Bar Sathorn

Bangkok

Ultra-contemporary serves in historic surrounds

The mansion at 106 North Sathorn Road has, at various points over the past 136 years, served as a tycoon's private residence, a luxury hotel and a Soviet embassy. Today, it's home to Bar Sathorn – an atmospheric cocktail lounge and part of W Bangkok where heritage architecture meets contemporary cocktail craft. Marco Dognini, a Milan-born bartender whose resume spans eight countries and four continents, leads a programme that raids the archives, twisting local and historical references into brilliantly unorthodox serves. Take the Staro Sbagliato, for example, which infuses the stunning classic with sweet basil wine and a caper and lemon sorbet for a herbaceous edge. A reinvention of the bullshot – served hot, with tom kha broth – nods to the mansion's Soviet embassy years. Most famously and virally, the bar's agave-and-bacon bloody Mary is chilled not with ice, but with a whole frozen tomato. High rollers, meanwhile, can try The Pina, where cognac, pickled pineapple and coconut hard seltzer offer a lighter take on a traditional piña colada.

Dognini embraces his adopted home further through a monthly specials menu that spotlights local artisans. Past themes have included Thai cacao, wild honey, pomelo and hilltribe coffee. Many of the bar's herbs and greens come from W Bangkok's rooftop garden, where the hotel's food waste is composted into nutrient-rich soil to nourish kale, Thai basil, and edible flowers among many other ingredients. Furnished with plush leather sofas and grand Corinthian columns, and soundtracked by a sexagenarian bon vivant spinning vinyl, Bar Sathorn is a Bangkok original – a bar that honours the past but isn't beholden to it.

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