The setting sun limns Bangkok’s western skyline with fiery reds and bathes Yao Rooftop Bar in amber-hued gloriole.
View: Panoramically uplifting.
The décor at the elevated bar on the 32nd floor of Bangkok Marriott Hotel The Surawongse isn’t too shabby, either.
It boasts artful aesthetics with a pronounced modern Shanghainese influence. Seats with embroidered upholstery and frames carved in Chinese style are arranged in clusters around small round tables with flameless candles on them.
There are fruiting bonsai-size orange trees in pots at tableside and danceable remixes of old Chinese melodies emanate from loudspeakers.
Atmosphere: Relaxingly hip.
This calls for a drink.
A signature cocktail duly arrives courtesy of the establishment’s in-house mixologist Ilhan Beser, a genial Turkish man from Anatolia with an alchemist’s flair for potent infusions.
His “Chinese Mule” is a mix of Absolut Vodka, passion fruit juice and ginger ale with liberal dashes of honey and chilli pepper. Served in a copper cup, this “mule,” you discover, does have a bit of a kick.
Its piquant taste makes it a good accompaniment for the premium cigars on offer, if you fancy puffing away on one. It also goes well with some of the Chinese comfort foods served at the rooftop bar where hand-pulled noodles with spicy minced pork gravy, Sichuan-style fried chicken, and Peking duck rolls with caviar hoisin sauce are among the perennial fan favourites.
“This cocktail is especially recommended with dumplings,” Beser, 35, elucidates. “It’s also a good sunset drink,” he adds.
Presently, the mixologist conjures up another one of his Chinese-themed signature cocktails. He’s working his magic at the alfresco bar, which is enveloped in muted light against a vast backdrop of encroaching penumbra over a city still bustling with energy during evening rush hour.
His “Chinese Highball” kicks the ball high with mango-infused Evan Williams Bourbon mixed with green tea and sweetened with honey. Soda water is added for extra fizzy oomph on the taste buds.
“I noticed during my trips in China that people there love drinking whiskey with green tea,” Beser explains. “In creating this cocktail, I decided to pay homage to that tradition.”
As for the honey, many of his creations come fortified with the sweet viscous product of bees’ untiring toil. “Honey is my trusted ally,” offers the Turkish bartender, who did stints in Dubai and Doha before he took up his current position at the Marriott chain’s new hotel in Bangkok on Surawong Road when it opened earlier this year.
Beser’s “Empress’s Nectar” is another popular cocktail at the bar. It features Absolut Vodka, Liquid Gold Prosecco, passion fruit juice, honey and mint.
“Mint, honey and passion fruit - you can’t go wrong with that combination,” the bartender quips. “This cocktail is perfect for the ladies,” he adds. “It’s smooth and doesn’t have an intrusive taste.”
“Shanghainese Fashion,” meanwhile, is a combination of Evan Williams Bourbon and the distilled Chinese liquor Maotai, invigorated with cocktail bitters and Chinese five-spice syrup. “It’s a great digestive and so is a great after-dinner cocktail,” Beser says of his creation.
And let’s not forget “Shanghai, ‘The City upon the Sea.’” The cocktail takes its name from the literal meaning of “Shanghai,” which translates as the “city on the sea.”
It’s a strikingly violet-hued beverage, so coloured in tribute to the Chinese metropolis’s Oriental Pearl TV Tower, which is illuminated in purple light at night. The cocktail’s colour is achieved naturally through an infusion of butterfly pea flower and lime juice, which are added to lychee liqueur and Nusa Caña white rum.
Quite a few delightful series of mixed beverages sampled already and it’s still early hours in the evening. Is there anyone who comes here only for the panoramic view (eye-catching through it is)?
Then again, that lofty view alone is certainly worth a visit to Yao Rooftop Bar.
If you can, try to be there for the New Year’s Eve party. The eyrie-in-the-clouds setting of the bar will afford a perfect vantage point from where to watch the nearly five-minute-long fireworks display that will light up the sky at midnight for 1.4km over the Chao Phraya River.
Yet one needs no special occasion to spend an evening up in the sky at the bar. With its two levels boasting a total seating capacity of 160, the venue affords you enough space either to socialize in groups of friends or else to retreat into a quieter nook, there to huddle in a romantic pairing or while away some quality time on your own.
But it’s time for another beverage.
A cocktail called “Decadence” invites enticingly from the drinks menu. It sounds just about the perfect choice right now: Absolut Vodka, Giffard Crème de Rose, La Quintinye Vermouth Extra Dry, lime and soda water.
Surely, one ca n’t go wrong with this one, either.
You say the magic word, and here comes the cocktail in a tall glass, served by an obliging waitress with a pleasant smile.
Let’s take a sip. Delightful.
This is going to be a fun night.
YAO RESTAURANT AND ROOFTOP BAR
32/F Bangkok Marriott Hotel The Surawongse. Open daily 11.30am-2pm and 6pm-10.30pm. Tel. 02 088 5666. www.bangkokmarriottsurawongse.com.
