A bar in Bangkok
August 23rd 2007 09:35
With Cosmopolitan at Mukus
The main point of foreign travel is to move outside the comfort zone, away from the familiar and the known, to experience the new and the different, to be anonymous and to push self reliance to the limit. Nevertheless, when you’re out there on the edge, it’s great to come upon an occasional oasis of known language, some familiar foods, a few recognisable customs and a welcome that goes beyond good business and cultural courtesies. It’s great to find a place where you feel at home with people who are friends.
For many travelers in Thailand, Mukus, on Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Soi 22 was just such an Oasis. This bar/café had its beginnings in the owners’, Mukesh and Richard’s, apartment where they loved to welcome, and cook for, a vast, ever-increasing circle of international friends. When the crowd grew too big, the space too small and entertaining became an almost daily event, in other words, when their apartment became more or less a restaurant, they decided to open one. Therein lay both Mukus charm and its success.
Its eclectic menu could only have evolved from the experience of a chef like Richard, who has not only lived in a number of different countries himself, but is also accustomed to feeding a multicultural multitude. Imagine bruschetta and pasta, quesilladas, pork chops, steaks and mango salads, all prepared with fresh herbs and spices. Picture home-made dressings, sauces and desserts. But, best of all, think giant English breakfast with bacon, eggs, tomatoes, hash browns, sausages, buttered toast and even baked beans! This is the kind of food I left behind and swore off for foreign fare but found myself devouring at Mukus with born-again zeal. So, too, did many other patrons, like the bleary-eyed, hung-over weekenders who came in for their morning carbo-cholesterol fix, and a certain English chap, who arrived every evening with a different lady but always ordered the same dish.
It was at Mukus bar, under the guidance of the charming Yusa and Manisha that I discovered the cocktail, in particular the Cosmopolitan, drink of choice of the girls from Sex in the City. Here, you could buy them by the jugful and at half-price on Tuesdays (ladies’ night). The Mukus Cosmopolitan would have sent Carrie’s barman scurrying back to the drawing board and set Samantha salivating with envy. As it guaranteed lift-off after a couple of sips, it quickly became my “usual”. Many others’ “usuals” were so usual that they sat in bottles, labelled with their names, on special shelves and were poured as soon as they appeared in the doorway.
But the qualities that made Mukus so special to the people who popped in regularly and that also kept travellers coming back every time they passed through Bangkok, were its atmosphere and its people. The bar felt like home and the people were welcoming. II had the relaxed, comfortable ambience of the lounge-room. It was easy to slip into conversation at the bar and to make friends. As many of the Mukus crowd were local Thai people or expatriates living and working in Bangkok, they knew the city and places of interest beyond the travel guides and the tourist brochures. On Mukesh's recommendation I took the ferry from Wat Pho to the Temple of Dawn and enjoyed a meander along the river near the Oriental Hotel. I owe nights of dancing to great bands at the Grand Hyatt and a sortie into the very late night city to both Mukesh and Richard and their friends.
Sadly, like all good things, Mukus, as we used to know it, has come to pass. Mukesh and Richard have been carried away on the ever-shifting tide of global work. The travelers have returned home or gone off on other journeys. The crowd has scattered. But Mukus, hasn't vanished completely, it’s just moved on, into a virtual world. It’s www.bar now and friends still meet there, in Cyberspace, on Mukus Network.
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