In an intimate, almost-black room on Sukhumvit 26, where walls are lined with specimen jars of dried herbs, spices, and flowers like an alchemist’s laboratory, two former interior designers have reimagined what a cocktail bar can be. Bar Us, opened in September 2023 by Sudarat “Taln” Rojanavanich and Veerach “Aum” Sawaengsupt, has rocketed to become the number-one bar in Thailand and fourth in all of Asia on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025—climbing 17 places in a single year. On the global list, it sits at a remarkable 15th on The World’s 50 Best Bars 2025, an almost unprecedented rise for a venue barely two years old.
The concept is as radical as the ascent suggests. Bar Us operates as a “drinking room” modelled on fine-dining restaurants rather than traditional bars. The cocktail menu is structured like a multi-course tasting menu—starters, mains, and afters—with each drink crafted using techniques borrowed from the kitchen: distillation, fermentation, carbonation, brining, sous vide, and deconstruction. Every ingredient is sourced from local Thai farms. The founders, who taught themselves mixology during graveyard shifts at their backpacker hostel before launching their first venture (Messenger Service Bar), bring an interior designer’s eye for spatial storytelling to every aspect of the experience.
The Cocktail Menu
The menu unfolds in three acts. Starters are light and refreshing—aperitif-style drinks designed to welcome and awaken the palate. Mains are where Bar Us truly distinguishes itself: bold, savoury, food-inspired cocktails that push the boundaries of what a drink can taste like. The signature Pad Thai somehow captures the sweet-sour-salty complexity of the beloved noodle dish in liquid form. Beef + Onion is an umami-laden creation that belongs at a three-star restaurant. Fish Soup is intensely flavoured and disarmingly familiar. Ingredients like guava leaf, green chilli, makrut lime, and fermented fish paste appear throughout—unmistakably Thai, unmistakably avant-garde.
Afters bring the journey home with sweet, aromatic, dessert-style cocktails. And an All Night section offers refined twists on classics for those who prefer something more conventional. The menu refreshes every few months to reflect seasonal availability. Artisanal snacks—addictive taro crisps and banana chips—provide palate-cleansing accompaniment.
The Space
With roughly ten seats, Bar Us is deliberately tiny—an intimate drinking room where the experience is concentrated and personal. The interior is almost entirely black, punctuated by theatrical white spotlighting that turns each cocktail into a stage performance. Walls lined with shelves of specimen jars—dried herbs, flowers, mysterious spices—evoke an old Chinese pharmacy or a Victorian apothecary. Staff wear crisp white lab coats, reinforcing the sense that you’ve entered a laboratory where cocktails are not mixed but researched, developed, and perfected.
The design is no accident. Both founders are former interior designers with backgrounds in art direction, and every element of the space—the lighting, the jar displays, the proportion of darkness to spotlight—is calculated to create an immersive sensory narrative that elevates the act of drinking a cocktail into something theatrical and cerebral.
Why Bar Us Is Number One
In a city with hundreds of excellent bars, Bar Us’s distinction lies in philosophical clarity. Treating cocktails as a complete culinary art form—with the same rigour, creativity, and respect given to three-Michelin-star food—has resonated with judges and drinkers alike. The locally sourced Thai ingredients demonstrate cultural authenticity. The advanced techniques demonstrate technical mastery. And the intimate scale ensures that every guest receives the kind of focused, knowledgeable service that larger venues cannot replicate.
The speed of recognition—from opening to Asia’s top four in under two years—reflects not just the quality of the cocktails but the novelty of the concept itself. No other bar in Bangkok treats drinks with this level of culinary seriousness, and the awards confirm that the global bar community has taken notice.
Practical Information
Address: 1 Soi Sukhumvit 26, Khlong Tan Nuea, Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110
Hours: Sun–Thu 6:00 PM – Midnight; Fri–Sat 6:00 PM – late
Seatings: 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM slots; walk-ins after reservation window closes
Rankings: #4 Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025; #15 World’s 50 Best Bars 2025; #1 in Thailand
Reservations: us-bar.com/reservations (essential—only ~10 seats)
Dress code: Business casual / “polite outfit”
Best for: Serious cocktail enthusiasts, culinary adventurers, those seeking a unique experience
