#and I adored the Japanese live action but idk this Thai one hit differently

[lazzarella]

I can’t stop thinking about the Thai Cherry Magic and how much I love it and all the characters and ahhh it’s totally taken over my brain. Just can’t stop thinking about Achi and Karan and how perfectly matched they are and how brave Achi is and how lonely Karan must’ve been and I love how Achi constantly learns from the people around him and I love his kindness and how he’s so self reflective and how he keeps moving forward despite his anxieties and how overwhelmed he is because everything is new (and Karan is kind of a lot, or his thoughts are) and that he only really pulls back when he thinks he’s hurting and taking advantage of Karan and he only wants the best for Karan because he sees him like no one else does the same way Karan sees him and I could honestly flail about this show and these characters for days

[hempowerment]

7 Must Visit Bangkok Cafes

Bangkok is a large city the size of London, in both population and land mass, and can be overwhelming for first time visitors.

Most tourists head for the temples, Khao San Road and street food, but for people living in Southeast Asia, is a popular weekend break for spas, desserts and cafe hopping.

 Although a cake and latte might not be at the top of your Bangkok to-do list, the city is home to many lovely cafes which can punctuate your holiday with little oases of calm and caffeine.

This is my must-visit Bangkok cafe list. It’s not exhaustive, and mostly revolves around Thonglor and Ekkamai. These neighbourhoods are adjacent and is the prime area for cafe hopping in Bangkok. I’ve included each cafe for different reasons: some for the decor, some for the atmosphere, and some because they have fabulous food and coffee!

1. Roast

Roast is located in The Commons, which is an eco-friendly mall, open-air with wood laminate flooring and greenery in little planters, and full of ‘artisanal’ shops and cafes. It’s one of the most hipster buildings I’ve seen in my life. When I went there, there were people sitting on the benches dotted around the building, working on their Apple computers and drinking lattes. It’s that kinda place.

The basement is called the Market Floor. It’s little food stalls in an industrial-chic space, more like the Food Hallen in Amsterdam or Gotham West Market in NYC, than the food stalls on the streets of Bangkok. There’s coffee here too: Roots, the more coffee-focused companion to Roast.

Roast is not so conveniently located in the basement. You have to climb the stairs to the very top.

When you do get there it’s an airy, light-filled space. The menu comes in the form of a little magazine. They do brunch, of the eggs benedict variety, and it looks fabulous. We had Roast iced tea (iced tea with lychee rose syrup and lychees, pictured) and amazing shakes: creamsicle and salted caramel. The salted caramel comes with a Pretz stick.

Roast

Unit #T1 (Roast), The COMMONS 335 Thonglor Soi 17, Sukhumvit 55 Klongton Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110

Closest station: BTS Thonglor

2. Shugaa

Shugaa is a dessert cafe and the main reason you need to go is because it is beautiful.

The space is beautiful, the desserts are beautiful. The decor is apparently sugar-themed, hence the geometric shapes reminiscent of sugar crystals. Everything is in soft, pastel shades. There is a small bear family made of, I imagine, fondant, sitting on the counter.

While it’s obvious that a lot of thought and care goes into the creation of the desserts, they run a little sweet for me, and heavy, for how sweet they are. These are substantial desserts. The different tiers of dessert are stuck together with syrup.

You know how on Bake Off: The Professionals people are sticking shards of sugar together with syrup and a blowtorch like they’re David Smith? Like that kind of industrial strength welding syrup. It’s instagrammable but if you like eating cakes you can do better.

Shugaa

27 The Residence at 61 Sukhumvit Soi 61, Wattana, Bangkok 10110

Closest station: BTS Thonglor or Ekkamai

3. Fill in the blank

Another cute cafe in Ekkamai, this is pretty much across the road from Shugaa with a totally different vibe. The feeling of this cafe is kinda Scandi/Japanese, light and breezy with lots of wood (including an indoor tree!).  A great place to chill with a laptop or a book, they have some English and Japanese language local magazines with articles on trendy things to do and daytrips, etc. We went on a weekday and there was one (very friendly) member of staff. The place was pretty empty, just us and a laptopper.

There was a selection of cakes in a display box next to the counter but we didn’t have any as we were going to Shugaa after. I had a caramel iced latte instead which had cream drizzled with caramel syrup, very picturesque and not as sweet as a caramel Frappuccino. I also liked that it came with a little glass of water. Of all the cafes I’ve seen in Bangkok, I wish we had this one in London.

Fill in the blank cafe

28/10 Sukhumvit 61 Alley, Khwaeng Khlong Tan Nuea, Khet Watthana, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10110

Closest station: BTS Thonglor or Ekkamai

4. Audrey Cafe

Audrey is an Audrey Hepburn themed/inspired cafe. Normally I’m not into themed cafes, but I like frilly pink cafes and Audrey is the super frilliest pinkest cafe of all. It’s a mini chain with a few different branches, but the one at Thonglor has a fountain and a little rocking horse (!) in front, and is well placed for a day of cafe hopping. Inside the tables are marble-topped and there’s Hepburn quotes on the walls. Some of the staff are dressed in little maid outfits which is interesting but service is a little slow.

