The Londoner Brew Pub – Bangkok

In the past I’ve always tended to stay away from the English/Irish pubs in Bangkok and prefer to eat/drink in less contrived places. Perhaps as a result of being away from the UK for so long I started to have a greater desire to sample some UK food such as Sunday Roast Dinner and real ale.

After a quick morning raid on Chatuchak market to pick up some items we found the previous day it was time for lunch. For some reason the thought of a relaxing roast dinner came to mind and after a quick check on the internet I found several options not too far away at the other end of Sukhumvit road. In addition I thought it would be a good place for a blog review.

Owing to the Londoner pub being a brew pub and having a buffet lunch our minds were quickly made up and we set off. The pub is easy to find being on the corner of Sukumvit Soi 33 in the basement of the UBC II Building.

When we first entered the I was surprised at the size of the pubs dark cavernous interior and large buffet which its generous selection.

The pub was very quiet although we decided to try it anyway and certainly have no regrets. The buffet lunch is served from 12-3pm and then dinner from 6-9pm and includes a selection of fresh salad, roasted meats and deserts.


The cost by local standards is quite high at THB 470 however for this kind of meal it's reasonable especially when a Burger King Whopper meal at Suvarnabhumi costs more than THB 300.

I was looking forward to trying the home brewed Londoner’s Pride Cream Bitter and have to say that I enjoyed it very much. As a big fan of Fullers London Pride this wasn’t too far off the real stuff and made a change to the keg conditioned London Pride served in Singapore.

The brewery is located towards the rear of the pub and some of the equipment can be seen in the picture below.

My wife is not an ale fan so she ordered a mojio and when it arrived in a pint glass I knew that we would be in the pub for a while!

Due to us arriving quite late we only had around an hour of buffet time remaining so we quickly got to work.
I skipped the starters and went straight to a big helping of roast beef, lamb, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese and other vegetables.

The food was nice but certainly not gourmet or even the best roast I’ve had but was tasty so no complaints. The service was mixed and perhaps because the pub was quiet the staff tended not to be that attentive although this wasn't really an issue to us on this visit.

After a refill I tried a few starters which included salad, a whole salmon and pate. The desert section looked good and there was a selection of apple pie, ice cream, cakes, fruits and other delights. The picture below doesn't show the rest of the table which was pretty full with other items to eat.

Free tea/coffee is also included in the price which is a nice addition for a post meal drink.

After the buffet finished we picked up a copy of the UK Sunday newspapers which are provided via Newspapers direct. I usually read the UK newspapers on the internet however there is nothing like reading the broad sheets whilst supping a pint of ale.

Unfortunately the pub also had a copies of the tabloids which kept my wife amused......

Whilst deciding where to go we noticed that there were several local English style pubs which were commended and took quick look at them:

The Bulls Head – a traditional style pub that seemed busy outside but quiet inside.

The Robin hood – This pub was very busy and many people seemed to be eating which was a good sign.

The Londoner has some mixed reviews and not having been there at other times i’m unable to comment on the atmosphere in the evenings or during big televised sports events.

We really enjoyed our relaxing lunch and although the food is far from gourmet we would recommended this to anybody who likes a relaxing buffet roast lunch.

Food/Beverage: 8
Ambiance: 7
Value: 8
Service: 7.5

591 UBC II Building, Basement B 104, Sukhumvit 33
Sukhumvit Road, Klongton Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110 Thailand
Tel: +66 2-261-0238-9
http://www.the-londoner.com/

Bangkok–Salil Hotel

There are many areas to stay in Bangkok however owing to the chronic traffic issues anywhere near the Bangkok Sky Train (BTS) is my preference. Over the years I’ve stayed in several locations however one of my favourite places is Soi 8 Sukhumvit.

This soi is located next to Nana BTS station and is ano through road so after the first 150m its pretty quiet and has a reasonable amount of greenery to provide some shade. Although the Soi is pretty quiet it contains several hotels, apartments, bars and restaurants along with the usual 7-11’s and massage shops and is generally suitable for families.

