Absolute 7 – Absolutely Up Your Alley!

A man with a mission, I arrived at the Absolute 7 Bar on Sukhumvit Soi 7/1 ready to

hate every minute of my visit because My Fuhrer says I am always too nice and spend too many words lavishing praise on unworthy bars and grills replete with minimum magic and miniscule frills.

Right then!

A closer look was in order, and it was immediately apparent that I was in the right place for the music review from hell because the band was sipping pre-gig cocktails and quite happy to tell me all about the change of location of the stage from the third floor to the ground floor, where they are now tucked away in a corner front room watching the pool players go by, so-to-speak.

Nothing wrong thus far and the pleasant atmosphere enjoying a coffee or beer on the patio of this four-storey pool palace is a perfectly acceptable way to spend part of any evening. It is definitely a smaller Gulliver's on Soi 5 but without the over-investment. I don't play pool even if they are Sovereign tables and awash with tight-assed little jungle bunnies giving me the eye.

simply prefer cricket!

And it really is cool on the patio away from the crowded, ground-floor pool parlour which was busy and buzzing with punters skilfully poking sticks at colored balls and trying desperately to beat the girls. Fat chance!

The bar is towards the entrance and at the front end of Sukhumvit's busiest ‘new' entertainment soi and like it or not Dear Editor , it is a real pleasure to get away from the noise and traffic of the mainest drag of them all, and hang out and relax in a quiet, garden-style environment

So what's to hate thus far? Well, I don't like pool much and I had to climb the stairs to get to the other floors, but that's par for the course and hardly a sin. Right?

Maybe the food has the lack of charm my boss wants, so we get one of the many pretty, black-uniformed waitresses over and ask for a menu and more beer. Big smiles and a pleasant reply to ‘wait a moment'…and don't you just hate that?! Well no…and the menu is quite interesting, given that we are just in a glorified pool hall.

Pizza from a wood-fired oven no less and quite a splendid selection too. The good news is that the manager had just fronted up at a table on the patio and he was having the burger and salad and very nice it looked too. But more importantly, it meant that if he eats here, then the staff better be on the ball because these French guys tend to know their stuff when it comes to nosh – pub food or otherwise – ask Sam Worthington!

Anyway we had a seafood pizza and a Hawiian pizza and the salmon tartare and the lamb chops with mashed potatoes. There were three of us so it was a good order and more than enough for all. But more bad news…it was great food and we all loved it!

My mission was being sabotaged at every turn and I actually liked this place a lot, with such a laid-back crowd and loads of room to wander and a nice garden atmosphere to boot!

This will never do. We can not be getting all sychophantic again or we'll be reviewing church fairs and the parish courts again. Or selling classifieds!

But then it happened. EXOTIC, the house band kicked in at 9pm and quickly took the smile off my face at least, but guaranteeing My Fuhrer another unhappy ending, upon which he apparently thrives. Yes!

Let me be kind here. Exotic are a six-piece band - which includes one male and one female singer fronting their sets – are capable and know the chords. They play six nights a week here and I wish them well. Shame about the songs however, because yes, they started off with an Eagles ‘classic' and I swear my pizza tried to scarper.

I mean you don't have to listen and they are comfortably quiet enough to ignore, but let's face it, if you are not here to play pool, you at least want a good band right?

We tried to like them as they slaughtered the best of years gone by, and we ordered more beer and smiled so as not to discourage the others, some of whom were visibly quite impressed. But we were not able to stay the course, given we only had to stumble as far as RIVA's up the road at the Sheraton Grande for a bit of hip hop and cool grooves - and a stellar wine list.

But all is not lost at Absolute 7 because Paris Burning is a cool blues duo featuring a guitar player and saxophonist who jam and sing over cool backing tracks, and they replace the band every Sunday night, giving the punters something to think about and groove to as they shuffle their balls.

Maybe that's my new Sunday night!

Absolute 7 Bar
Sukhumvit Soi 7/1
Wattana, Bangkok
10110.
Tel: 02 651 39 19
Email: info@absolute7bar.com
www.absolute7bar.com
Music 7-days a week
9 pm–1 am