We ordered some pastel-coloured drinks: Sakura Glazier (pink) and Audrey on my Mind (light teal). They’re sweet frappe-style and very photographable, I’m like 99% sure the colour is artificial. The pricing is in line with London cafes: as you can see from the sign in the picture it’s 135 Baht for Audrey on my Mind, which is about £3.20.

They have a pretty solid food menu if you’re hungry, it goes way beyond typical cafe food and enters the realm of pizzas, tacos and fried rice, but it was pretty hit and miss. We weren’t really going to order food but while we were there, a little girl was celebrating her birthday (it feels the right kind of place for a little girl’s birthday and a girly afternoon) and her table had a lot of food, all of which looked pretty good. So we capitulated. We got the deep fried chicken wings with nuts and caramel, stir fried morning glory, fried rice and sliced pork loin salad. I was hoping the deep fried chicken wings would be like pok pok chicken wings - they’re were, disappointingly, not. The sliced pork loin salad was the best thing followed by the morning glory, the fried rice was too salty. The little girl’s birthday party had ordered the tom yam pizza and when theirs came out I kinda regretted not having gotten that instead of the fried rice.

The desserts are meant to be good but we felt so sugared up after the drinks that we didn’t want any.

Audrey Cafe

Soi Thong Lo 11, Khwaeng Khlong Tan Nuea, Khet Watthana, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10110

Closest station: BTS Thonglor

5. D’Ark Coffee

D’Ark seems like a pretty typical modern cafe: exposed lightbulbs, wood, etc. etc. I went on a rainy weekday morning for coffee and there was only one other person there. But! Their coffee is great! They have different beans you can choose from and roast their coffee in house, and you can choose how you want it made: Aeropress, cold brew, Trinity One (which I don’t think I’ve seen before in a cafe). I went for a normal iced latte and decided to go all out and add their housemade salted caramel butter sauce, which is seriously amazing. I strongly recommend getting whatever coffee you like there and adding the salted caramel butter sauce. The coffee itself is not sweet so the sauce isn’t overwhelming.

D’ARK

651 Sukhumvit Rd, Khwaeng Khlong Tan Nuea, Khet Watthana, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10110

Closest station: BTS Phrom Phong

6. The Asia Cafe

The Asia Cafe is a tall, bright cafe although it doesn’t have the window action of many Bangkok cafes. It’s bigger than it looks with an airy feeling. I like the giant wood cubbies behind the counter with piles of baguettes. I don’t think they’re real though. It seems to be...socialism themed? IDK. I say that because their front window has pictures of three dudes with little red stars, whom I think are (from LTR in the picture above): possibly Allende? maybe Ho Chi Minh? And some other dude I don’t recognise - his giant moustache + beardlessness stumps me.

I went because I heard they have sea salt coffee which I’m curious about, and also they have free rusks, and I like free things.

Sea salt coffee turned out to be an iced espresso topped with a salted creamy froth, kind of like the froth on cheese bubble tea but not cheesy. I really really like it this, the faint saltiness with the slightly bitter coffee go really well together and is refreshing, a little like when you have bitter unripe guava or grapefruit with salt.

The rusks are in a jar on the counter. I looked at the jar and was like, Can I have one? And the barista guy was like, Yes. You just kinda grab one from the jar, they’re rusks, they’re good.

I recommend this as a pit stop to revive yourself if you’re walking around Thonglor on a hot afternoon. It’s well located along a main road, the cafe has a relaxing atmosphere, is well air-conditioned, and has many plug sockets for your electronics and sea salt coffee to recharge yourself.

The Asia Cafe

159/15 Soi Thong Lor 9,Sukhumvit Road, Khlong Tan, Watthana

Closest station: BTS Thonglor

7. Caturday Cat Cafe

Caturday is Bangkok’s cat cafe. It has huge windows and is bright and airy, far more than Lady Dinah’s in London. There’s no cover charge, you just order a drink and you can be there for as long as you like - I think that’s why despite it being the most adorable of the cat cafes it’s also the busiest and most chaotic. They do food there though we didn’t have any. We had a Thai iced tea and an iced lemon tea, of the two the iced lemon tea was more refreshing, especially after walking around in the heat.

The cats are very sweet, in particular the little grey kitten. Like other cat cafes expect half the cats to be asleep and to be basically ignored by the other cats, although a few come and hang out with you especially if you sit quietly and drink your tea and ignore them.

This is by far the cutest cat cafe I have been to, ever. Granted I’ve only been to two, in Amsterdam and London, but still. There’s a giant cat mural of cats in a fairground, illustrated Caturday glasses and little coasters (I ended up buying one as a souvenir), and it’s all a pastel-coloured cat wonderland.