sukhumvit Soi 16, Klongtoey, Bangkok | 02- 663 8863 | www.theseafoodbar.info, info@seafoodbar.info | convenient parking available, Tuesday – Sunday 6pm – 11pm

Classical – Notos Quartet performs at Goethe

adul101 — Wed, 16 May 2012 03:00:37 +0000

Sindri Lederer (violin), Antonia Köster (piano), Liisa Randalu (viola) and Florian Streich (cello) are the Notos Quartet, winners of the 2011 Parkhouse Award in London. They perform at the Goethe Institut (18/1 Soi Goethe, Sathorn 1 | MRT Lumphini | 02-287-0942 | www.goethe.de) on May 21 at 7 pm. Admission free

Classical – Young-Hyun Cho piano recital at Goethe

adul101 — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:00:32 +0000

Young-Hyun Cho gives a piano recital at the Goethe Institut (18/1 Soi Goethe, Sathorn 1 | MRT Lumphini | 02-287-0942 | www.goethe.de) on May 18 at 8 pm, with works including Paganini’s Etude No. 3, La Campanella, Liszt’s Ballade No. 2 in B minor and Chopin’s Sonata No. 3 in B minor. Tickets are B 500.

Food & Drinks News: Panda to the masses

adul101 — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:47 +0000

In to Bangkok’s already rather crowded food home delivery market lumbers the Singapore-based FoodPanda. Currently this cute, slick and easy-to use website has a 130+ strong restaurant database comprised mainly of restaurants that even we haven’t heard of. That said, they do have a few gems on their books (Hai Somtum, Muse Garden and Pizzazo, etc) and have just announced a valuable partnership with foot-long sandwich chain Subway, which should help them seal a few others. Their contacts are: facebook.com/foodpanda.co.th; twitter.com/foodpanda_th and foodpanda.co.th.

Food & Drinks News: Coming Soon ‘Quince’

adul101 — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:35 +0000

Of the never ending procession of new restaurants, only a handful inspires much in the way of excitement. Quince, an intimate new eatery and bar on Sukhumvit Soi 45 that’s set to open in June, is one of them. Located right behind top-end furniture store Casa Pagoda, the space looks set to be bright and unfussy, pairing classic furniture from the store and vintage touches with an industrial glasshouse feel. There’ll also be a veranda with greenery and a second floor with two private rooms. But most of the buzz is about Aussie chef Jess Barnes’ modern Australian food. A couple of years back he had a successful run at the Intercontinental Hotel’s Grossi, and recently he’s staged pop-up feasts at Bed Supperclub and Opposite, and we are hoping for similarly great things from Quince. “Innovative yet unpretentious” is what they’re calling the food; and the drinks will be just as important, apparently. News of the imminent opening will probably break at Facebook: quincebangkok first.

Food & Drink News: New Openings

adul101 — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:10 +0000

Now considered gourmet food as well as fast food, the humble beef burger has been experiencing a renaissance of late, one that looks set to continue with the opening of Burger Factory (corner of Ekamai Soi 10 | 02-7144249 | Facebook: theburgerfactory). How does it differ from all the other burger joints out there? It truly is a factory (albeit a very stylish one): before being flame grilled, all the patties are handmade from scratch using grass and grain fed Australian beef. Buns are also baked in-house.

Also on a gentrified Sukhumvit sub-soi, Above Eleven (33rd Floor, Fraser Suites Sukhumvit Soi 1 1 | 02-207-9300 | www.aboveeleven.com) is a snazzy new rooftop bar restaurant with an unusual menu. The food, Nikkei cuisine, is a hybrid of Peruvian and Japanese cooking that originated over 120 years ago, when the first Japanese migrated to the South American country. Seems a bit random? Apparently not: Peruvian cuisine has been hot-tipped as one of this year’s food trends by Time and The Guardian. Other intriguing USPs: abstract art installation like décor inspired by New York’s Central Park and unobstructed views of Sukhumvit’s skyline.

Meanwhile, somtum is going upscale, slightly, at Somtum Der (5/5 Saladaeng Road, Silom | 02-632-4499). In a café-like shophouse setting, you can enjoy variations on its namesake – fiery green papaya salad – among other northeastern dishes.

