Bangrak square shapes up

HOLIDAY TIME 2009

They say in fashion that if you wait long enough everything comes back into style. Well, the same might be said of real estate, so long as the wrecking balls don't get there first.

Now it seems Charoen Krung Road's time has come again. Originally laid in 1861 during the reign of King Mongkut, it was the first street in old Bangkok and, for many, still retains the apt nickname it acquired at the time: New Road.

Foreign consuls petitioned for it to be built so their traders could move between their sailing ships and the business centre in Yawarat and seat of government on Rattanakosin Island more freely. And trade and commerce are once again the reasons for the resurgence, though these days the business end of accomplished local artists and artisans are clamouring for development quite as much as foreign entrepreneurs.

The latest rather audacious expression of this demand is OP Garden (ample parking available), a complex of five inter-connected buildings ranging from vintage teak houses to 30s prefabs which have been united across a one-rai plot by landscaped walkways, lawns and other al fresco features.

In terms of stylistic merit, the former present stronger cases for preservation than the latter but with a few coats of high-emulsion and clever plastering, even the non-descript utilitarian concrete buildings that characterise the area's relatively recent past acquire a just credible art-deco retro charm. What's more, the interiors are surprisingly aesthetic, with impressive stone-flagged floors, now polished to bijou brilliance, and picture windows, well shaded by angular outcrops, from which to enjoy a perspective on the area that somehow excavates lots of underlying character. Anyway, all elements are listed and the Fine Arts Department kept a beady eye on everything so there was little choice - and probably a good thing too.

Stretching from just beyond the French Embassy entrance down to the main road on Charoenkrung 36, the chic shopping and dining enclave is in the same neighbourhood also as The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, OP Place, that bastion of all things Asian heritage, owned by the same firm, and the also remarkably renovated Assumption School, now flying high again with an international programme, which like the embassy is proving a ready source of customers for OP Garden's restaurant and refreshment outlets.

Titarpar Tepakhun, managing director of O.P. Place and O.P. Garden of TCC Land Group, the firm owned by Beer Chang mogul Charoen Siriwattanaphakdee responsible for the development, along with OP Place and much besides, is at pains to emphasise that despite not launching at the best of times in terms of both the local and tourist economies, the collecting of boutiques, galleries and eateries has been anything but haphazard.

"We've had to politely refuse almost as many applicants as those we have accepted in order to get the balance and style right," says the veteran of 15 years with the firm, explaining that the essential ethos is a "contemporary art and design boutique shopping centre". What's more, on a plot that used to house Thailand's first modern polyclinic, Sahakarnpaet, owned by famous conservationist Dr. Boonsong Lekagul, and where children of the royal family once played, first- claims were staked by a few people with a bit of history in the area, including a Doi Tung royal project coffee and bake shop.

Despite its half-century old centrepiece, a delightful two-storey gable-roofed teak house on stilts,  which while retaining its original beams has been renovated to more than its original glory  and glossed with a stylish modern makeover to boot, the overall ambience is thoroughly contemporary and effectively makes modern art of even the oldest elements.

New Road Returns

In all, there are 29 outlets. The anchor is undoubtedly the occupant of said teak splendour, the first Mango Tree Signature restaurant which complements the brand's lauded outlets in London and Tokyo besides CentralWorld and Suriwongse and remains a pet project of Khun Charoen himself.

The under house area has been converted into a comfy chillout space where you can lounge around with drinks from the bar and snacks from the next door kitchen. There's more outside seating just beyond at umbrella-shaded tables in a garden space whose tranquillity belies its proximity to the nearby thoroughfare. A high terracotta wall that seeps water into deep stone troughs adds to the sense of an oasis which is being capitalised in the evenings by conceptualising it as a beer and wine garden complete with a smattering of soothing live jazz cameos.

With two former five-star hotel men in the kitchen led by Chef Nattapong or "Fang", the Thai food is understandably excellent. The main dining area is upstairs in air-conditioned opulence with long windows both sides allowing one to soak up the full garden ambience.

There are separate lunch and dinner menus with the former more concentrated with Thai casual classics. And if you've ever enjoyed chicken cashew or pat Thai but wondered if more could be made of it, here's where to find out how right you were. The evening menu, meanwhile, includes Thai fine dining dishes and exotics such as Venison.

By the way this, too, is owned by TCC Land - along with the Imperial Queens Park, Plaza Athenee and Le Meridien Chiang Mai hotels, Panthip Plaza Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Queen Sirikit Convention Center, and that beautiful big colonial building on the river next to the Mandarin Oriental for which Khun Charoen also has big plans as part of his three soi "Bangrak Square" grand strategy for the area.

Also pulling in curious passersby in need of refreshment is the Doi Tung shop with a few tables that soon fill up with frappes and muffins when school's out, while just opened upstairs commanding the coveted corner spot of the modern block with a very cool view across Charoen Krung, is Waan Jiap (So Sweet), a casual bakery that has got to be one of the top rendezvous in the area.

Then again, the high-end, if immodestly titled "Beauty by the Best" beauty shop and a small massage and day spa offer welcome respite as well.

Chic street

Taking one of the two truly historic buildings besides the restaurant is Serindia Gallery, an art gallery and art book shop in what was once the high-ceilinged office of the Association for Wildlife Conservation founded by the renowned Dr. Boonsong Lekagul. The gallery focuses on showing living artists with a vision of fine quality works of art that reflect classical skills and subjects related to Asian and Himalayan cultures.

The other wooden building, approached along a quaint 2nd floor open landing, is Ancient East offering original  decor and accessories collected by a Frenchman who had long yearned to be admitted to OP Place but decided that this was more suitable.

Elsewhere you find shops selling stylish shoes, bags, jewellery, silks, carpets, picture frames and perfumes. Note the absence of antiques which are strictly reserved for OP Place so as not to dilute the identity.

Reflections with its assemblage of recycled decor items and Solutions who make picture frames have previously only exported their wares; an indication  of the high esteem in which the development is held.

Though you deliberately won't find international brands here, from Co-Ko's, Bizzio's and Good Old Days' hand-stitched nappa soft leather bags and shoes to Spirit of Gems', Due't's and Rare's jewellery, Duet's (again) and Rinyu's fashions and accessories and Breathe's fabulous original fragrances, what you do find are luxurious products that could very easily be the next big thing and meanwhile will anyway greatly please all those who are tired of being  dictated to.

There's more to it than that. A lot more. But you get the picture.

Meanwhile, TCC is now renovating the buildings at the mouth of Soi 36 directly opposite the Silom junction which should be a nice advertisement for everything else that's going on to change the scene in this thoroughly beguiling comeback area that should once again become the talk of the town.

For more information call K. Titarpar, K. Wanvisa on 02-235-1889.