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Mention wine bars in Bangkok and chances are that Sukhumvit – Asok, Thonglor, Ekkamai – comes to mind. It makes sense. This is where many big spenders live, where international cuisine is easy to find and where you’d always expect to find a decent bottle of wine.
But for the last three months, I've been living on the other side of the Chao Phraya, in a small, quiet district known as Bang Yi Khan. Despite how delightful it is, remarkably few expats I speak to have ever crossed the river just to have a drink.
A few weeks ago, I noticed that Low Ceiling, a brand new wine bar, was taking shape around the corner from my condominium. I naturally became curious.
Last week, it opened.
Good wine bars are still surprisingly difficult to find in Thailand once you leave the tourist and expat areas. This one looked promising. Sophisticated, even a little classy. I took a seat at the bar, with a few people sitting at the tables behind me.
Then I met Film – owner and wine connoisseur – and it didn't take long to realise that he wasn't simply someone who had decided that opening a wine bar might be a good business idea. He really knows wine.
Low Ceiling, high bar
I have been drinking wine for most of my adult life. What I like changes with season, temperature and mood. I can enjoy younger reds – a Beaujolais Villages, for instance – but I have a slight preference for whites, particularly Chardonnay from Australia, Chile or California.
I like them round rather than acidic. With reds, too much tannin quickly puts me off.
Film started asking questions. Not to demonstrate what he knew, but to work out what I might enjoy. He suggested a Chardonnay and described it beforehand as soft, round and not too acidic.
He was right. It was an excellent glass of wine.
Later, after I mentioned my dislike of overly tannic reds, he poured me a taste of another wine, on the house. It was more complex than the Chardonnay, but again he had listened carefully: plenty going on, without the tannins taking over.
These things matter to me. So does serving wine at the right temperature. Knowing when to decant it. Letting someone taste before pouring the glass. And, rather obviously, knowing the wine you are selling.
There is something else I appreciated. Wine can very easily become a performance. The vocabulary, the labels, the prices, showing what you know. None of it makes the wine taste any better.
At Low Ceiling, I didn't get that feeling.
I sat at the bar for about an hour and a half, drank two glasses, nibbled on some cheese and crackers Film had brought out for me, and talked with him and his staff.
There are snacks on the menu, and wines by the glass currently run roughly from B200 to B350 baht a glass. Not too shabby. Film and some of his staff also speak English, which makes the place particularly accessible if your Thai doesn't stretch to discussing acidity and tannins.
By the time I left, the thing I remembered wasn't only the Chardonnay. It was the attention.
A good wine experience has never been just about wine for me. It is the glass, certainly, but also the temperature, the food beside it, the light, the music, the conversation and the person who pours it.
An expensive bottle in the wrong surroundings can be disappointing. A more modest bottle, served by someone who understands what you enjoy, can make an evening.
If you ask me, Bangkok could use more places like this outside its usual wine-drinking enclaves. Those of us who automatically head towards Sukhumvit for a good glass of wine might want to look at the other side of the river.
I no longer have to. Film is just around the corner.
Low Ceiling Wine Bar.
Opened 1 August 2026
A few steps from MRT Bang Yi Khan
228 Charansanitwong Rd., Bang Yi Khan, Bang Phlat, Bangkok 10700