While it had long fell in the borderline between an Italian restaurant and a cocktail bar, Vesper has been brought back to life—after two months of renovations. This time, it comes detached from the kitchen and becomes a standalone bar with a more polished look and an even more exciting take on the Modern art-focused cocktail list.
Sereechai Puttes/Time Out Bangkok
From the bistro-style bar with grown-up look comes a glam drinking den complete with sleek pine-green marble bar top, reflective light bulbs, more mirrors, and curtains hiding the space from the outside — all of which contribute to a more secretive-with-edge feel. Bar manager Supawit “Palm” Muttarattana delves into art history to give Vesper’s signature Modern art-inspired cocktail menu a complete makeover.
For example, he reinterprets Neo-Impressionist artist Georges Seurat’s pointillist masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (which depicts people relaxing by the bank of a river) in the form of a smooth afternoon concoction with tea-infused vodka with refreshing sweetness from orange and strawberry, served in a tea cup within a cute basket with cookies and strawberry (B360).
Edvard Munch’s The Dance of Life, in which the Norwegian painter portrays different psychological stages encountered in life through individuals with different emotions on the dancefloor, comes a savory vodka-based drink that combines ingredients with polemic flavors like the spicy capsicum, sweet honey, aromatic Tonka bean and intense sesame to deliver a smooth-yet-complexed profile (B360). Pop Art icon Andy Warhol’s Campbell Can Soup has inspired the drink that reproduces the use of corn in the same glass: bourbon (yes, it’s made from corn) with corn infusion and popcorn garnishing.
For a more spirit-forward note, go for Jackson Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm No.30, in which Supawit uses fig, truffle and maple syrup—Autumn-ish ingredients which do not seem to harmonize in the first place —to create a rum and bourbon-based drink that reflects the unorthodox balance lain beneath abstract expressionist paintings.
