Escape to One Night in Bangkok for Killer Thai Cocktails and Asian Bites

Touting themselves as India’s first Thai dive bar, One Night In Bangkok pulls all stops to make the experience of eating and drinking Thai food and cocktails as authentic as possible. They even pay close attention to getting the decor just right.

Pork Belly with Hot Basil

Tom Yam Siam and Mango Spice

The super-friendly service and the Classic Rock-only playlist.

This is clearly a place where drinking is priority, and eating an afterthought. The Pattaya Sour, a delicious twist on the classic Whiskey Sour, includes cloves and ginger, and the Mango Spice, a concoction of mango pulp, wickedly hot chillies and rum, is refreshing and quite novel. Their Tom Yum Siam is a twist on the classic soup that includes chunks of rambutan and coconut milk {canned, not fresh though}, a concoction the bar came up with on a lark, and found that it works quite well. Their Passion Margarita, where passion fruit replaces lime juice, is also rather enjoyable.

The star dish here is the Pork Belly with Hot Basil, which {as we experienced} even those who don’t usually favour pork might love, thanks to the hot and sour flavours that are perfectly infused with the meat. We also ate their Stuffed Chicken Wings, crammed with a mixture of cabbage and minced chicken, and quite liked it, though the smell of fish sauce covering the wings might be overpowering for those who don’t care about seafood. Amongst their vegetarian offerings from the menu, we enjoyed the Fried Lotus Stem with Peanuts {though it could have done with a little less grease}.

The first thing to strike you here is the sliding door and curtain, which sets the tone for what turns out to be an enjoyable dingyness but with plush decor and rustic wooden high tables and chairs. What also stood out was their DJ’s playlist of fun tunes from the 70s and 80s, which makes it clear that, unlike the owners’ other brands, Plan B and Mother Cluckers, One Night In Bangkok is targeting an older crowd.

It wouldn’t be surprising if this place became a regular haunt, thanks to the novel cocktails and general air of bonhomie. We’d also go back for that Pork Belly again. But this is a dive bar only in name; the prices and the fancy decor suggest otherwise.

Where: Next to Berry’d Alive, 12th Main, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar

Price: INR 2,000 for two {approx.}

Contact: +91 9739902745

Find them on Facebook here.