Thats it, Winking frog, should have remembered that 'cause it rhymes with Winking Dog and there are a lot of those in that Soi 7.
Thats it, Winking frog, should have remembered that 'cause it rhymes with Winking Dog and there are a lot of those in that Soi 7.
I see The Bulls Head and Barbican websites haven't been updated since 2001!
Maybe I should put a quote in?Originally Posted by Torbek
Ye Olde BellHaving got round to finally reading this thread, I thought I'd check out the pub with "nothing really" wrong with it, as it seemed to be the best of the bunch.– Soi 1, Sukhumvit Soi 11
An interesting one this; again there’s enough wood to build a forest, but I quite like it. They serve the obligatory Guinness (I do believe it was only 100฿ during happy hour) and Kilkenny and they've got a pretty good menu that manages to steer clear of the usual stodge served in many pubs. The atmosphere is pretty good and the lights are dim, so your 'new friend' will stay attractive for a few hours longer. The service is good too, with attentive and attractive waitresses (I'd like to give the bar manager one, too).
Guinness & Kilkenny.
Good menu & atmosphere.
Nothing really.
BTW, this place now has a completely different name above the door, its not the name shown on the photo above.
My impressions.
GOOD
NOT GOOD
- The music, a mixture of stuff like REM and Sting, nice listening.
- The seating is just (bright red) stools and 90 degree upright "pews", ie nothing comfortable whatsoever. Needs sofas or at least armchairs.
- The "atmosphere" consisted of 4 blokes all sitting alone doing nothing, and the owners apparent extended family (more on that later)
- I was given a pint of Chang which was actually half a litre, and 68 ml of foam on top. When I asked for a full pint, I was sneered at by the bargirl. Just stupidity, or an attempt to save a couple of Baht? (and lose first time customers in the process)
- I didn't see any of the staff smile or attempt to socialise with any customers during my 45 minutes there
- The 4 customers plus the owner were all chainsmokers, and the place has crap ventilation. Seeing wasn't easy at times. God knows what it would be like if the place were busy
- Sitting upstairs wasn't an option. The lights were off and no-one was home
In short, this place would go out of business in a month if it were in the UK, where good pubs are a plenty and where he couldn't rely on trade by sad lonely Brits lost in Bangkok craving a British atmosphere.
- The owner is a beer bellied grey haired chain smoking and beer drinking Brit who took no interest in any of the customers, and was completely focused only on drinking, smoking, and playing pool with who appeared to be 3-4 of his Thai wife's brothers. He seems to be a weird Thaiophile who prefers the company of Thais to Brits and yet runs a Brit pub stuffed full of Brit memorabilia.
I won't be returning there in a hurry, and Cheap Charlies along the road had far more atmosphere. Its just a shame that sitting in a hot Bangkok soi pretending its a pub is such a sad fcuk thing to do....
Last edited by Smeg; 26-07-2006 at 11:16 PM.
Actually smeg i can see how it might not be to your tastes but your report completely misrepresents the place,
i'll state first and foremost that ONE of the owners is a personal friend of mine so i may be view askew so to speak
the seating you're right.its a bit loud isn't it. as for sofa's etc well its not a lounge or gentlemans club nor some pretty metrosexual gay pick up place
as for the beer, why buy chang it tastes like piss, the guiness and particularly the kilkenny are good here and reasonably priced by bkk standards 160/170 respectively
staff are usually very friendly, i'm not calling you a liar but i've been here quite a lot recently and they leave you alone to enjoy the company of the people you go with, usually attentive and accurate
the customers, at the weekends a bit too many of the soi 4 wideos but since i meet my friends there and generally go in a group and not as billy no mates it doesent bother me in the slightest
sitting upstairs, why bother, if you want to sit alone in your room stay at home
one of the owners is a beer bellied older gentleman, there are a few of them about you know, the extended thai family you mention happen to be the staff and the local constabulary, boss socializing with staff shock horror. as for prefering the company of thais well i wouldnt know but i'd say
statement sweeping generalization in no fucking particular order
going out of business in the uk, these places are called locals, there are loads of them in the uk, some good, some shit, some open for 100's of years
cheap charlies, whats the point unless you are a cheap charlie.
if you dont like it fine, dont go back, you're peroggative. its not a tourist place really. its not a whore bar but IMHO its a more reasonably priced bulls head with more ambience if a bit shoddier
hope this provides some balance
the owner is a nice guy who makes it a point to greet people
we won it at wemberlee
we on it in gay paree...
^ Yes, its possible to spin things to look like that too.
I'm not saying that your view is a misrepresentation; its all subjective. Hence neither is my view a misrepresentation.
As for wanting to sit upstairs, me and my friend wanted to escape from the smoke, but it wasn't an option (saving a couple of baht on the upstairs lights, as they were on the short pints no doubt....)