Isan in the frame

adul101 — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:00:54 +0000

A group exhibition at the Jim Thompson Art Centre is showing off the fruits of the organisation’s ongoing Art on Farm project
While the food and music of the Northeast, or Isan, can be found fairly easily here in the capital, the region’s art is not so well represented. Until June 24, however, the Jim Thompson House is offering you an intensely colourful dose of homegrown Isan art for free.

The origins of Art on Farm, a 19 artist-strong group exhibition being held in the tourist attraction’s Art Centre, stretch back to 2009, when this organisation, along with the Jim Thompson Farm up in Korat, invited local artists to produce Isan-inspired artworks. The brief encouraged them to work with nature, local artifacts and recycled materials, and also to observe daily life at this fully-functioning farm, where silk worms are raised and silk produced. Inspiration was also drawn from Isan’s history, myths and legends, its landscape, wittii chiwit (way of life) and food. Each year the resulting artworks have been displayed around the farm as part of the annual Jim Thompson Farm Tour.

Now, for the first time, the fruits of this ongoing project –seventeen original pieces – are on display here. First up: Chulalongkorn University lecturer Rachaporn Choochuey’s colourful hanging paper-cut decorations. Inspired by mahote garlands, these hang playfully from the rain trees, lending the lush but normally sedate compound splashes of colour reminiscent of the ngan wat (temple fair). The second work that you can’t help but notice is Imhathai Suwatthanasilp’s Colors of Isan, a fabric-based installation that dominates the room’s central floor space. She recycles bits of silk yarn and cloth salvaged from workers at the farm into sprawling floor carpets inspired by its scenery. Lining the walls around it are lots of other thought provoking works in a variety of media, from sound installation Welcome to your Voice, in which you learn about migratory patterns through recordings of local dialects; to Santiphap Inkongngam’s Mountain Wind, a short film that relates mystical folk stories in a captivatingly dreamy, magical-realist manner. More traditional media include Montree Moungkun’s lurid paintings inspired by Sunksilpchai folklore and presented as if holy scrolls, which line the rear wall. And throughout, photo diaries convey the methodology behind those installations that are either still in situ up at the farm or were too ephemeral to be displayed here.

Over the past few years, this annual art experiment has been delighting visitors to the farm, especially, says its curator Khun Yawadee Srihuayyod, Isan ladies and their western spouses. But just how Bangkok audiences will react remains to be seen. Having been transplanted like rice seedlings from the countryside to the city, some of these works are likely to wilt, their pastoral themes come across as slight and parochial. That said, taken as a whole, Art on Farm does at least provide lots of clues as to why the Northeast – a parched, ricegrowing plateau plagued by economic deprivation – is one of the most fertile sources of cultural inspiration in the country. See the Jim Thompson House website (www.jimthompsonhouse.com) for the timetable of special events and educational programs that will accompany the main exhibition, including a demonstration of how to make traditional mahote garlands on May 19.

Art on Farm : A diary from the Isan Plateau

By Max Crosbie-Jones

Upcountry Now – Bun Bang Fai Rocket Festival

adul101 — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:00:39 +0000

One of the noisiest festivals on the calendar takes place in the usually sleepy Northeastern town of Yasothon. For the Bun Bang Fai Rocket Festival farmers pack giant, ornate rockets (bang fai) full of homemade explosives, drag them on elaborate traditional carts to the launch sight and then, on the third day, fire them high into the sky. Why? According to folklore, the first raindrops of the rice planting season only fall when the gods are in the mood for love. Firing missiles in their direction is said to stimulate them into action. Lots of rambunctious Isan-style merriment– comedy, fun fairs, beauty contests, morlam folk music – accompany this lofty goal. Call the TAT (1672) for more. May 12 – 13

Classical – Thailand Cultural Centre hosts Three-act Baroque opera

adul101 — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:00:03 +0000

The Thailand Cultural Centre (14 Thiamruammitr Rd | MRT Thailand Cultural Centre | 02-247-0028 | www.culture.go.th) hosts the three-act Baroque opera Dido & Aeneas by Henry Purcell on May 18, 19 and 20. The singers include Saran Suebsantiwongse, Monique Kongtruadroke and Ayano Kimura in the telling of the tragic love story between Dido, the Queen of Carthage and the Trojan hero Aeneas. Israeli conductor and harpsichord soloist Shalev Ad-el leads the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra. Tickets are B600 – B1,000.