BANGERS, the House of Dawgs
Located in a single shop house opposite Eight Thonglor BANGERS is the brainchild of former hotelier David Stanton and Chris Foo of BREW Beers & Ciders, who since 2011 has officially stocked the largest selection of draught and bottled beers anywhere in Thailand. With over 200 varieties in their kegs and fridges, their encyclopedic collection of beverages contains brews from across the globe, including dozens of microbrewery brands exclusive to them.
BANGERS was born out of their mutual desire to create a break-from-the-burgers. Their concept was to create a synergy between the simple honest hot dog made from sausages of the world, hand crafted beers and shakes made with fresh milk, ice cream and flavoured syrups free of crushed ice. “The name BANGERS has two origins one the colloquial name for sausages, the other the name of the city we live in.”
It’s proud of its junk food roots, pop colours, cartoon characters and graffiti art. Yet at the same time it’s one of the few places that serves quality hot dog, gastro-comfort food.
There are just two core elements to a hot dog, a bread bun and a grilled sausage. “We didn’t want a yucky soft sweet fairy bread bun,” David says, “it took us time working with Maison Jean-Philippe to get the bread right. The other thing was the sausage. We were surprised that there are more than 12 sausage makers in Thailand. We knew that we needed seven different types of sausage. To decide which sausages to use we did a strict blind tasting and what amazed us was across the board our tasting panel were in agreement in which to use. We now have six sausage suppliers.”
Their food menu reads like a Hot Dog Atlas with different sausage types served in either a plain or poppy seed bun. The New York Classic comes served smothered in American mustard and topped with sauerkraut. Mexicana is topped with guacamole, chunky salsa, sour cream, spring onions and jalapeños. It’s so generously loaded that it’s nearly impossible to eat with out spilling. It ain’t fine dining these are street dawgs. In a multicultural city like Bangkok all dawgs ain’t American. Bombay Banger comes topped with a tikka curry, raita and grilled onion with mango-ginger chutney on the side. As Britain was the birthplace of the banger Rule Britannia is a cumberland sausage with lashings of rich thick onion gravy and English mustard. Out of respect for the statue of the dear lady that still sits in the grounds of the British Embassy Queen Vic is again a cumberland sausage topped with stilton cheese, rocket, grilled onion and distinctive HP brown sauce. They even named a dawg after Bogart’s most famous movie Casablanca, a Moroccan lamb sausage with cucumber mint yoghurt, mild harissa and red onion. The dawg has been elevated to a meal.
“To serve the perfect shake we had to find the right machine,” he says, “they became an unexpected hit. The beers was easy, they come from Chris’ company, I was surprised how educated our customers are about them.”
The shakes come as innocent regular, just fresh milk and quality ice cream with flavours such as chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch and banana. But if it’s not a school night why not be brave and try and an adult shake. We’re All Nuts is flavoured with hazelnut and almond liquer or maybe Bail Me Out with the addition of Bailey’s, rum and coffee. Shakes aren’t just for the kids.
Craft beers have more body, flavour and alcoholic strength than local beers. Fuller’s London Pride 4.7% ABV is unmistakably London’s beer. It has a malty base with an excellent blend of hops character, resulting in an easy drinking beer with great body and a fruity satisfying finish.
Mikkeller American Dream is a lager with 4.6% ABV which is packed with American hops. This beer is meant to be drunk directly out of the bottle, on a hot summer day. Lovely, fresh and refreshing with the combined flavours of mango, peach and grapefruit/pine. Bitterness characterizes the beer and would make this no-go territory for classic lager drinkers. It cuts right through the heart of the beer. There are some light peachy-notes but that and the light biscuit malt are defeated by the bitter master.
PALM Speciale at 5.4% ABV is made with English hops, French Barley, and Belgian yeast, PALM represents the best of European beer-making traditions. It’s the roasted Champagne Malt which gives PALM its amber colour, but without being heavy.
St Louis Kriek 6.5% ABV pours almost clear red with a ring off white head. Aroma of sweet and tart cherries, plastercine, wood, light funk. Flavour is light moderate sweet and over moderate acidic. Medium bodied with light carbonation.
It’s the place to go for a quality hot dog and a refreshing craft beer or a real milk shake.
BANGERS
159/10 Soi Thonglor, (between Sois 7 & 9)
Tel 02-392-1556
facebook.com/bangersbkk
Mon-Sat noon-1am
Sun noon-midnight