Above Eleven and Nest, Bangkok

We only had two nights to soak up the city of Bangkok so we decided one of them should be spent down on the party street of Khao San Road, and the other living the life of luxury by trying a couple of Skybars in the Sukhumvit area of the city. The only slight issue upon deciding this was that there are about 25 different sky bars to choose from and they are scattered around the city and not exactly within walking distance of one another! Being huge sushi lovers, and feeling rather peckish I had heard good reviews about a relatively new Skybar called Above Eleven so we headed there first to check it out.

Above Eleven itself is situated on the 33rd floor of the Fraser Suites, and despite being nowhere near the tallest of the Skybars on offer, the views are still breathtaking! On a windy night like the night we visited I'm not sure I'd have wanted to be much higher!



Our View

On arriving at the bar you have to take a lift directly up to the 33rd floor, and you are then in what can only really be described as a garden...beyond the mini-maze a waiter greets you with a welcoming smile - as was received in many of the Thai places we visited. Despite being a Sunday night, and relatively early we were told that there was no space to eat and we could only enjoy a cocktail at the bar (which is not really near to the edge of the building)...after much more persuasion the staff were so kind and gave us, quite possibly, the best table in the house with a warning that the table was reserved for another couple in an hour...being speedy eaters we jumped at the opportunity and took in the view!

Our Cocktails

I opted for the Park View cocktail - purely because it said something about elderflower...I'm always sold on cocktails containing this in spirit or cordial form! It was surprisingly refreshing, not sweet as is sometimes expected with an elderflower drink but yummy, and worked wonders in what was relentless humidity.

We then ordered a few dishes to try, to wet our appetite, however knowing we only had a short time we figured we could eat here, and then have another snack later if he remained hungry (which we did!). Our first choice was left down to the chef as we opted for the 14 piece Above Eleven Roll mix.

Selection of Four different types of roll

Please excuse the picture, it really was a beautiful platter of food and this photo does not do it justice at all...I wish I could remember all of the different rolls but unfortunately I cannot. I know we definitely had the spider roll with crispy soft shell crab - absolutely divine and one (pictured closest) which had calamari on top - possibly the best calamari i've ever tasted, light, not greasy and perfectly tender.

Tuna Tartar with Wonton crisps

We also ordered the 'chef special' (as denoted by a star on the menu) tuna tartar. It was clean and fresh just as it should be so the real flavour of the fish can be tasted, with a kick of spice, I think possible wasabe, and the wontons added texture, and served as a great way to eat the tartar like pate!

Finally we ordered a chefs special - the 'Cebiche Above Eleven'. A combination of Sea bass and prawns in Leche de Tigre, accompanied by some excellent calamari and orange glazed sweet potatoes.

Cebiche 'Above Eleven'

Now I thought this dish was absolutely to die for, loving the fresh Peruvian flavours, and the raw sea bass just worked perfectly with the sweet potatoes, however the flavour of coriander really came through which, unfortunately was my partners 'arch enemy', it really was our fault for not asking the (very helpful) wait staff, but nevertheless, it is a beautiful dish!

To top everything off the manager came around towards the end of our meal, and had such a lovely chat with us about the food, and our table (which he liked to call the Titanic View) as you can see pretty much all the way around unrestricted. This made our night extremely special and definitely worth the pestering at the start of our evening! I would recommend making a booking if you plan to eat here whilst in Bangkok!

Whilst sitting admiring the wonderful view I happened to notice a terrace with nice lighting and sofas below, strangely this was the Snack and Cocktail bar 'Nest' which was incidentally on my list of possible bars to try, so given our full bellies we decided to make our way back to ground level and onto here.

Our Cocktails in Nest

Situated in a bustling neighbourhood and only a few floors above ground Nest does not deliver on the breathtaking views expected of some other Bangkok bars, however it really is the atmosphere that made us fall in love with this place.
We were lucky enough to find a seat/bed area with a table so we could lounge around, and enjoy our cocktails, it was extremely comfy - despite having a pillow which would have rather been on the floor than behind our heads, it made for the perfect end to our night of luxury. I ordered the 'apple crumble' cocktail which was quite possibly one of the nicest concoctions I have ever tasted, and the good old mojito didn't fail to impress either.

Mushroom Dumplings

After a while, and a free welcome Sangria style beverage (as pictured above) we decided to ordered another couple of plates of foodie tapas. The first was the mushroom dumplings, crispy on the outside but bursting with flavour in the middle. They came with a sweet soy like dipping sauce which worked with the earthy mushroom flavours extremely well. Secondly we ordered their Prawn and Mango salad.

Prawn and Mango Salad

This was also lovely and fresh, the salad made for a nice change from the endless amounts of rice and noodles we had already experienced, and the prawns we huge and bursting with flavour. Unfortunately the salad leaves were a little bitter, but the gorgeous dressing and the sweet mango worked perfectly with the fish so it didn't really matter!

All in all, our evening enjoying a couple of the upmarket Bangkok bars went down a treat! Had we stayed another night in this incredible city we would have definitely checked out some of the more famous (and somewhat taller) establishments - such as the hotel seen in Hangover 2, but if you are looking for two lovely little places within two minutes walking distance these are the two for you!