I was in the winking frog last time I was in los, I watched West ham beat Preston in the play off final on there big screen it was the only place I could find showing the game live. I had a great night bumped into Peter Withes son and a couple of other throughly decent blokes.
Marmite,
Could you throw in some info on the sports bars please.
The food at the Black Swan, although expensive, is very good.
Winking Frog I do not like but the food is OK.
I like the Black Swan and used to think the food was great but it has not been so good recently imo. Still OK for a drink though.
I know not in Bangkok but I thought I would make a couple of comments on Crawfords down in Hua Hin. I have previously expressed an opinion that the food was not wonderful there but just the other week i had an extraordinary experience (well for Thailand anyways) there.
I met a mate for a few beers who suggested that we go eat at Crawfords as he likes it. so the pair of us plus one of his mates entered the pub to find that it was failrly full with only one table available but it had a big "reserved" sign on it.
After a few seconds a staff memebr came and removed the sign and we sat dwon to order 3 beers and 3 plates of farang food.
i ordered the mince pie/chips/peas.
A decent size helping was placed in front of me and I commenced eating. The crust was a bit rich for me but it was OK although i kept feeling that some of the food was cold - the hot gravy masked it somewhat. i thought it might be the peas.
i had eaten more than a third of the pie when i realised it was the pie and right in the centre it was ice cold- still frozen.
i was not prepared to eat it- didn't want to get sick and i motionned the staff over to ask if they could blast it again in the microwave.
Lots of apologies could i wait a few minutes and they would give me a new pie. OK I said.
5 minutes or so later i had a new plate of pie peas and chips- all hot. Half way through eating this a staff member came up and picked up the 'bin' and removed the chitty for my meal "On the house sir- appologies again"
I couldn't believe my ears.
Normally it is "Ma pen rai at least you have food on your plate and lets get on with life'
Most impressed I was.
Also note that Crawfords has beer specials each week night.
Monday it is Guiness. I think it was 140 baht /pint
Tuesday it is Tiger 90 baht a pint.
I think it is Kilkenny on Wednesdays
Not a bad place to start the evening
^ Good info.
I know Ken has put a lot of work into that place and if he continues to make an effort to keep the customers happy, I'm sure it will be a huge success for him.
I really need to update the guide as it's about a year old now. Maybe I could drum up some donations at the TD soiree this month?
he did certainly offer us a greeting, followed up by a 20 minute harang about how stupid a country thailand is. i don't know if he was having a bad day, but i was quite embarrased for him and nearly told him he should probably head for more intelligent shores.
He was also more than willing to thrill us with stories of the police in his pocket
This guide rocks!!! I am a long-time fan of Bangkok's Britpubs and there are a number listed in this guide that I haven't tried. Luv them meat pies.
there's 2 newish places on soi 4 now
Hanrahans
bit like the irish exchange and ive only been in early doors
not too pricy
the brekkie is good
tiger beer is palatable
guinness is rank
kilkenny ok
clientele seems reserved for soi 4 so its not all loudmouthmockneywankers which is unusual for this mannor
snugs upstairs and a roof patio allegedly
overall a welcome addition to this part of town and worth a visit and next door to the busstop and the seedy skank hos
difficult selling it to the missus but a good people watching place so i got away with it
finnegans
jools-esq irish p-lace
not been in yet but b y reports worthwhile
will do more research
I really need to update this thread properly one day, but I'm doing a CMN at the moment, so it'll have to wait until I fall off the wagon.
Tomorrow maybe...?
There's a CMN's guide to pubs in ChiangMai in the pipeline.
I bet it gets done before you sort this thread out.
I am feeling ever so productive at the moment.
The Dubliner has to be one of the best "pubs" in town. Food is great, don't eat there if your not HUNGRY. Ordered a lamb shank and got a small leg-o-lamb. Honest, way too much. "Sunday roasts" are huge as is the breakfast fry.
Sunday afternoons are a hoot. A Japanese violinist playing Irish music. For the first hour ( they play from 3 - 5PM) is pretty much Irish, then they swing into other stuff. The guy can really play the fiddle believe me. He is the head of the music deptartment at one of the major universities in Bangers.
Big screen TV showing sports, especially rugby, with a SA sat. as well as UBC.
Decent staff that is very stable, the requisite beer girls, although now they just wear the dresses without logos... too funny.
If your a regular ask for a card, 10% discount on the total bill and no questions.
E. G.
"If you can't stand the answer --
Don't ask the question!"
Suk Soi 23 has a great Aussie place, the DownUnder, a sports bar. Great food and good screens. I see you visited the other 2 by it on Soi 23: Offshore and Ship Inn. I have visited many of the places you listed and like this one better.
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