In the heart of Bangkok, where the air is punctuated by revving tuk-tuks and scented with the aroma of street food, an unlikely cultural exchange took place place. The House On Sathorn, a grand dame of architecture with a chameleon-like past, played host to a whirlwind weekend that saw Saigon’s cocktail luminaries descend upon the Thai capital for the Cross-Cultural Weekend: Vietnam.

Amidst the clinking of glasses and the sizzle of caramelized worms, boundaries blurred – not just between nations, but between culinary traditions, mixology innovations, and artistic expressions. This wasn’t just another guest shift; it was a sensory symphony, a liquid love letter to cross-cultural pollination.

The worms that bartender Finn serves at Peter Cuong Franklin’s Nhau Nhau Bar – above his MICHELIN-star restaurant, Anan Saigon – are grub-like things fat from imbibing the coconuts they inhabit in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. They arrive skewered and sat placidly upon a shot of rum. 

An Unusual Pre-Shift Ritual At The House On Sathorn

For this event at Bangkok’s House On Sathorn – conducted partly in the house’s revered Thai restaurant, Paii,  but mostly in the downstairs bar – Andy, the W’s F&B manager, and Chef Joe, helped to source Thai sago worms from the south of the country (you can assume carrying a suitcase full of coconut worms across the border might raise a few eyebrows). Only these Thai worms were bigger, and more chewy than their counterparts.

“I really struggled to eat that,” Marco Dognini laughs. The whole House On Sathorn team had been served one pre-shift to try. And, even though, as they are at Nhau Nhau, they’d been caramelized and thoroughly torched before serving, Marco chewed and grimaced, before eventually managing to swallow it. “Not the perfect way to start a shift,” he breaks out into laughter again. “Would I do it again? No, I don’t think so,” he decides instantly.

Partaking In Some Cocktail Diplomacy

Worms aside, the event was a resounding success, and one the House On Sathorn team are already conspiring to do again, inviting a delegation of the most daring bartenders, and maybe an artist or designer, from a different country each time. “I think next might be India, then  Singapore, then Indonesia – one every month,” Marco nods with fake confidence at the complexity of running the series every four weeks. 

It’s one way, he asserts, that bars like the House On Sathorn can go beyond the guest shift. “I think everywhere is seeing an almost endless calendar of guest shifts – sometimes two or three the same night in the same city. And it’s great. But with this event we wanted to explore how to create an event that’s more memorable, more meaningful.” And The House On Sathorn is the perfect venue to welcome international delegations.  

The House On Sathorn’s Previous Lives

The house has a storied history. This venerable mansion, with its neoclassical facade and intricate Thai details was constructed in 1889 as the opulent residence of a Chinese-Thai tycoon. By 1926 it was the Hotel Royal, presided over by the Italian Madame A. Staro, and in 1948 it became an outpost of Russian diplomacy, housing first the Tsarist and then the Soviet embassy. 

As Bangkok’s fortunes ebbed and flowed, so did the fortunes of the house which fell into disrepair, before its resurrection, thanks, in part to the The Department of Fine Arts which issued an official statement announcing the mansion as a registered national archeological site. And in 2015, The House on Sathorn was launched as part of W Bangkok.

Conjuring The Spirits Of Epochs Past

Lots of those historical milestones are reflected in the House On Sathorn today – the bar serves a cocktail in a Russian matryoshka doll, and like Madame A. Staro, Marco is Italian, and so is the DJ, Roberto – a walking slice of rock and roll history himself, having had his first gig in 1969, and who arrives with a box full of vinyl spanning that era to the present day.

The bar menu is arranged by the historical eras of the House On Sathorn – The Present, with drinks that highlight one specific Thai ingredient, Embassy Row, with drinks like the suitably spirit-forward The Ambassador’s Favorite, Hotel Royal, with glamorous concoctions Madame A. Staro would have swooned over, and the History Of Sathorn cocktails of drinks that pay tribute to the building’s earliest known origins. And even this Cross-Culture Weekend: Vietnam can be seen as an act of international diplomacy the building’s former Russian residents would have approved of.

A Sober Meditation On Scarcity And Abundance…And Less Sober Goings-Ons At Bar Sathorn

Into The House On Sathorn’s hallowed halls, the ever-existential Saigon-based artist Tran Quang Dai sat sacks of rice, a sober meditation on scarcity and abundance. At the bar, things were less sober. 

On Friday, Finn Le served cocktails inspired by Saigon staples – just as Chef Peter Cuong Franklin does downstairs at Anan Saigon – a Phojito, a spiked Cafe Trung Egg Coffee, a Fish Sauce Chocolate Boulevardier, and those worm shots. Peter hovered around, expounding on some of his dishes coming from the kitchen: his take on Cau Lau Noodles, a dish usually only found in historic Hoi An, an experimental Banh Tran Trong Salad – the spicy rice paper salad mix beloved by school kids – he was trying for the first time, and Anan classics like Foie Gras Spring Rolls, a turmeric cod dish, and a mini banh mi. 

The following day, Vu Ngoc from Enigma Mansion, and Lam Duong, from Hybrid Saigon – two bars a five minute drive apart across downtown Saigon – paired up, Vu Ngoc serving his Mushroom and Kombu cocktails, and Lam Duong serving a take on Vodka Redbull, and the rum-based cacao tinged Kong. 

And closing out the weekend were Jimmy from Saigon’s Drinking & Healing and Lucci Nguyen from USEBar Hanoi, Jimmy serving his suitably refreshing, mango and soursop lemonade topped The Beginning, and award-winning First Trophy, and Lucci a Guava Paloma and Mochi Fan Club. 

Saigon Flavors, Bangkok Nights

“For me, it was a reminder that in Asia right now, the standard of cocktail making is high – and not much separates the best bars in Thailand and Vietnam, for example, in terms of cocktails,” Marco muses.

“Overall, I’d say Finn Le represented hyper-local concepts in drinks that were notable for their flavor profiles – while the other four, Vu Ngoc and Liam, Lucci and Jimmy, felt very international in their approach to their ingredients and their presentations.”

The most satisfying moments, Marco says, happened outside the bar.

After Shift: Ice Baths and Bar Hops

Like when the House On Sathorn team altruistically lead their Vietnamese guests on a cocktail bar hop through the city, “and realizing, mostly, everyone already knew each other, and if they didn’t, with so much in common, they’d be friends in five minutes anyway.”

Or taking an ice bath together on the Sunday afternoon – a welcome refresher before the final night. “Liam was the most unphased,” Marco smiles, “his expression barely changed as he submerged in the ice bath.”

The Aftermath: Crowning the Weekend’s Stars

So, who was the surprise package of the weekend, we wonder. “Probably Finn – who, with Gift from our team, spent most evenings dancing sexily beside the bar – and was generally an effervescent presence all weekend.” Who was the coolest? “Besides Liam in the ice bath, in the bar I’d say Jimmy – slightly ahead of Lucci – his presence in the bar and the way he moves and conducts himself reflects his place among a super-talented new generation coming up.” Which cocktail would you borrow and put on the menu, we ask. “Honestly, I liked them all, but only one? I might take Liam’s Vodka Redbull – I appreciated the playfulness of it and its low-high culture twist. It reflected my style of cocktail making the most.”

And finally, who was the MVP of the entire three days, we inquire. “Chef Peter. He was on fire. I really didn’t know what to expect – we hadn’t met before. Besides cooking up a storm, he was super involved on the bar side. And after shift he was in the bar cheersing with us every night…”