The rebirth of Bangkok’s Talad Noi

Tae Rianmek looks me in the eye while shaking his head. “No americano,” the barista says. It’s not on the menu here at Mother Roaster , a Talad Noi coffee shop that specialises in freshly brewed drip coffee made with a wide choice of Thai-grown beans. With his patient, expert guidance, I opt for Sirinya Coffee Farm beans from Mae Suai, a district in Chiang Rai. I watch the dark liquid drip through a filter, then enjoy a smooth cup with plum notes while pondering how little I know about coffee – and how much this area, one of Bangkok’s oldest, has changed since I was last here five years ago.

With an old, corded telephone and bicycle mounted on the wall, Mother Roaster has all the hallmarks of a hipster establishment. Set up by Tae’s mother Ploenphit Rianmek in 2018, it birthed a movement in this neighbourhood of Talad Noi, a delightfully walkable area on the fringes of Bangkok’s Chinatown. Its name meaning “small market”, Talad Noi was originally a produce market before becoming a hub for the auto industry in the late 1930s. When the coffee shop opened, it stood alone in a sea of mainly vehicle parts dealers but was quickly joined by other cool small businesses.

As well as third-wave coffee shops, the area is now notable for its arty cafés, galleries and landmarks which sit alongside social media-friendly Talad Noi street art. I make my way through quiet alleys, where narrow pathways are lined with shophouses featuring timber cross beams on front walls. Family-run businesses, like the Chinese pastry shop Hiab Tiang and the century-old prayer cushion maker Heng Seng, give a glimpse into the area’s Chinatown roots. Elsewhere in Talad Noi, on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, metalworkers still hammer car parts into shape while the odd pressure washer drowns out calming Chinese songs drifting from radios. But for every grimy garage or rusty car backdropped by a brick warehouse, there’s a bubble tea shop that has sprouted up.

Metalworkers no longer dominate the neighbourhood, and locals, especially younger Thais, are embracing a new economy. “The lifestyle is changing, so cafés are opening,” says Savitree “Sa” Chandrapannik, who works at Citizen Tea Canteen of Nowhere .

Stirring milk tea, Sa notes, “Not many people buy replacement parts today.” But when she served house blends in Chinese ceramic tea pots in a nod to the neighbourhood’s Chinese community, customers wanted them, so they went on sale alongside embroidered cushions, Thai cotton shirts and water hyacinth baskets.

The tea shop’s red, white and black checkerboard porch makes a great photo spot. However, nothing beats the wacky interior’s feast for the eyes – from the tamarind trunk and rattan chairs to the tangled pendant lights and paintings of beautiful women.

Along with Chinese dragons and Thailand’s guardian warriors, the yaksha, local life and metalwork are woven into the street art, which is alive with portraits of the community’s residents. Just as eye-popping as the graffiti outside the riverside restaurant Baan Rim Naam is the Dragon Roundabout, which features a sculpture made from shining silver kitchen utensils and hubcaps at the base – a nod to the district’s industrial past. Here, pushcarts still peddle coconut desserts and fragrant, white-fleshed longan berries.

As the area has become more of a tourist destination, the range of things to do here has also expanded. Collectors will love River City , a four-storey mall in Talad Noi’s south where you can cool off after a day exploring the area on foot. River City hosts high-end art galleries and antique stores, like Ingon Gallery , which has amassed a trove of Asian bronze antiques, jewellery and Buddhist artefacts. Fans of retro games, on the other hand, might want to end up in Talad Noi’s north at 100-Bit Barcade , a neon-lit bar that offers Nintendo consoles and games of Tetris.

Despite Talad Noi’s many newcomers, its past and present are intertwined. “Our logo – an anvil and a cup of coffee – was inspired by our dad’s job as a mechanic,” says Chanya Somkamonsakul, aka Fung, the co-owner of Blacksmith Cafe. Besides coffee, the seven-seater café sells fruity smoothies, bags and other souvenirs, plus herbal teas from Thailand like sasiruthai, which is said to have relaxing and body heat-reducing qualities.

As I sip another superb cup of joe and look at the framed pictures hanging on the wall of Fung’s dad forging metal, Fung fills me in on local history. She tells me that the demand for replacement parts was fuelled by the Japanese, who built cars in Talad Noi when the Second World War consumed the globe; decades later, her now-82-year-old father made spare parts for hay carts here. As times changed and it became difficult to find workers, he closed the business. But his daughter is now one of those forging a new era for the area.

From the mechanics of its past to the baristas of its present, Talad Noi’s dedication to craftsmanship remains unchanged, while the neighbourhood’s small businesses continue to thrive.