Pedros – A Great Music Bar With Great Promise

Drummers are not well known for their reliability so I was a bit surprised that it was my bass player who told me about the new ‘Mexican’ restaurant on Sukhumvit at Asoke - which Pedros ain’t.

But Pedro’s is a new music bar and it is a bar in every respect of that moniker, selling cold beer by the pint or bottle and covering the range of the usual suspects including Tiger, Heineken, Singha and Chang.

And this bar, while not very Mexican, is very Thai in terms of the company you keep there, as it is fairly well stocked with willing young women anxious to help the beer down, and make your evening one you may not quickly forget.

But it is a well-designed bar too, and it ain’t no classic girlie bar in the Nana or Cowboy sense of the term. It is indeed a very handsome, comfortable bar and the nicely turned out girls compliment the tasty décor and the excellent lighting. The even more excellent music helps create a very tasty ambience.

Proprietor Peter went to some lengths to convince us that there will be no techno trash or Euro disco twaddle in his bar through his very fine sound system. He plays genuine DVDs featuring the likes of Paul McCartney and Pink Floyd, the Stones and other classic rockers on the big, flat-screen TV, and Peter, who hails from Switzerland is equally convinced that his bar will stand or fall on the quality of the music he provides.

And good for him!

He is a survivor from the Soi 10 massacre from which he received very little compensation, so he is a determined cove at least, getting back into the entertainment fray, so to speak.

But his marketing strategy goes beyond mere musical policy and the bar opens at 10:30 am every morning, offering fresh coffee on the very tasty veranda at the entrance to the bar. There you can sit and have a quiet coffee and read your choice of the free newspapers available.

You can also order lunch from the menu, which breaks down the choices available from nearby restaurants, and all of which is very good and very reasonably priced too, says Peter.
The bar itself is very cosy and very elegant too with a spacious second floor upstairs where there is a modest stage for live music at one end and sofas and quiet seats at the other end overlooking the Sukhumvit main drag. It is a very nice place just to hang out for a quiet beer ahead of or after dinner, and here again you have the option of ordering in the food you fancy from the specially tailored menu.

There is a Happy Hour every day from 6:30 pm until 8:30 pm during which your standard Heineken is a very comfortable 59 baht and any shot 69 baht. After that the beer returns to 100 baht a pop, so the early hours do have a certain appeal.

The teeny stage at the rear end of the upper level is just right for a small band to fit in comfortably without massive equipment, thus the musos are encouraged not to get too carried away in the volume stakes.

Friday nights and Wednesday are live music nights with more nights to be added soon. There is also a free Bar-B-Q every Friday night, and there at the moment you will see and hear The Sakorn Band who also play at the Country Road on Soi Cowboy I notice, and who also once played the Black Swan further down Sukhumvit.

They do a fair range of rock and roll and blues classics including their own specialities which are some great Cream numbers and a bunch from Chuck Berry’s songbook.

Not bad at all, and some spiffy guitar playing and singing from frontman, Australia’s very own Konstantin ‘Konn” Papadouis who has christened quite a few venues in his time in Thailand, and from his sidekick Sataphorn Chai on killer guitar. They play workman-like sets and are never boring, but the venue may want to upgrade the band equipment somewhat as the separation was a bit dubious, to say the least.

Looks like it could be a good little blues venue though, with the emphasis on ‘little’.

But back to Peter’s marketing strategy which means that he is offering special Birthday Party packages where you can book the bar, drinks food and lovely ladies for as little as 20 guests, and the place comfortably accommodates 60 punters inside and another 20 outside on the main entrance veranda.

“This is the Birthday Bar and I defy you to find a better place to book for your party. We are ready to welcome as many birthday parties as Bangkok can throw at us, and located as we are at the heart of party land, you could not find a better, classier bar to celebrate. And we will tailor the party to suit whatever numbers it is you want, including booking your favourite live band and any other entertainment. And we welcome office parties, wedding parties and any other kind of parties where you want the bar to yourself,” he smiles.

Peter also has a special musical policy under devlopment where he will have special evenings for just blues or R&B or rock or even salsa, designed to bring the emphasis in the bar towards quality music.

“I am preparing discs and looking for bands and it won’t be too long before we broaden the live music experience,” he promised.

Check it out. It could save you the walk to Cowboy!

PEDROS MUSIC BAR
417 Sukhumvit Road
Near Sukhumvit Subway Station (Asok)
Manager Veeranan Chansri
09-0176321