Best-of list · Hidden Gems
The eight best hidden gem bars in Bangkok for 2026, from Q&A and Backstage to Teens of Thailand and Tep Bar. Tom Callahan's pick of the speakeasies.
The short answer
8 ranked rooms follow. How we picked is at the end of this guide.
Bangkok hides its best drinking in Chinatown, Charoenkrung and Sukhumvit. The eight below show why the city's speakeasy scene now competes with Tokyo's.
Backstage Cocktail Bar inside PlayHaus Thonglor plays a theatrical card, with mixology to match its place on Asia's Top 50. Open daily 5pm to 1am. The drinks are detailed and the room is small enough to feel like a secret. A strong first stop on a Thonglor crawl, before the night gets loud.
Full listing & hours →Q&A near Asoke is ten leather seats inside a narrow train-carriage room behind an unmarked gold door, run by the Sugarray team. The monthly list tweaks the classics and the bartenders read what you like. Book ahead, because the space is tiny. One of the most charming small bars in the city.
Full listing & hours →Junker and Bar in Sathorn pours over 100 gins beside burgers, banh mi and what it calls premium junk food, split between a bar zone and a diner. Open from 11am most days, 9am at weekends. Value-minded and unpretentious, with live music some nights. A solid all-rounder rather than a hushed speakeasy.
The Locker Room hides down a sticker-covered alley off Sukhumvit 23, a speakeasy that takes its cocktails seriously without the attitude. Find the door and you get a smart, low-lit room and a well-built list. Worth the hunt, and a good pairing with the Thai food nearby before you settle in.
Full listing & hours →Asia Today on Soi Nana in Chinatown puts local Thai ingredients front and center, an Asia's 50 Best room that treats produce as the headline, not the garnish. The space is small and the crowd knows its drinks. Come early in the evening, before Soi Nana fills with the late Chinatown crowd.
Full listing & hours →Opium Bar hides on the upper floors of the Potong building in Chinatown, the speakeasy attached to chef Pichaya Soontornyanakij's fine-dining room. Drinks chase what the team calls liquid surreality, and the whole thing holds a World's 50 Best Discovery spot. Book the restaurant or find the bar. Not cheap, but memorable.
Full listing & hours →Teens of Thailand started the Soi Nana revival, a gin bar down a Chinatown alley with over 100 gins under red light, old posters and a piano. Open from 7pm, later at weekends. The cocktails are inventive and the room is tiny. Go on a weeknight if you actually want a seat.
Full listing & hours →Tep Bar fills a restored Charoenkrung shophouse with raw, characterful rooms and a Thai-spirit list, including the rice-and-herb yadong served by the jug. Live Thai instruments play some nights. Open from 6pm, 5pm at weekends. A proper sense of place, and a refreshing change from the hotel rooftops.
Full listing & hours →