City to Go
Bangkok’s Riverside Renaissance The scent of jasmine and joss sticks mingles with freshly roasted arabica as one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods is reborn. STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS SCHALKX
From top: Spicy and bright Charmgang, Siwilai Sound Club’s Clarified Ruby, and Warehouse 30.
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V I RT U O S O L I F E
GO FOR Few corners of the Thai capital encapsulate present-day Bangkok better than its riverside, where snazzy coffee shops bookend century-old mansions and tucked-away temples. In recent years, the pedestrianfriendly alleys snaking between the Chao Phraya River and Charoen Krung Road have received a jolt of energy as street artists have swathed crumbling walls in kaleidoscopic art and dilapidated warehouses have gained new lives as bars and galleries. Despite the pandemic, the riverside’s renaissance shows no signs of slowing. Opened at the end of 2020, café, bookstore, and overall creative hub Central: The Original Store on Charoen Krung Road delivers a high-design homage to one of Thailand’s largest retail groups, which started its billion-dollar empire here as a humble corner store in 1950. And this past June saw the opening of Hong Sieng Kong, a riverside café and antiques gallery in a 200-yearold Chinese mansion, which will
soon be joined by the designcentric Citizen Tea Canteen around the corner. EAT After leaving his Michelin-
starred Nahm in 2018, Australian chef David Thompson has returned to Bangkok with Aksorn, a snug dining room on top of Central: The Original Store. Drawing on the literary theme that weaves through the building, the tasting menu changes quarterly and features dishes from Thompson’s vintage cookbook collection, including meticulously re-created curries and appetizers from the midtwentieth century. Three of Thompson’s former protégés have branched off with Charmgang, a neon-lit curry joint in a blink-and-you’ll-missit alleyway off Charoen Krung Road. The interior, spearheaded by designers Saran Yen Panya and Shelley Kwok, is a quirky mishmash of Thai kitsch, with many of the furnishings for sale. The menu riffs on Thai classics