This time we elected to stay at the Salil Hotel which is small boutique hotel (27 rooms) and is located at the far end of the soi. The hotel seems fairly new or at least refurbished. Some websites mention that it doesn't have a lift however this has changed and it now has a working lift.


The rooms are quite small however they are clean and comfortable and free WiFi is a bonus.


A buffet breakfast was included and although the selection of food doesn’t compare to the Sheraton I had no complaints what so ever. Free DVD/book rental which may appeal to some people although we prefer to go out and maximise our time exploring.

The hotel is about 500m from Sukhumvit road which doesn’t take long to walk or guests can choose to use the free golf cart service which is available 24hrs a day.

There are several web sites linked to the hotel and I prepaid the rooms via their main site to enjoy a discounted rate of THM 1750 per night which was reasonable.

Overall I enjoyed my stay at the Salil and would recommend this hotel.

Almost opposite the hotel is the Citadines Sukhumvit 8 Apart Hotel and after reading some positive reviews we took a tour of the hotel. This is a very different concept from the Salil and contains some good facilities. The rooms vary from studios to 2 bedroom suites and the cost of the studios is only a little more than the Salil so next time I’m in Bangkok I will probably try this place.

Journey to Bangkok

We recently took a trip to Bangkok and thought we would try Air Asia’s online/mobile check in service. Between us we have a BlackBerry and an Iphone and found that both applications worked well. When using a phone you are issued a bar code which you need to validate and then a boarding pass is printed from the terminal.

Upon arriving at KL’s LCCT we headed for the self service check in machines only to be initially confused over which terminals to use.



The web/printed boarding pass machines are on the right of the pic and mobile phone readers are on the left. Its disappointing that the separate machines are needed however I believe that this will be addressed at some point in the future.




The check in process worked well and we then proceeded to the baggage drop counter. Fortunately the counter was not busy but my perception is that if you need to drop baggage then the process takes just as long as it would if we checked in at a normal counter.

Just after check in I discovered this Police View box. With the modern day CCTV installed and armed patrols walking around is there really a need for a policeman to stand on a wooden box?

The flight as operated by Thai Air Asia and was pretty standard and the pre ordered hotdog was quite tasty for an airline snack

Arrival at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport was via a domestic gate which meant slow a disembarkation whilst we waited for buses to ferry us to the international section.

The airport has been the centre of much controversy with the current complaint being around the immigration queues. Unfortunately we were not sparred and the hall was packed with the slow working officers taking almost 1 hour to process our queue.

The local media has reported that the problems are compounded by the immigration department not having any budget left to pay overtime so the airport authority will be paying millions of Thai baht try and prevent even more problem during the upcoming festive season.

Bangkok is now the proud owner of an airport express train with services being mixed between express and commuter stopping trains with the latter extended to Phaya Thai which is linked to the Skytrain station . The express train to the City Air Terminal takes 15mins and costs THB 150 and the city commuter train takes 30mins costs THB 45.

Depending on where you are staying and the traffic situation it could be much quicker however I know that the traffic around the City Air Terminal at Makassan can be very congested. Owing to us arriving early evening and staying just off Sukhumvit we decided to take the commuter train to Phaya Thai and then take the BTS to Nana.

The train was busy and we were lucky to get a seat however the ride was smooth and journey passed quickly. Upon arrival at Phaya Thai we found that there is no down escalator and the single lift was very small which resulted in a queue forming.

The connection to the BTS involves some staircases and at Nana station there is a long set of stairs to descend which is not easy with a heavy bag.

Considering that this is an airport link its disappointing that the designers haven’t seen fit to provide sufficient ease of access for people with baggage.

The train does provide a fast value for money alternative to taking a taxi and can be usful is you have light luggage and arrive in peak times.