A comfortable place to enjoy Tapas and French Snacks from 17:00 – 23:00 daily.  A good selection of spirits, wine and beer are on offer.

Bar

Tapas

Tartine of the Day

Oskar Bistro, 24 Sukhumvit Soi 11, Tel. 02-255 3377, Opening hours: 6-11, website: www.oskar-bistro.com

Oskar Bistro is a large bar with a small bistro attached and a terrace in front overlooking the street, mainly populated by smokers. Oskar has a nice layout with plenty of room around the bar area as it gets packed later in the evening, it attracts mostly European foreigners, and because a few of the partners are French, expect a French crowd. Nirut is the main bartender and you can ask him to help you with the long list of exotic, tall drinks. Ten wines by the glass include (135-265): Lungarotti Pinot Grigio 195 baht, Rose Cinsault 145 baht, Ch. Malbec (Bordeaux) 265 baht. Free Tapas 4:30 – 7:30 pm (counter only).  A few selections from the French influenced menu: Oskar Burger 320 baht, Club Sandwich 240 baht, Croque Monsieur 210 baht, Quiche Lorraine 190 baht, N.Y. Caesar Salad 210 baht, Duck Parmentier 250 baht, Ratatouille 220 baht, wood-oven pizzas (195-325).

Located on a quiet section of Third St. this wine bar is usually crowded and well it should be; it made tapas-style small plates of basic Mediterranean fare fashionable.
I have brought many Japanese people here and they just love the great variety of small portion choices. For everyone else it is great fun to be able to pair different dishes with their diverse selection of wines available by the glass.

This operation is the brain-child of Susan Goin and Caroline Styne of Lucques fame.
Look for interesting items such as: brandade (A pounded combination of salted cod fish, olive oil, garlic, milk and cream), boudin noir and a large selection of charcutrie and cheese.

One evening as I sat at the bar, I looked up to see in the middle of the back bar a Cruvinet Wine Preserving Machine, being put to very good use. The original company Cruvinet I founded along with partners Jean France Mercier, presently owner of Tixa Wine Cellars the top custom wine cellar designer in the U.S., and Nick Bassill Luxine Ltd., a cutting-edge manufacturer of induction cooking units for commercial and home use. We put together this company in the early eighties, and it was, from the onset the quality leader in the industry, with as many as nine copy-cat competitors turning out inferior and less costly machines within one year. We all went our separate ways, for individual reasons, five years later.

This machine is ideal for this type of situation however, one of the employees after all of us dispersed, and basically without permission, usurped the technology, therefore I cannot vouch for its integrity today.

Bar@494 is located on the lower level of the hotel and is such a pleasant retreat with the hull of an outrigger canoe as the centerpiece that divides the seating into two parts in the main bar room, additional seating surrounds this in the semi-courtyard outside. This is one of the few bars in Bangkok that offers a large selection of wines by the glass in addition to all the expected drinks and cocktails. (I will cover the rest of the establishments that also do this soon on my return from Japan).

Here is the way it goes, the wines-by-the-glass are listed
by price starting at:
Price 169 Baht – A selection of Chilean wines,

Price 199 Baht – Includes a better grade of Chilean wines and one Italian Cabernet or Chardonnay and a Shiraz-Cabernet from Australia Price 239 Baht – One unwooded Chardonnay from South Australia, a Chardonnay-Pinot Grigio, two Sangiovese and one Chianti plus one South African and Argentinean wine

Price 494 Baht – better quality Australian, Chilean and Argentinean wines

Price 390 Baht – Sparkling Italian Prosecco

Price 949 – Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial Champagne
The wine selection changes from time to time.

Before the non-smoking law was amended just recently, to include bars and nightclubs and any air-conditioned room, the inside area around the canoe was the non-smoking area and the area in the courtyard was for smokers, and located conveniently just a few steps away was a shop stocking all the famous brands of Cuban cigars, which were available to the customers of the bar.

This new law has changed all this at least as far as the hotels are concerned, although the hotels are obliged to obey the law to the letter other establishments pay no attention to it at all. It just depends on where you go however, this may change when the police start levying fines in June to both customers and establishments. To what degree the law is finally enforced will eventually depend on how much teeth are involved in enforcement of these new smoking laws and for how long.

Not more than 25 meters away on the same floor is the Italian Restaurant Spazzo. Later in the evening when the music starts and you cannot here yourself think, Bar 494 offers a place where people can actually talk to each other of course, it is not a pick-up bar as Spazzo becomes late at night, and as a matter of fact, almost all through the evening.