Bangkok offers a seemingly endless range of swish bars, fine dining restaurants, concept eateries, and high-end cafes. Every time I pick up an issue of BK, there are at least 15-20 new "must-try" places in town. I love eating out, so it's been a pleasure trying out many of the city's fancy eating and drinking establishments (along with the amazing street food and hole-in-the-wall gems, of course).
However, there's only so much "hip-ness" I can take! Eventually, I found myself craving a nice, comfortable place with soul and character and all that jazz – qualities that are sadly lacking in many of Bangkok's fine restaurants and bars. The search led me to Hemingway's on Sukhumvit Soi 14, a minute's walk from the Asok BTS station.
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| Hemingway's Bangkok |
It was love at first sight a beautiful old wooden house, cocooned in lush, leafy greenery. As the husband and I walked into the peaceful premises, it was hard to imagine that the chaos of Bangkok was just 60 seconds away! We were greeted with smiles and asked where we would like to sit. Hemingway's is divided into a number of sections; you can choose to sit indoors, outdoors, downstairs, upstairs... Each section has its own name, theme and decor!
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| The various sections within Hemingway's |
We started our afternoon in the upstairs balcony, which had the perfect Sunday brunch atmosphere – languid and lazy, with murmurs of conversation and green leaves shimmering in the warm golden sunshine... I couldn't help imagining Ernest Hemingway sitting at one of the tables, a drink in hand, scribbling furiously in an ink-spattered notebook!
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| Balcony tables surrounded by trees |
The drinks menu features an absinthe-champagne concoction, recommended by the man himself. I would definitely have got one of those except that it happened to be Valentine's Day, so we went the more traditional route and splurged on a bottle of bubbly! I did, however, take a look at the Happy Hours menu, which is extremely reasonable compared with similar restaurants in the city. (Hemingway's also has a Facebook page that provides details about the various other great deals they have.)
Service is friendly and quick, and the food menu is extensive, containing interesting details and Hemingway-related anecdotes. We had a hard time deciding what to have since lots of dishes looked great! Eventually, we settled for a number of small plates instead of traditional main courses. A plate of the Spanish olives and roasted garlic went beautifully with our drinks. The beef sliders (little cheeseburgers with smoked bacon) are absolutely delicious. We ordered two portions and wished we had gotten three! At THB 160 a plate, they're not cheap but definitely value for money. The goat cheese and wild mushroom quesadillas (THB 195) were a little too cheesy for my palate, but the husband loved them! We also got a portion of the very tasty Cuban meatballs (THB 150) and the nachos (THB 280), which turned out to be a nice, generous helping with crisp tortillas but, strangely, no guacamole – I realised later this may have been an oversight and perhaps I should have asked for it. At the time, I assumed it was intentional. Large plates are upwards of THB 350, while the pastas, pizzas and sandwiches are around THB 250-300.
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| Beef sliders, nachos, champagne! |
After a long, languorous lunch, we stepped inside into the old-world upstairs den. Out came our books and we spent a quiet hour tucked into comfy chairs, reading and sipping our drinks. As the sun set, we made our way downstairs to the garden area for dessert – and now one of my favourite Bangkok memories is eating apple pie and drinking coffee surrounded by tropical plants and vivid red lanterns!
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| Lush green garden at sunset |
All in all, Hemingway's is just my kind of place: gorgeous old house, warm service, thoughtful layout, literary touches, comfort food, drinks with stories, reasonable pricing, and lots of foliage. An ideal spot for great conversations and literary pursuits (reading a good book, or even writing your own!). I'm quite sure Hemingway would have enjoyed getting sozzled with a Death in the Afternoon (or three) here!
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